by Marci Bolden
She poured two fingers before taking a sip. She sighed dramatically. “Hell of a day, ladies.”
“Hell of a day,” Alexa agreed and held out her mug for a refill.
“Are you guys day drinking?” Sam asked as she walked in. “And nobody called me?”
Tika sat next to Alexa and held up her cup. “Here’s to day drinking.”
Alexa toasted her. “We should probably lock the front door before a client comes in and catches us.”
Sam stuck her head out of the conference room. “Eva! Lock the front door and then come to the conference room for a drink!”
Eva squealed from her office but appeared in the conference room in what seemed like seconds. “What’s the occasion?”
Alexa swished the liquid in her glass. “I had sex with my client and then suggested he have his sister arrested. I think he hates me now.”
Heavy silence filled the room before Sam offered her usual sunny outlook. “Well. At least you got laid first.”
It took a moment, but a laugh ripped from Alexa’s chest. “Yes, I did. Multiple times.” Alexa’s smile faded as the moment of humor was replaced by the familiar sensation of loneliness.
“Oh, honey,” Tika said, her voice filled with concern. “Don’t cry. If you cry, I’ll cry, and I am one seriously ugly crier. Nobody needs to see that. My face scrunches up and I get all snotty.”
“I’m not going to cry,” Alexa said. “I’m just… When I was little, before Lanie disappeared and everything changed, I remember the way my parents used to look at each other. My papi thought Mami hung the moon. I always said I wouldn’t fall for a man who didn’t look at me like that. Dean looked at me like that. But I don’t know if it was real or because he thought I could save his sister. You should have seen his face when he realized I let Mandy steal from him and leave. He was so hurt. He felt completely betrayed, and I don’t know if he can forgive me. Even if he does, once his sister is safe, maybe… Maybe he won’t look at me the same, you know? Maybe it was never real, but just a byproduct of the pain he’s going through. I was so sure that I felt something there, but maybe I’m just…so tired of being alone, I looked for something that wasn’t there.”
Tika put her hand on Alexa’s knee, and Alexa looked up at a room full of somber faces.
Forcing a laugh, she shrugged it off. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be such a downer.”
“Give him time,” Tika said. “Let him get through some of this mess, and then his head will clear and you’ll figure out where he stands.”
Alexa wrapped her fingers around Tika’s hand. “And in the meantime, I have you guys. Who could ask for more?”
“Hear, hear.” Holly lifted her glass.
“Oh, easy for you to say, bitch.” Sam tossed the lid of the vodka bottle at Holly. “You get to go home to your fiancé.”
The women playfully booed Holly’s relationship status.
Holly rolled her eyes. “Jealousy is such an ugly emotion, ladies.”
“What do you know about human emotion?” Eva asked, causing laughter to erupt through the room.
The sound soothed the ache in Alexa’s heart. Until she looked at the conference room door and noticed Rene crossing the lobby. She wasn’t due back to the office for two more hours, when Holly was going to relieve her from staking out the motel room Mandy and her handler had checked into. Alexa’s breath caught, and she squeezed Tika’s hand as her anxiety built.
“Looks like a party in here,” Rene said, and the room fell silent, waiting for news. She focused on Alexa. “Mandy’s been arrested. So has the man who was with her.”
Alexa closed her eyes. The news, while what she’d been hoping for, was also what she’d dreaded. No doubt seeing his sister in jail would cement Dean’s anger.
Dean had never been so exhausted in his life. And he’d never felt so alone.
Mandy was in jail. Her lawyer, the one Dean had hired at Tika’s suggestion, was trying to convince her to agree to be released to the custody of Sandra Cawling, the social worker in Chicago. Sandra had already been notified of Mandy’s arrest and was on her way to convince Mandy to spend her time in a recovery center rather than going to jail for petty theft. If she agreed, Dean would drop all charges and Mandy would be released from jail. Then Sandra would take her to an undisclosed recovery center.
He hadn’t been allowed to see his sister and probably wouldn’t see her until the recovery center allowed it. However, the attorney he’d hired had relayed that Mandy was furious with him. That was to be expected, he guessed. Sometimes doing the right thing for someone didn’t always coincide with doing what that person wanted.
Dean scoffed at his own train of thought, his own way of justifying his actions.
Sometimes doing the right thing for someone didn’t always coincide with doing what that person wanted. Like, say, setting up someone’s druggie sister to get arrested and forced into treatment.
Grabbing his phone, intending to call Alexa and apologize for yet another emotional outburst, he noticed the time. Midnight. He’d be a jerk to call her in the middle of the night. An even bigger jerk than he’d already been.
Falling back onto his bed, not bothering to undress or pull the covers back, Dean rolled this long-ass day over in his mind. From waking up with Alexa to realizing what she’d done to kicking her out of his house. All the way up to walking through his front door feeling like the world had crashed down around him.
He felt hollowed out. Empty. It didn’t take much to realize why. Not only was he hurting over Mandy’s situation, but he was hurting over his own. Everything was happening so quickly, he had no center, no gravitational pull to keep him grounded. He hadn’t spent much time with Alexa, but he’d already discovered that she was that pull, that much-needed point that he could focus on and feel like everything else would somehow fall into place.
He hoped he hadn't pissed away his chance with her. No. He refused to believe he had. Alexa was too kind, too forgiving to not understand that he’d been upset and emotional. She would forgive him and give him another chance. The issue was whether or not he deserved it. Twice now he’d gotten upset enough to kick her out of his house. That wasn’t like him.
He knew that. But there was no way she could. She didn’t know the calm, sensible man he usually was. She only knew the wound-up, terrified version that she’d met a week before.
Dean scoffed. A week? He’d known her a week and had already taken her to bed and allowed her to become the most calming influence he had? Shit. What the hell were they doing?
He didn’t know. He couldn’t make sense of it, especially when he was so physically and emotionally wiped out. All he knew was that he was terrified of blowing their brief but intense relationship.
Resting his arm over his eyes, he tried to get his brain to slow down enough for sleep to find him. Instead he replayed memories of Alexa smiling, putting her gentle hand to his arm, straddling his hips…
“Damn it.” Sitting up, he grabbed his phone. He wouldn’t call her at this hour, but if he didn’t do something, he was never going to rest.
Opening their last text conversation, he stared at her message letting him know she’d send someone over to help him press charges against Mandy. Running his fingers over the touchscreen, he sent her another message.
I’m sorry for lashing out. May I stop by the office to see you?
He set his phone down, not expecting a response until morning, but his phone beeped almost immediately.
Please do, Alexa said.
Dean smiled. Why are you still up?
Worrying about you.
Relief filled the void in his chest. If she were worrying about him, she probably already had forgiven him. Even so, he typed out, I’m so sorry. I was upset.
I know. It’s okay.
No, it’s not.
Hungry? she asked.
Dean laughed. Actually laughed. Lonely.
You should invite me over.
At midnight?
I don’t have a curfew. Do you? she asked, and he swore he heard the mischief in her voice.
Come over, he replied.
On my way.
His heart already felt ten pounds lighter. She didn’t hate him. She wasn’t mad at him. Just like he’d figured. But he was frustrated with himself. He had to do better with her. She deserved better. If it weren’t for Alexa, he never would have found Mandy. He never would have realized how much he needed someone like Alexa in his life. He’d never considered himself the needy type, but he needed her. Like he needed his next breath.
Dragging his hand over his weary eyes, he noticed how scruffy his face was. He had taken Alexa’s request that he not shave to heart, but he was closing in on a full beard and mustache. And he smelled, he realized, like stale body odor from the nervous sweat that had covered him as he’d filled out the paperwork to have his sister taken into custody.
Jumping up, he tore his clothes off as he rushed toward the shower. The water was still cold when he stepped in. He couldn’t do anything about the hair covering his face, but he could rinse the stink from his skin so Alexa didn’t have to smell him.
He lathered his body wash over his chest and under his arms before rinsing. He quickly dried and pulled a clean pair of house pants and a T-shirt on and then ruffled his hair with a towel to rid it of some of the dampness. He was filling two glasses with wine when he heard a car door in his driveway. Forget being ten pounds lighter; his heart started to freaking dance. He rushed to meet her, desperate to hold her in his arms, have her scent surround him, as he promised to be a better man going forward.
Jerking the door open, he was met instead with someone tackling him. A shoulder shoved hard against his chest, and Dean flew back into the entryway, stumbling until his lower back rammed into the small table where he dropped his keys. The corner jammed into him, taking his breath away. Wrapping his arm around the head, he put a chokehold on whoever was assaulting him as he attempted to fight back. A punch landed against Dean’s other side, taking what was left from his lungs.
“Asshole,” the man grunted. “You fucking asshole.”
Only then did Dean recognize the voice. “David,” he gasped out. Grabbing at his stepbrother’s shirt, he shoved him back, grasping his arms to stop David from hitting him again. “Stop.”
His plea was futile. David struck out, hitting Dean in the chin. He immediately tasted his own blood as his front teeth cut into his bottom lip. Before he could react, David cried out and dropped to his knees.
Dean met Alexa’s confused eyes. She focused on the blood gushing from his mouth, and anger filled her face. She bent David’s arm farther, and he cried out. Then he was on his stomach and she was reaching for her gun.
“No!” Dean lifted his hands. “This is David. My stepbrother.”
Alexa looked up at Dean but didn’t ease her hold. “What is going on here?”
“You had her arrested!” David screamed.
“Let him up.” Dean dragged his palm across his mouth, looked at the blood, and then wiped his hand down his thigh as Alexa lifted David but didn’t fully release him.
“Settle down, or I’ll break your wrist,” she warned.
David stopped fighting, but when he looked at Dean, his eyes were narrowed and his jaw set. “You had your own sister arrested.”
“My sister needs help.”
“You think she’s going to get it in jail?”
“She’s not going to stay in jail, David. As soon as she agrees to rehab, I’ll drop the charges. Her attorney is working out a deal.”
David jerked toward him, but Alexa twisted her hold and he stopped. “You’re going to send her to rehab over a little pot?”
“A little pot…” Dean drew a long breath and slowly lifted his gaze to Alexa. “D.”
“For David,” she said. “You were supplying Mandy with drugs?”
“Marijuana,” he stated. “And this asswipe had her arrested for it.”
Dean closed the distance and menace found his voice. “And what were you demanding in exchange for giving my sister pot?”
David’s anger shifted to confusion. “What?”
“In her journal,” he said coolly, “she implied that if she wanted more pot, she’d have to sleep with her dealer. D.” Grabbing David’s shirt, Dean pulled him nose to nose. “Were you forcing her to have sex with you in exchange for drugs?”
“No. Man, she’s my sister, too. What the hell?”
“Stepsister.” Dean jerked him closer. “What was she giving you?”
“She was getting your dad off my ass, okay?” David jerked back, and Dean eased his hold. “As soon as he found out I’d sold you pot, he wouldn’t back off. He was going through my shit, threatening to kick me out.”
“Well, you are, what, twenty-two now? Old enough to be on your own.”
“And I would be if he didn’t keep tossing my stash. I knew Mandy was smoking. We worked out a deal. I’d supply her, and she’d distract your old man long enough for me to sell and save up some money. I was going to find a place. She was going to move in with me after graduation. We were going to be there for each other. Like our parents never were. Like you and Maggie never were.”
“I was there for my sister.”
“Were you? Really?”
Dean ground his teeth. “Do you know what’s been happening to her?”
“Your dad said she ran away. Because of you.”
“She’s been…”
Alexa moved to Dean’s side and eyed David. “Dean hired me to find Mandy. I did.”
“Where?”
Dean swallowed hard before answering. “Being prostituted in Chicago.”
The air left the room, and the color drained from David’s face. He looked to Alexa, as if he thought Dean had lied.
“She came home last night and stole from me,” Dean continued. “I had her arrested so she could get help to get sober and escape the man who has been selling her.”
“Mandy wouldn’t…” David’s wide eyes danced from one to the other. “She wouldn’t.”
Alexa frowned at his denial. She’d likely grown tired of how everyone seemed to have their heads in the sand over what Mandy would or wouldn’t do. “She got pulled into a situation that got out of her control and led her to being sold and taking drugs. She’s not herself right now. Dean did what was necessary to break the cycle before it consumed her.”
“I don’t believe you,” David said, but his tone contradicted his words. “She’s too smart for that. She’s got plans. A future.”
“That she pissed away by getting addicted to drugs. Drugs you provided her.” Dean exhaled slowly so he didn’t choke his stepbrother. “It was more than marijuana, wasn’t it? What else were you giving her?”
He lowered his gaze.
“What else was Mandy taking?” Alexa pressed.
Dean’s rage returned, but before he could beat an answer out of David, he looked up.
“We went out one night. Partying and drinking. Mandy was acting crazy, hyped up like I’d never seen her before. I asked her what she was on, just joking around, but she told me someone had given her crystal meth.”
Dean’s chest clenched. “What?” he asked, the word whispered in shock.
“I told her how stupid that was, Dean,” David was quick to insist. “I told her. The next day when we sobered up, I sat her down and made her promise not to do that again. She swore she wouldn’t.”
“She might not have had a choice,” Alexa said quietly. “Meth is highly addictive. One time can get someone hooked.”
“I told her that,” David said quietly. “She promised she wouldn’t do it again.”
“She’s in trouble,” Dean said. “I had no other way to get her into rehab. Do you really think I want to see my little sister in jail?”
“Your dad said…”
“My dad is an ass. You know that as well as I do.”
David nodded once. “What’s next? For Mandy?”
; “If she’ll agree, she’ll go to rehab someplace where no one, including the men who hurt her, can find her. Once they deem her sober, they’ll work on helping her cope with the trauma of what she’s been through. They’ll send her home when she’s ready.”
David’s shoulders sagged. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah,” Dean agreed.
Looking up, David focused on Dean’s lip. “I’m sorry, man. Mom said Mandy had called your dad, crying, begging for help because you’d had her arrested. Dad went to the jail, but they wouldn’t let him see her.”
“They won’t until she’s been fully processed,” Alexa offered. “But if she takes the deal Dean has offered, that won’t happen.”
“She hasn’t accepted?”
“Not that I’ve heard.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“Because part of the deal is her testifying against the man who was selling her. I want that bastard to pay for what he did.”
“Think of it as brainwashing,” Alexa offered. “Or Stockholm syndrome. She’s protecting the man who she thinks has been taking care of her. He manipulates his victims into loyalty. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”
“There is a social worker who is going to meet with her,” Dean explained. “She’s been through this type of situation before. She’s going to help Mandy get through this. I trust her.”
David nodded. “Okay. I…I’m sorry. I thought you were just being an ass. Your dad twisted things around.”
“Dad doesn’t believe Mandy’s in trouble. He refuses to hear the truth.”
Smirking, David said, “That’s so unlike him. Will you keep me posted? On how things are going with Mandy? She’s my sister, too. And you’re my brother. Even if we are the most fucked-up family ever blended.”
Dean offered him a weak smile, not really buying that last bit. David had never looked at Dean like family. He guessed the only reason he had bonded with Mandy was drugs and dissing the rest of their family. Even so, it was nice to have someone seem to be on his side for once.
“I’m sorry,” David said. “About busting in here.”
“Forget it,” Dean offered. “I understand. I’ll call you.”