by Marci Bolden
Leaning down, she cupped his face and kissed him firmly on the lips. “You are very much in the right. You’re saving her. You’re the only one saving her. Your mom would be so proud of how you’re taking care of your sister. Don’t forget that.”
She left, and he sat there, miserable and feeling all alone.
Grabbing a photo of his mother, he brushed his thumb over her smiling face. “I hope she’s right, Mom. Because I’m starting to think it’s better to just let Mandy hit bottom and find her own way out.”
Setting the picture aside, he sank deeper into the sofa, wishing he had one…just one…family member on his side.
14
Alexa wasn’t intimidated by Mandy’s nasty glare. The girl looked more like she was on the verge of a temper tantrum than any kind of violent outburst. The jumpsuit that had replaced her torn jeans and sweatshirt nearly swallowed her, leaving just her pale face and dark, finally brushed, hair sticking out. The short sleeves exposed her arms, and Alexa noticed fading track marks she hadn’t seen when the girl had shown up at Dean’s unannounced. She wasn’t surprised by the signs of drug use or that she had missed the light bruises. She’d been more focused on Mandy’s body language and trying to get a clear idea of why she’d returned out of the blue.
She was sorry for Dean that she had guessed right that Mandy had returned for cash to get her next fix. But she was glad that her instinct had led to Mandy’s arrest and her subsequently getting the help she so clearly needed.
Sitting back, patiently waiting her out, Alexa considered how Dean was much better off letting her handle this. Seeing his sister rage like this probably would have torn what was left of his heart out.
“I’m not talking to you,” Mandy said between gritted teeth. “You might as well leave.”
“Mandy,” her attorney soothed. “You will benefit greatly from any cooperation you offer.”
“I don’t have to.”
“That’s why it’s called cooperation,” Alexa offered.
Rolling her eyes, Mandy looked around the cinder-block room that echoed their words around them. She kept her hands clasped and her jaw clenched.
“I know David is your drug dealer,” Alexa said, pushing the button she suspected would set the girl off.
Mandy’s eyes widened, something like glazed concern filling them.
“Is he also the one who sent you to motel rooms to meet men?”
The concern faded to a blatant fuck-you look. “Don’t be stupid.”
Alexa shrugged. “If he isn’t above getting you addicted to drugs, why should I think he’s above selling your body?”
“David didn’t get me addicted to drugs. He helped me when nobody else would. Dean’s so fucking full of himself.”
“Dean is the only one looking out for you.”
Mandy sank back in the hard chair. “Is that why I’m locked up?”
“Yes,” Alexa stated firmly. “Because if you weren’t here, Mandy, you’d be looking for your next high. You’d be thinking that the best way to make a quick buck is to have sex with a stranger for cash. You’d be thinking that maybe things weren’t so bad in Chicago.”
Mandy’s scowl deepened.
“Am I wrong?”
“What’s Darrin’s last name?” Alexa asked, still assuming the man Mandy’s roommate thought was an abusive boyfriend was actually a handler.
Mandy met her gaze but didn’t open her mouth.
“Help me find him,” Alexa said softly. “Help me stop him before he hurts anyone else.”
“He’d kill you.”
“I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself.” Alexa leaned forward on the cold table between them. “Mandy, everyone is looking at David right now. Everyone is blaming him. Help me prove that he didn’t do this to you.”
“He didn’t. He was just helping me.”
“Tell me how he helped you.”
Swallowing, she glanced at her attorney before focusing on her hands. “When Mom got sick… It was too much. I couldn’t take seeing her like that. The medicine that was supposed to make her better just kept making her more and more sick. David came over one night. I thought that was crazy. We were never close to him. He and Maggie were our replacements. Dad’s perfect new family. So I…I eavesdropped as he sold Dean some pot. Despite what Dean thinks, I was never Mom’s little princess. I’d smoked pot before. I got ahold of David and told him what I saw, told him I wanted my own stash. We started talking after that. We’d get stoned and got closer. He never sold me pot. He shared his, so you got nothing on him. He’s not a dealer.”
“Your journal says—”
Mandy sat forward, her eyes wide. “You read my fucking journal?”
“Maybe you don’t understand what you’ve put Dean through—”
“Fuck Dean.” She smirked. “But I guess you already have.”
“Several times,” Alexa said dismissively, refusing to be baited by the girl.
“So go crawl back into his bed and leave me alone.”
“I could.” Alexa shrugged. “He hired me to find you, and here you are. My job is done.”
“Then why are you here?”
“My sister is missing, too. She disappeared twelve years ago and hasn’t been seen since.”
Some of Mandy’s defensive posture eased.
“I know the fear your brother was feeling, Mandy, because I’ve felt it, too. Not knowing where you were or what was happening to you was killing him slowly. I know that because I’ve felt it. I still feel it. Every single day. My sister is probably dead. She probably has been dead for a long time, but I don’t know that. And I don’t know how she died or why or if she suffered. You might not believe it, you might not care, but Dean was terrified for you. For you. He suffered because he was scared that you were suffering. He came to my office, and he begged me to believe that you were in trouble and to help him because no one else would. Not the police, not your father, not even David. It was Dean who sensed you were in trouble and moved heaven and earth to find you. No one else.”
Mandy’s shoulders were in a full slump by the time Alexa finished lecturing her.
“He always was pushy,” she muttered, but some of the edge in her tone had abated.
Feeling like maybe she’d made some leeway, Alexa softened her tone. “According to your journal, D was giving you drugs in exchange for something. So here’s what I’m thinking. David was providing you with pot and you guys were forming your sibling bond and all that, but D…Darrin was selling you something else. When your money ran out, he offered you an alternative way to get the drugs you’d become addicted to. Before you even realized what was happening, he was treating you like a piece of meat instead of a human being, and in exchange for supplying you with drugs, Darrin sent you around to Chicago’s sleaziest motels. Am I right?”
The way Mandy’s lip trembled and her pale cheeks flushed, Alexa suspected she had nailed the story down perfectly.
“He used you, Mandy,” she said, losing the confrontational tone that had gotten the girl’s attention. “He got you hooked on drugs knowing he could manipulate you and turn you into something you never wanted to be so he could make money off selling you. You aren’t the first girl he’s done this to, are you? There are others. You reached out to Dean, you texted him and asked for help, because you know this isn’t the life you want or deserve.”
Something that looked like guilt filled Mandy’s eyes just before she lowered her face.
“You said you ran away from your handler. Was that true?”
The girl nodded but didn’t look up.
“You ran away and came home.”
Defiance had filled her eyes when she lifted her head. “Because I knew where Dean kept his cash. I hit the road the first chance I got, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did. But I think part of you reached out to Dean and went home to Dean because you knew he’d find a way to help you. You knew he was the one who would step in and help you. David isn’t go
ing to help you, Mandy. He’s going to give you drugs and listen to you gripe about how hard your life is and how unfairly Dean treats you, but he isn’t going to help you.”
“Dean isn’t my father. He’s my brother. He never acted like that. He always just tried to—”
“Push you to do better. To be better. Maybe he wasn’t perfect, maybe he was too hard on you, but that’s because he loves you. He hired me because he has been scared to death about what has been happening to you. He’s the only one who has been looking for you, Mandy. Everyone else wrote you off. Dean is the only one who didn’t give up on you.”
“He had me arrested.”
“Because this was the last chance he had to get you help. And you are going to get help. Whether you get sober sitting in a cold jail for the next few months or sitting in a comfortable rehab center is up to you, but you will get sober. The rehab center is nicer, kinder, and will give you a better chance at continued sobriety. A jail cell will keep you confined long enough to get the drugs out of your system. Dean isn’t punishing you. Someday you’ll see that and understand that this isn’t how he wanted things to go. But this is where we are. This is where you are. And you are in a position to help me stop Darrin from destroying other young women the way he has destroyed you. I just need his last name.”
Mandy looked at the plain wall again, but her mind was clearly trying to work through the scenario Alexa had laid before her.
“You can get out of here today, Mandy. Tell me Darrin’s last name and agree to get treatment, and you’ll be in a car on the way to a rehab center tonight.”
“He uses several names. You won’t find him by running his name through some database.”
“So how do I find him?”
Mandy pondered for several seconds before looking at Alexa again. When she did, her eyes were filled with tears. “He’ll be on social media. Use the hashtag d4dank. All one word, the number four. He’ll answer.”
“Which platform?”
“Any. He’s very industrious.” Frowning, she picked at a broken nail for a few seconds before meeting Alexa’s gaze. “The lady from the rehab center said I won’t be allowed contact with anyone for a few months.”
“That’s right. It’s best if you cut ties for a while so you can focus on getting clean.”
“So I guess…I won’t see Dean for a while, then?”
Alexa shook her head, not certain why Mandy was asking.
“Tell him…tell him I didn’t mean for this to happen.” She blinked rapidly, but the tears in her eyes fell. “It’s not his fault I messed up.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Hey,” Mandy called as Alexa stood. “This is bigger than Darrin. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“Taking him down isn’t going to change anything.”
Holding her gaze, she offered Mandy a soft smile. “That’s not true, honey. It will change everything for the girls he was planning to traffic. I’ll see you when you get out of rehab.”
Dean did his best to keep his mind off his troubles, but they seemed to be all-consuming. As soon as he could stop dwelling on having his sister arrested, he started thinking about the role his stepbrother had in her downward spiral. Dean was slightly relieved now that Mandy had confirmed to Alexa that Darrin was the man who pulled her into the sex ring, but Dean couldn’t help but think David unintentionally encouraged her down the path to taking harsher drugs. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop dreading the next layer in this family drama.
However, all that faded to black when someone knocked on the door and he glanced at his watch. Rubbing his hands together, he glanced at the dining room table on his way to the door. Two place settings, a bottle of wine, and candles just waiting to be lit. Perfect.
Pulling the door open, he froze upon seeing Alexa dressed up for Halloween. She had drawn an exaggerated widow’s peak on her forehead. A tight black dress showed off a more than ample amount of her full cleavage. “You are the sexiest damn vampiress the world has ever seen.”
She muttered a response he couldn’t understand before she spit a set of vampire teeth into her palm. “We’ve got candy to hand out in”—she checked her watch—“ninety minutes. Where is your costume?”
He looked down at his jeans and Def Leppard T-shirt. Stepping aside, he gestured for her to enter. “In the closet. Unlike you, I can be ready in five minutes.”
“Oh.” She playfully swatted his arm as she leaned up and kissed him. “You look tired.”
“You look amazing.”
“Yeah? Maybe if you’re good, I’ll wear this well after trick-or-treating is over.”
Sliding his arm around her back, he pulled her against him. “I’ve always wanted to have sex with the undead.”
She drew a breath as if to speak but then tilted her nose up. “Whatever you are cooking smells peppery and delicious.”
“It is peppery and delicious. And just about ready. Drop your bags on the couch and I’ll serve.”
He looked over his shoulder when she squealed with excitement. Peering at the bowl full of little faces he’d drawn on the candy-filled plastic eggs, she set her briefcase and overnight bag down and then snagged an egg and laughed.
“These are fantastic, Dean. Your mom would love that you did this.”
“I think so, too.” He actually had enjoyed drawing faces on the eggs and slipping treats inside, knowing the kids who came to the door would think what he’d done was fun. He’d never cared before, but he thought he might be starting to understand why his mom and sister had always gotten so excited for the holidays. Participating in something other than getting his friends together to toilet-paper each other’s houses like he’d done when he was younger was pretty cool. Hearing Alexa’s little laughs of approval wasn’t so bad either.
Dean didn’t want to ask, didn’t want to cloud this feeling of happiness he’d found, but he couldn’t stop himself. “How did it go with Mandy?” he pressed as he checked the dinner he’d been cooking.
Dropping a plastic egg back into the bowl, his little vampiress crossed the room and leaned on the counter. “She gave me the information I need to find Darrin. And she agreed to rehab.”
His heart swelled. “She did?”
“And she asked me to tell you that none of this is your fault. Things just got out of her control.”
“She’s not angry at me?”
“Well,” she sighed, “I wouldn’t go that far, but I think she’s beginning to understand.”
He looked down at the pork chop he was serving. “So. How are you going to find him?”
“I’m not. I gave the information to the police so they can set up a sting and catch him. We’re going to let them handle it.”
Dean held his breath as something shot through him. Not anger, exactly, but this sense that letting the police handle it wasn’t enough. They’d set up a drug bust, arrest him for selling, and he’d get a slap on the wrist for being a drug dealer. But he was so much more. He was the reason Mandy had fallen so far. He could still vividly recall Alexa’s voice as she explained what certified clean meant and what that implied. He fisted his hand so tightly around the knife he was holding, his knuckles turned white and started to ache.
“Dean,” Alexa called, pulling him from his rage.
He looked over his shoulder at her.
“The police are going to handle it. They’ll do a thorough investigation based on the information I gave them. They know to dig deeper than a few bags of weed.”
Swallowing, he forced himself to nod. “Good. I’m glad.” Turning, skillet in hand, he dropped a chop on each plate and then served mashed potatoes and fresh green beans. He’d gone all out for his first show of domesticity for Alexa. For some reason, showing her he could take care of her was important to him. He wanted her to know she could count on him.
The same way he needed to prove to Mandy that she could count on him.
As Alexa leaned forward and inhaled the scents risin
g from her plate, moaning her appreciation, Dean glanced at her bags on the sofa. He knew from experience she wrote everything in the little notebook she kept in her briefcase. The one she had used to make notes for Mandy’s case had a red cover. He’d memorized the way the cardstock cover had frayed at the edge from the way Alexa ran her finger over it while thinking.
The notebooks she used were cheap when bought in bulk, but the contents were invaluable. He’d learned that, too, but until that moment, he hadn’t realized just how invaluable. The information Mandy had given to Alexa was inside, jotted down in neat print with the most important bits underlined twice.
Taking a breath, he smiled at the woman complimenting his culinary skills. “Mom taught me to cook before I went to college so I wouldn’t be forced to live on pasta and pizza. I still did,” he said with a shrug, “but at least I could impress the girls if I needed to.”
Alexa gave him a brilliant smile. “Ahh. I see. How many other girls have fallen victim to your fancy cooking?”
“None. I couldn’t stop being a dork long enough to get them to my kitchen.”
She giggled. “Good thing dork is the new stud.”
“Good thing.” Carrying their plates, he led her to the dining room. He set their plates down and grabbed the wine to fill their glasses as she took a seat. “I think I owe you a little romance, don’t you?”
“I don’t know about owing me, but I certainly am not complaining.”
With the wine poured and the candles lit, he sat and grabbed her hand. “She was doing okay? Really?”
“As well as could be expected. She’s angry and bitter and a little acidic, but physically, she’s okay. She’s going to get through this. Thanks to you and your determination to help her.” Putting her palm to his cheek, she caressed his face. “You have done everything you can to save her.”
He let a flat laugh rise from his throat. “I hear a but coming at the tail end of that.”
“But she has to save herself now. She has to work the program and fight to stay sober once she leaves it. If she gets out of rehab and chooses to get high again, that’s her choice. Her failure. Not yours. Okay?”