Sound Effects and Overdramatics

"I fucked up. Again." I told Luce. I was pacing the bedroom my mother had been kind enough to put me in. The bathroom was en suite, but she'd had her husband remove the door.

I still had a bedroom door, but a body guard stood on the other side of it. My own personal escort. I went nowhere without him and no one came in without his clearance.

The bedroom window locked from the outside. They hadn't bothered with the bathroom window, and I wasn't desperate enough to use it yet.

The phone wasn't even mine-it was a landline husband number four had installed, just for me.
My guess was that it was tapped so they were listening in, or at least recording.

"Where's your sister? Shouldn't she be raising hell right about now?"

"She's in Vegas with Brian until tomorrow. I doubt she even knows."

Because if she did, she'd drag Brian on the first flight back to get me out of here.

I had to believe that. It was the only thing I had left, because if she knew, and wasn't coming for me, it meant she'd finally given up, and I wasn't sure I could handle that.

"And what about the rest of them? They aren't gonna do anything?"

I chuckled bitterly and fell onto the bed. "I'm on my own this time, Luce. Maybe it's what I need."

She didn't believe me. I didn't believe myself.

"Ian is getting out of the hospital later. Can you do me a favor and check on him for me?"

"Sure, doll. You want me to bring him over?"

I sighed. I wanted to see him, but after showing up blitzed yesterday, I was pretty sure he didn't want to see me. "Ask him. Don't push it."

"Alright. I can come over, if you want."

"You'd have to make it through Monica, Steven, and the Hulk sitting outside my door."

"Leave them to me. I'll see you in a bit."

"Bye."

She hung up without saying anything. I put the phone back in its cradle and laid back, my legs hanging off the edge of the bed. I stared at the ceiling, trying not to claw my way out of my skin.

I hadn't had a hit in twelve hours. The sweats had started, but not the shakes. I was only the slightest bit nauseous. One of my stipulations was eating meals with Monica and her husband, to make sure I actually ate, and I wasn't thrilled about having an audience, so I hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours. At least.

It was only the beginning of drying me out. Monica didn't want the scandal of putting me in an actual facility. God forbid her reputation got thrown around because of her druggie son. It wouldn't do at all.

Plus, Monica had made some other calls. Apparently she was well connected. The judge who was supposed to have been over my case next month went ahead and sentenced me to probation and daily drug testing without having to go through the whole court process. Lucky me.

I scratched at the crook of my arm, where Lala had injected the needle and filled my body with heroin. It had been a new sensation, a pleasant one, and one I wanted to experience again, despite the come down.

Goddammit.

To try and distract myself, I took a shower, making the water as hot as I could to chase away the chill that never quite left after you got sober.

I dressed in the only clothes I had, stuff picked out for me by my mother, maybe her husband. A five pack of black Hanes t-shirts, a couple pairs of grey sweatpants, a pack of socks, and a pack of boxers.

Someone had stock in the Wal-Mart corporation.

My body shook as I put clothes on. I dropped my socks several times before actually managing to get them on my feet. I wanted to see Ian, but if by some miracle Luce did manage to convince him to see me, I didn't want it to be like this.

He deserved so much better. Better than me, better than Gabe, better than this shit hole city.

I opened the door. The security detail Monica had hired turned, waiting for me to say something. He was tall, clearing six feet, with a buzz cut and toned arms. He wasn't as buff as Matt, but he definitely worked out. How he managed to land being my babysitter was beyond me, but I could tell he wasn't thrilled about it.

"You have a name?" I asked.

"Trey."

"Right. Okay, babysitter, here's what's up. You're not gonna follow me all over this house. I like my space, yeah? Just kick it in the living room or some shit. I don't give a fuck, but don't be up my ass. Got it?"

"The way I see it, you don't give the orders around here. Mr. Priestly is my employer. Ms. Priestly makes the rules. I like my job. I like my paycheck. So some punk ass druggie who's drying out isn't going to tell me how to do my job. Now, I'd be more than happy to ask Ms. Priestly to address any issues you have. Or, I can escort you to wherever you want to go, provided it's approved by your mother and her husband."

I didn't say anything. He silently followed me to the kitchen and watched while I made some toast and poured a glass of grapefruit juice, more out of necessity than any actual desire to eat. On the counter was a medicine box. Underneath was a note written by my mother with my name on it.

Vitamins, to help me on my way to recovery and path to wellness.

I looked at Trey. "You gonna tell her if I don't take these?"

"Of course."

I rolled my eyes. I wouldn't be able to get away with anything with him around. I took the handful of vitamins and walked out the open french doors to the patio. He dutifully followed.

After I begrudgingly ate my breakfast and finished the glass of juice, I took a towel off the iron rack that sat next to the door and brought it with me to the edge of the pool. Sparing no qualms about my new limb, I stripped off all my clothes and drove into the pool naked.

I swam the entire length underwater. When I came up for air on the other side, he showed no signs of caring whether I was naked or clothed.

It was easy to be indifferent when you were getting paid the high end of five figures to watch a grown man.

Sometime later, Luce came up the driveway. She stepped out of her car in a sherbet orange sundress and strappy sandals and raced right towards me. I pulled myself out of the pool and started drying off, not wanting to get her clothes wet. Before she could reach me, Trey stepped in the way.

"Who are you?"

"His girlfriend. Can I see him, please?"

"You can put your bag back in your vehicle or I can search it. Your choice."

She gave a dramatic eye roll before returning her over-sized purse to its perma-residence of the passenger seat and skipped back over.

"Can I kiss him or are you gonna strip search me, too?"

"Go ahead, miss. It's just protocol."

I embraced her, putting my hands over her hips and giving her a deep kiss. She pressed her body against mine and flicked her tongue over my bottom lip.

If she was putting on this kind of show, it meant that Ian wasn't with her.

I couldn't help but feel my heart shatter.

"Let's go inside." I whispered to her. I couldn't keep my hands off her as Trey followed us back to my room. Part of it was because I needed the sex and part of it was to see how much I could get away with before getting a rise out of Trey. I wanted to make him as uncomfortable as possible.

At the door to my room, I had to stop him from coming in. "It's gonna be a while. I can tell Monica if you want. Put a sock on the door."

He scowled. I smirked. There wasn't anything in my mother's rules about me having sex. Maybe after today there would be, but I was going to enjoy it while I could.

I shut the door in his face and pulled Luce into my lap, burying myself inside her, trying to get lost.

She was as good of a distraction as any.