He settled back on the corner of his desk, studying her curiously. He knew from Ava that Alexia was back in town and supposedly engaged. He hadn’t expected to see her, though, so the surprise was hard to shake. “I am surprised, although it’s nice to see you, too. You look . . . well.” Shit, why had he mentioned anything about her appearance?
A laugh erupted from her at his words and finally he saw a brief glimpse of the woman he once loved. “You’re a terrible liar, Brant, you always were. Even when I really didn’t want to hear it, you gave it to me straight. I always admired that about you,” she added almost absently.
Attempting to lighten the mood, Brant smiled, asking, “Is that the only thing you admired?”
His attempt seemed to have the opposite effect as she shook her head solemnly. “No, it’s not. I’m here because I’m counting on your strongest quality . . . loyalty. I know we haven’t been involved for years, but I also know you would never turn your back on someone you cared about. I . . . I need help, Brant. I don’t have anywhere else to turn.” When tears welled in her eyes, Brant grabbed a tissue from the container on his desk and handed it to her.
Fuck, a crying female and it was his ex-fiancée to boot. This morning had officially taken a nosedive from promising to unsettling.
“Alexia . . . what’s wrong?” Brant was starting to get nervous. What was going on here? This didn’t sound like someone needing a loan or wanting absolution for past sins. He found himself not wanting to ask but really he had no choice. “Tell me what I can do to help you? It can’t be as bad as you think.”
“Well, let me see,” she said. Lifting her fingers, she started ticking off her problems for him. “I’m fresh out of rehab after a drug overdose. I’m engaged to the doctor who helped me get into rehab. My parents, who were thrilled with the whole doctor-engagement thing, just found out that their daughter was a former junkie and are terrified that someone else will find out. And my friends, who are still using, have been calling me every day wanting to get together. I can’t seem to get a moment’s peace from anyone in my life!”
Still dazed, Brant asked, “Drug abuse?”
Now it was Alexia’s turn to look at him in surprise. “Surely you must have known? I mean, I was clean when we started dating, but Josie . . . she got me into things that I couldn’t control. It started out with just a few drinks and after a while, those drinks turned into hard alcohol. Finally, it progressed into harder stuff like cocaine, heroin and crystal meth. I . . . knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop.”
Rolling up the sleeve of her shirt, she showed him her arm, covered with dozens of scars that must have been track marks. Taking a deep breath, she added, “By rights, I should already be dead. I woke up more than once in a strange bed, or on the street.”
“Where the fuck was Josie during those times?” Brant demanded. When she flinched, he lowered his voice, fighting for control. “Didn’t she care what was happening to you?”
“I don’t know,” Alexia admitted. “I think it was funny to her at first. You know, take the innocent new friend out and loosen her up. I realize now that she liked having me around because I funded the party for her. I received a check from my father’s company, plus I had a nice savings account that my parents had set up for me when I was younger. Josie never seemed to have any money, so I automatically paid for everything when we were together, including the drugs. She usually took off with her boyfriend during the evening and I somehow made it home most of the time. After you and I broke up, though, I really went off the rails. Knowing you were there was the only thing that kept me in check until then.”
“And your parents? Did they have any clue as to what was going on?”
Alexia shook her head. “Not for a while, or at least I don’t think so. I had never been a problem child so they probably overlooked the initial signs. When they found out, they really didn’t know how to deal with it.”
“How did they find out?” Brant asked quietly.
Alexia dropped her head in her hands. “My mom walked in on me shooting up. The one thing I remember from that moment is how confused she looked. Her mind simply couldn’t grasp what she was seeing: her daughter with a rubber band around her arm, injecting something. The sad thing is that I could have probably talked my way out of it had I not panicked. I think at that moment, regardless of what she thought, she would have jumped at any other explanation. I just started blabbering how sorry I was over and over. Unfortunately, my father was walking by at that exact moment and heard the commotion. Unlike my mother’s shock, he was livid. He yelled, threatened me and generally went ballistic. He demanded that I pack my bags and get ready to go to a clinic that night. When they left my room, I called Josie and had her pick me up at the end of the driveway. I snuck out of the house and left. Other than making friends with Josie in the first place, that was the worst mistake I ever made.”
“What did you do after that? Did your parents look for you?”
Another tear escaped the corner of her eye as she said, “I’m sure they did for a while, but what could they do really? I was an adult. Even making bad decisions, there was nothing they could do to make me come home legally. I had a bank account in my name, which meant they couldn’t freeze that either. God, I almost wish they had been able to. Maybe if the money had run out sooner, I’d have been forced to go home before all of this happened.”
Curious despite himself, Brant asked, “What made you come back?”
“They say you have to hit rock bottom before you admit that you have a problem and that finally happened to me. I was at a party and overdosed on cocaine. There were a few big names at the party and one of them had a bodyguard with him. If not for him being there and sober, I’d probably be dead. He had medic training and knew the signs. All I remember is feeling like my heart was going to burst from my chest. My body temperature had also risen so high that they had to dip me in an ice water bath at the hospital. The doctor there just gave it to me straight. He said I was damn lucky I hadn’t had a heart attack and that if I continued, that was just around the corner. I cried then, while he stood there looking at me. I’m sure he had seen junkies like me before and had long since lost any sympathy for them. He offered me a place in a treatment program he sponsored and I accepted. I don’t think either of us really believed I would do it. He looked surprised when I asked him the next morning to be transferred into it.”