Complicated Relationships (The Southern Devotion Series Book 3) (10 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Boogie Fever

Lanie kept  me in suspense about our date even to the point of driving us herself. When we arrived, I wished she'd spoken up beforehand. "We're at a skating rink."

She bobbed her head grinning from ear to ear. "I've always wanted to go skating with a guy like in the older movies. You up for it?"

"I've never even put on a pair of roller skates."

"Shut up! Are you kidding?"

"At this moment I wish I was." Dread washed over me as my manly pride slinked away into the back seat while the petrified scaredy-cat took over. It's best this is our fourth date, I think, I'm losing count. She likes me so hopefully she won't hold my clumsiness against me.

"If you want to go somewhere else, we can." Her attempt to offer a way out was brimming with disappointment. Inside I screamed for her to take me anywhere but here. Being a guy who wants to impress a girl, I caved.

"How hard can it be, right?" That's the dumbest thing I'd ever said. Any trace evidence of confidence I might have had went out the window as soon as I tied the skates and stood up. "Whoa!" I said as my feet tried to roll out from under me.

"Go slow, you'll pick it up once you figure out how to maintain your balance. Watch." Lanie rolled out to the concrete rink as though she was a pro at this. My eyes left her body momentarily to look around for the nearest exit. She skated a full circle around the rink at one point doing a spin then squatting down to make a curve and standing back up again to swivel her hips as she danced back to me.

"Do you skate all the time?"

"Nope. I haven’t done this since I was a teenager; it's been probably eight years? I think I was fifteen last time I went skating." She held her hand out to me, "Take my hand, and we'll go slow."

One hand clasped hers while the other held onto the wall as I skated like an old man. Baby steps, stomping the skate down with each step; I'd never felt less sexy. Lanie let go of my hand and skated backward as she stepped in front of me. When we rounded the corner, her back was to everyone but me. She unbuttoned one button of her blouse giving me a view of her cleavage and said, "If you can skate to me, I'll unbutton more." 

And suddenly I was inspired to try as my body remembered how it felt to be naked against her. Her pink satin bra mocked me as it held her perfect breasts the way I wanted to. I thought I'd found my stability to make my way to her, and then part of my body threw me off course. My feet slid forward without my body following throwing me off balance, and the concrete floor grabbed my ass before hitting me in the head. "Ouch." 

Lanie gasped then skated to me and bent over me. "Are you alright?" Her shirt hung open with her breasts fully visible, and if there hadn't been others in the skating rink, I might have pulled her down on top of me right this second.

"My pride hurts worse than my head." I tried to sit up and stopped myself. "Oh, I take that back; my head is pounding." 

Lanie grabbed my elbow and helped me sit up. "Let's get these skates off before you stand up."  She unlaced my skates the same as a parent would for a child making my manhood feel even less noticeable.

Gently, I grabbed her hand. "Let me do it. I already feel childish enough."

Lanie pulled away from me her face displayed a bit of hurt and embarrassment. She stood up to roll over to the bench and closed the three buttons on her blouse. She sat there for a moment as though deep in thought. The terrible rolling contraptions were now off, and my socked feet were almost as slippery on the slick concrete as the skates were. This date has been a disaster. I'd need to figure out some way to save it.

"I'm sorry about making you feel childish or embarrassed today. I only wanted us to have fun." Lanie said as she untied her skates.

Kneeling before her, I lifted her chin. "You didn’t embarrass me. I embarrassed myself. I felt silly for not even being able to stand up on the dang things. I'd like a chance to make it up to you though."  Lanie smiled and gave an agreeable nod.

Trying to figure out a way to accommodate another of her romantic fantasies is difficult for a guy who neither lived in the eighties or one who knew very few movies from that era. While Lanie excused herself to the bathroom, I texted Cameron.

Me:
Lanie took me skating, and I fell on my ass. I need another romantic sentiment from eighties' movies.

Cameron
: Skating? Ouch. Ooh, I have the perfect idea. Let's forego romantic for the moment and make her laugh instead. Give me a call, and I can explain.

Cameron's idea was not the one I expected at all, but it would make Lanie smile and probably get me a lot of points in the creativity department. I'd admit to her afterward that Cameron helped.

"Can we stop by my house for a few minutes?"  I asked when Lanie returned. She agreed, so we headed home. Angel was at work, and Macy was spending the night with her friend from school. "Stay down here I'll be back."  Lanie took a seat on the couch reaching out to grab a magazine off the coffee table to thumb through as she waited.

I changed into a button down white shirt and left my socks on, grabbed a pair of sunglasses and snuck back downstairs into the kitchen without her noticing my return. The song I needed was already pulled up on YouTube as I had to watch the video and learn the dance moves as best as I could in a short time.

As the entry music played, I slid in my socked feet down the hallway until I stood in front of the living room entrance. I used my phone as a microphone, so the music stayed loud. Lanie looked up astounded as I reenacted Tom Cruise's entire dance scene in
Risky Business
. At the end of the scene, he flopped down dancing on the couch, but I couldn’t do with Lanie sitting there. I compromised and lowered myself above her as the smile on her face turned into a look of desire.

Our lips met while we frantically pulled at the others clothes. The pink satin bra that I'd been thinking about for the last few hours came into view, and I bowed my head to kiss the top of her breasts. She squirmed beneath me, and when I sat up slightly, she reached up and ripped my shirt open the rest of the way popping buttons off in the process. Her eyes drifted down my body to my black boxer briefs. There was no way I was going to wear white briefs even to stay true to the movie. She bit her lip before pushing me onto the floor. With a leg on either side of my hips, she lowered herself onto my lap grinding against me. My want for her pushed at the material of my boxer briefs. She removed her shirt off her shoulders then reached behind herself and unlatched the bra letting her breasts spill free.

Her skin was soft and smooth as I moved my hands up her torso running my thumbs below her breasts before cupping them. Lanie leaned forward giving me a chance to slip my boxer briefs down before she sat back and drifted into a state of ecstasy with me. Our make-out session began frantically fast but once the sex began it became slow and different than anything I'd experienced.

After reaching our peaks, Lanie lay beside me on the floor with her leg across mine. She ran her fingers over my chest drawing what felt like hearts with her finger. My lips pressed against her forehead and lingered for a moment. She had sighed with contentment before she drifted off to sleep. I leaned forward and pulled the blanket off the couch to cover us. No one was expected home for hours, but I didn’t need to cause her any embarrassment if someone came home and found us naked on the living room floor.

Two hours later we'd both had a decent nap. Lanie woke me up by planting kisses on my face. "Hey handsome," she remarked when I opened my eyes. When my hand moved to cup her face, she turned her mouth to kiss my palm lovingly.

"I didn’t get a chance to ask what you thought of my surprise."

Lanie giggled softly, "I thought I made my approval pretty obvious. It was great, Tristan."

"I have to confess I got the idea from Cameron."

"You consulted Cameron for a romantic idea?" She asked this sounding curious, but I couldn’t tell if she was annoyed or angry as well.

"I haven't seen many of the eighties' movies and he has, I hope you're not mad."

"No, I think it's amazingly sweet that you wanted to do something so much that you got help to make it special. I love…it." The it sounded a bit choked out as though she began to say something else. It made me nervous but excited to think she almost confessed her love for me. I still don’t know if I'm in love with her, but I assume that when I am I'll be able to say it with no problem.

"I'm glad you loved it." I tried to pretend as though I didn’t know her difficulty in changing that phrase. It felt good to know her feelings; I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about them yet though. I won't tell her I love her until I'm sure. I'd never lie about something like that, especially to a girl like Lanie. She's too important to me.

Lanie sat up and grabbed my nemesis the pink satin bra. Her arms were around her back trying to clasp it. Tracing my fingers over hers, I took the straps from her and clasped it before pressing my lips against her back. She turned her head to smile at me and say, "Don’t make me get dressed only to get naked again."

Smirking I said, "Why not? It's more fun getting undressed."

Chapter Eighteen

Minty Fresh

“Hey kiddo, you ready for school?” I asked Macy as I ruffled her hair. After things became copacetic with Lanie and Angel seemed to be doing better, I'd decided I would ask Derrick and MJ to help me pay for camp as a loan. They offered to loan me the money to cover it all, but I only needed half so that I could pay them back quicker. Macy was ecstatic to hear that she'd be able to go. It only lasted a week and seemed the best way to end her summer break. The week she had been gone was torture for me. I spent as much time as I could with Lanie though she had a lot of meetings in order to get ready for the new school year. When I wasn't with Lanie, I worked to earn extra money.

When Macy returned, she seemed happier and more excited than ever to begin her final year of high school. Several students from her school at attended and it allowed her to make new friends.

The next few months went by without much drama for a change. Business at the bar was steady, and tips were filling my bank account nicely.

Macy was in her third month of senior year, and things seemed to be on track for everyone. Lanie and I had been going strong. We made an effort to see each other at least two nights a week when our schedules could work it out. Her school hours and my bartending hours didn’t match up of course, so it was a struggle to find free time. We made it work though.

“I have my backpack ready; there are a few toiletries I need though if you're going to the store today. Can you pick me up some mouthwash, shampoo, and conditioner?”

“There's plenty of mouthwash upstairs. Go grab the bottle out of my bathroom.”

“That’s what I planned to do this morning; you're out too though.”

My head spun around to face her. “What? Didn't I buy it a week ago? That was a huge bottle, are you freaking drinking it?” And then it dawned on me. “Nevermind. I’ll run to the store and leave it for you tonight before I go to work.”

I left Macy in the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time. It occurred to me that the mouthwash has alcohol in it and could be the drink of choice for someone who is being monitored for alcohol abuse as I’ve been doing to Angel the past few months.

Her room was a mess; Angel’s been a slob for as long as I  knew her and according to Mary Jane it started years ago. First I checked her trash cans that were full but nothing alcohol related in any of them.  The trash had built up so much that I started tying bags to trudge them downstairs with me. She had clothes strewn everywhere. The laundry basket sat emptily by the window, so I started tossing things inside it. When I jerked up a shirt that stuck out from under the bed, two empty bottles of mouthwash tumbled from it along with several small airplane size bottles of alcohol. It’s clear that Angel was an alcoholic on a downward spiral beyond the realm of sobering on her own. I needed help in making sure she got sober and stayed that way.

Even further under her bed were empty bottles of Whiskey, Vodka, and Moonshine. “Damn it, Angel.” 

“Tristan!” I heard Macy call from downstairs, “Mary Jane’s here!”

Promise or no promise I’m helping my friend. “Send her up to Angel’s room, please!”

Mary Jane appeared a few minutes later. She placed her hand on her hip and peered around the room. “You should make Angel clean her room instead of doing it for her.”  She must have noticed the stress on my face because she sat down on the bed next to where I sat on the floor. “What’s wrong?” 

Holding up the bag of trash, I said, “Look at all of this.” 

Mary Jane’s brow creased with confusion, “Maybe those have been over a long period?”  When I reached in and pulled out the mouthwash bottles, her expression became distressed.

“I bought both of these less than a month ago. This one I bought last week. I think she’s drinking it for the alcohol effect and covering up anything like Whiskey on her breath. I found her passed out a few months ago, and when I tried to help her, she became belligerent then fell and cut her head on the coffee table. I promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone if she got help, and then I find these,” I say holding up the mouthwash bottles again.

“You can’t keep a secret like that; T. This is too big for you to take on alone.”

“I know. Every time I turn around it’s affecting my relationship with Lanie too. I’ve been through a lot in my life Mary Jane, and I face things head on and always get through them. Angel is beyond my help. I don’t know what to do for her.” Sympathy rolled over her features; for me, for Angel, for all of us. Things like this have a way of breaking relationships, of ruining a person's life. If we confront her and she refuses to get help, then she'll turn away from us diving deeper into despair.

“Let me talk to Gracie and Cameron and see what they think about doing an intervention. Angel’s stubborn, it won’t be easy to get her help, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try.” Mary Jane moved to the closet then returned a few minutes later with another handful of small bottles.

"Damnit. I went through this entire house with her this summer. We cleaned out four or five boxes of hard liquor from the house and her car. I thought she was doing better."
              Mary Jane took inventory of everything we had gathered. "She's probably drinking less than before but enough to keep from getting the shakes. I'm betting she rinses with the mouthwash several times a day to kill the liquor smell. She may be drinking it too as you think, but there are enough liquor bottles here that it doesn't seem like she'd need to."

"What the hell? Can't a girl get any damn privacy?" Angel stormed into the room grabbing the bag of trash from my hands before pushing her palm against my chest knocking me backward. "I've warned you before Tristan about my privacy!"

"And I warned you about what would happen if you keep drinking!" It's my turn to get up in her face. Mary Jane put a hand on each of us trying to calm us down. Angel screamed in frustration then shoved against Mary Jane's hand causing her to stumble backward and hit the floor. It happened in slow motion as Mary Jane tumbled backward hitting her head against the wall before landing hard on her hips.

Angel stood there dumbfounded while I bent to help MJ. "Go get the car ready now! And don’t think about driving. I'm getting her checked out."

Mary Jane pressed her hand to my shoulder. "I'm fine, sweetie."

"You're pregnant. We need to make sure the baby is fine."

Angel panicked. "MJ I never meant to push you. I'm sorry."

I shoved against Angel pushing her away, "Get out of here now! Stay the hell away from her." At this point, Angel was crying but I didn’t give a damn. I wrapped MJ's arm around my shoulder to support her as I lifted her up off the floor.  Once she was standing up straight, she bent forward slightly letting out a groan of pain. "Is it the baby?" She grabbed my shirt sleeve while nodding her head.

"Call Derrick for me, please. I want to go to the hospital, after all."

If anything happens to MJ's baby none of us would ever forgive Angel. Derrick arrived in record time panic rising from him as expected from an expectant father. He's already very over protective of his one child; a new one on the way was no exception.

"Call me and tell me what the doctor says."

Mary Jane agreed then said, "Don’t be hard on her, Tristan. It's a disease. She needs help to overcome it, and she needs her friends now more than ever. What happened was an accident. Angel would never hurt me on purpose. Promise me you'll help her."

I hesitated, unable to make such a promise as I wonder if my best friends are going to be mourning the loss of a child shortly. Mary Jane doesn’t let me get away without answering though. "Promise me, T. Please."

"I promise," I replied through clenched teeth hating the taste of the words in my mouth. "Be careful and don’t worry about anyone but yourself and that little one."

Angel hadn’t shown her face since everything went down. I took some time to myself to calm down from the events before going to see her. I searched the house for her finally noticing the closed bathroom door. Knocking seemed futile since she wouldn’t answer when I called out her name. "I'm sorry I screamed at you. We need to talk. Can I come in?" No answer. "Angel, answer me or I'll come in on my own." Still no response, so I turned the knob. She sat fully dressed in the bathtub with tears streaming down her face as her body trembled.

Before I knelt beside her, I grabbed the box of tissues sitting beside the sink taking them with me. Angel didn’t acknowledge my presence as though she was completely unaware of her surroundings. Her eyes were puffy; her hair disheveled with some clumps of hair in her hands from where she pulled at it. "Angel," I whispered her name as I reached out to blot her tears. She still didn’t move or speak or even shift her eyes.  Grabbing a hand towel, I wet one end with cool water to clean her face. The moment I touched her face with the cool rag her eyes closed.

Leaning forward, I kissed her cheek, "Talk to me, please."

My phone rang showing Derrick's number. I stepped away to answer in case the news was bad; Angel couldn’t handle it right now. "Hello?"

"Hey, man. Mary Jane asked me to call you. The doctor said the baby is fine. They said the shock to her body caused the cramps but didn’t do any damage. She wants Angel to know."

"Let me put you on speakerphone so that you can repeat that. I'm not sure Angel will believe me."

When Derrick was on speakerphone, he repeated everything he told me.  Angel's eyes drifted up, "Tristan," she said as though noticing me for the first time. 

I told Derrick I'd call him later and bent back down to Angel. "Hey sweetheart, I'm here. Mary Jane and the baby are fine, did you hear that?"

"Yes." She paused a moment before breaking into tears again, "I'm sorry."

Slipping my arms beneath her I lifted her up and carried her to her bed. She grabbed my shirt as I moved from her. "Stay with me, please. I'm scared to be alone. I want a drink right now."

I sat up against her headboard and Angel curled herself in my lap continuing to sob hysterically. I had no clue what to say or do, so I sat there running my fingers through her hair letting her release all her emotions.

Angel drifted off to sleep leaving me stuck beneath her weight. If I wanted to move her, I could, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her alone. I relaxed my head back and closed my eyes. A light knock on the door caught my attention. “Macy said I could find you up here.” Lanie stood in the doorway to Angel’s room frowning at the scene in front of her.

“It’s not what it looks like…” I started to say.

“It looks like a friend being there for another friend who needs them. That’s not what it is?” Lanie wasn’t jealous. The look she gave me was one of pity for Angel’s situation. She moved next to the bed leaning down to give me a soft kiss. “She’s pretty bad off isn’t she?” Lanie smoothed Angel’s hair from her face and felt her forehead. “She’s clammy. When she wakes up, she’s going to have the shakes pretty badly.” Lanie went to the bathroom and came back with a wet washcloth that she laid over Angel’s forehead. “A cold rag always helps soothe my head when I sleep. Hopefully, this will keep her from having a migraine when she wakes up.”

It felt like the right time finally, not the most romantic moment but the feeling was there, and I needed to express it. “I love you, Lanie.” 

She froze in place, not moving her eyes up to meet mine at first. When she did look up, her eyes were clouded over with tears. Fear encompassed me thinking it may be too soon, and she’s about to let me down easy until she smiled. “I love you too,” she said. Those simple words made me want to jump for joy. And they were said as easy as 'Good Morning'. No big romantic production, just an honest declaration of the connection we felt.

My grin was impossible to hide with this kind of elation bouncing around inside me. Lanie leaned forward to kiss me again, this time it lasted a little longer and felt a bit uncomfortable with Angel laying in my lap. “Now that we settled that, I think we should take a break.”

“What? Are you serious?”  A break is the last thing I expected or wanted.

“You know my feelings for you now, Tristan. You made a promise to help Angel, and she needs your full attention. I’m letting you go so you can be there for her. It's only temporary.” 

When I started to argue, she moved to the nightstand beside the bed and pulled open a hidden drawer that I hadn't known was there. Inside were more small bottles and a scattering of pills all shapes and colors. “How did you know that drawer was there?” 

Lanie sighed, “My mom had a similar nightstand. It’s where she kept her drugs and drug money so that no one else could find it. One day she passed out before she closed it all the way, and that’s how I knew.” 

The pills kept my attention. Alcohol I knew about, but drugs? There had to be a hundred pills in the drawer; blue ones, yellow ones, and some were capsules of different colors. “I didn’t know about drugs, that explains some of the mood swings though.” Angel looked peaceful asleep in my lap, not at all like an alcoholic with a pill addiction. “I’m scared, Lanie. I don’t know if I can handle this on my own.”