Now it was the 20th of December. While all the other girls were getting ready to get the hell away from Crestview Academy for three weeks, she was dreading going home. She'd just gotten off of the phone with Lindsey, telling her that she was going to stay at school another couple of days to catch up on studying so she didn't need to buy the bus ticket until Friday
What was she going to do now she thought? She could probably call Jude, since Molli had left after lunch. But she didn't feel that desperate. And she was still apt to slug him after he'd told Tony that they'd slept together.
What she was going to do was swallow her pride and give it one more try with Tony. And if he rejected her again, then she really would be desperate she thought. She didn't think that she could stand going home and putting up with Lindsey and Langston without having gotten laid first.
Her heart was beating fast as she headed out the door, brushing past girls that were lugging out bags like they were going home for three months instead of three weeks, when she just had her duffel bag and her purse. She dialed Tony's number and wondered if it would be better if he did answer or didn't.
His cell number rang two times and then switched over to a message about the number being disconnected. So he'd changed his number she thought.
She thought that he still had a house phone, at least last she knew; though that was seemingly forever ago. She found the number on a crumpled piece of paper in the bottom of her purse.
She stepped out onto the road, and seeing no cars in sight, she pulled out Tony's number and squinted at it, the light of her phone barely enough to make out the fading digits.
She dialed slowly, walking and finishing her smoke. It rang and rang at the other end. At least it wasn't disconnected she thought.
After at least fifteen rings, a voice said "Hello?"
"Tony?" It almost didn't sound like him.
"Tory?"
"Yeah Tony I. . ."
Then it sounded like he dropped the phone and it went dead. She called again and got a busy signal. He'd taken the phone off of the hook she thought. He'd sounded strange on the phone though and she was a little worried. What if something bad had happened to him? If Tony was sick or hurt, she couldn't leave him there by himself.
The thought that he probably still had his cell phone and could dial 911 if he needed to briefly passed through her head but she brushed it away as she hurried towards his house. By the time she got there she was running.
His car was in the driveway. It looked like he'd had another accident. The damn thing was worthless now, probably wouldn't start she thought. His front door was ajar, and the kitchen light was on. She could see the light from his bedroom. His house was in a state of total disarray; worse than the last time she'd seen it.
There were dirty dishes crusted with food piled in the sink. The living room TV was frozen on a bloody scene in a video game, one of the controllers looked like someone had stepped on it, and there were porno mags sitting open on the couch.
She heard a quiet moan from the bedroom and hurried towards the room, thinking that maybe Tony was hurt. She peeked into the room cautiously, and saw that the moaning was coming from the TV. He'd brought the TV in from the other room and there was a porno flick on the screen.
"Tony.”
Other than the flicker of the TV the room was dark. She flicked the light switch and nothing happened. She looked towards the bed and saw Tony sitting up, not looking at her, not looking like he knew she was there. Oh crap she thought what if he was dead?
She hurried towards the bathroom and turned the light on, leaving the door wide open so that she could get a better look at Tony. "Tony," she said again.
He grunted. At least he was alive she thought. His eyes had drifted closed by the time she reached him. She shook him gently, then more firmly. He looked up at her and blinked.
"What?" His eyes closed again.
"Tony are you okay?"
He was naked, the bed sheets in a tangle on the floor, a fifth of whiskey half empty on the table, a cigarette smoldering in the overflowing ashtray, a used syringe on the nightstand. She noticed the tourniquet still tied loosely around his arm. She moved past him to extinguish the cigarette, and untied the tourniquet and tossed it aside.
She wanted to cry. He'd lost weight, and she could see obvious needle marks on his arms. His arm was bruised like he'd missed the vein a time or two. He hadn't moved when she'd rid him of the tourniquet and now he was breathing heavily through his mouth, obviously asleep.
She wanted to crawl into his lap and tell him how much she loved him. Sex wasn't on her mind at the moment and normally she wouldn't be thinking of anything else with him nude before her. She shook him again. He looked up at her with suspicion in his eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Tony, baby.” Then she did crawl up onto his lap. "Wake up honey. Look at me. I want to help you Tony. I love you and I'm not going to let you do this to yourself. I don't care if you hate me. I'm going to get you help."
"How the fuck can you help me Tory?" His eyes were closed again. But his arms had closed around her when she'd moved into them, almost as if by instinct.
"I'll do anything Tony, I swear. I'll leave as soon as you get help if you want. Or I'll stay with you. C'mon babe wake up."
"I'm so tired Tory, just let me sleep."
"No honey. You're scaring me and I don't know what to do with you. You can't go to sleep on me now. What if you don't wake up?"
"Don't be stupid Tory. I'm fine."
She snuggled her head into his chest, torn. What if he was right she thought? She was no expert on drug use. Should she let him sleep? But no, she couldn't let him sleep until she knew he was okay.
"C'mon Tony, get up for a little while. Let me make you some coffee while you take a shower."
He was breathing deeply and she could tell he was fully asleep again. Damn she thought. She shook him again, which had no effect. Biting her lip, she went to the bathroom and ran a full glass of cold water. She went back to the bed and dumped the whole thing slowly over his head.
He sat up and blinked at her, looking like he wanted to kill her. "What the fuck was that for?"
"I need you awake right now Tony."
"Ah hell.” He glared at her. "I knew I should have started locking my door."
"Your front door wasn't even closed Tony."
"Damn it." He reached for a cigarette. He found nothing but an empty pack and shook his head. She reached into her purse and pulled her pack out, taking out two; lighting the first and giving it to him.
"Thanks," he muttered, not looking at her.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, lighting her cigarette, unsure of what she was going to say to him. "I'm sorry for bursting in here, but I was worried about you. When I called and you dropped the phone I was so afraid that something bad had happened."
"You called my cell? I think I forgot to pay the bill."
"I called your house phone Tony. Don't you remember? You picked up the phone and then dropped it. Then it was off the hook. It was like half an hour; forty five minutes ago."
"No Tor." He rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't remember."
"Let me make you some coffee. You can take a shower and then we can go get something to eat. My treat."
"I don't have any coffee."
"We'll go buy some, though it looks like we'll have to walk with the way your car looks."
"I don't want coffee Tory. I just want to be left alone."
"No Tony. You've been left alone and look where it's gotten you. You look like you haven't eaten or slept in days. Your house is a disaster zone. Your car is sitting totaled in the driveway and your door was practically wide open. Anyone could have come in here and you'd never have known until it was too late."
"I shut the damn door after Carl left. He came over to borrow some rubbers."
"How long ago was that?"
"I don't know. Couple hours. At least someone's getting laid
.” He leaned over to put out his cigarette.
"And you're sure that you shut the door all the way?"
"Yeah, pretty damn sure."
"So then someone could have been in here right?"
"What the hell do you think I've got to steal? Some cheap electronics and my. . . Oh shit." He jumped up off of the bed. "My drugs."
He rushed out of the room and then came back, fire in his eyes. "They're gone, all fucking gone; besides my stash of weed under the mattress."
"Oh Tony."
She stepped to him and put her arms around him. He held her for a minute and then pulled back.
"You still got your cell? I know exactly who did this shit and he's gonna pay."
"Tony, no. You can't beat this shit out of somebody for stealing drugs. Even your uncle couldn't protect you for that one."
"Who said anything about just beating the guy? It's not like I have anything that I need my freedom for." He scowled.
"Calm down Tony. We'll sit down together. We'll think of a way to get back at the guy for robbing you that doesn't involve killing him. And you've got plenty that you need your freedom for. You've got your whole life ahead of you. You don't want to spend your life wasting away in jail."
He was pacing. She handed him another cigarette, thinking that it might calm him down. He picked up the whiskey bottle and took a big drink. "At least then I wouldn't be getting high, right?"
"Right." Did he want her to agree with him she wondered? "Why don't you break out the pot? We'll smoke a bowl. Then you can take a shower and we'll go get something to eat. I'll buy. My dad sent me some money. I've got part of my allowance left over from my mom so we can go wherever you want, within walking distance of course."
"You can go get the weed. It's under the air mattress in the other bedroom."
When she got back to the bedroom with the small baggie of weed he was still pacing, looking like he wanted to throttle someone. She wondered why he hadn't gone out to the living room to use the house phone if he'd been so eager to call the guy. But then decided he was still a little out of it; though at least he looked more awake.
"This will calm you down.”
She stood in his path and molded her body to his, loving the way it felt to be next to him, though his muscles seemed a little less defined and he smelled of sweat.
"I would never have described the effect you had on me as calming Tory."
Oh how she wanted to kiss him she thought. But she didn't. She stepped back and showed him the pot.
"I was talking about this silly."
"Tease," he muttered under his breath, moving to his dresser for his pipe.
As he packed the bowl she rubbed her hands over his shoulders, whispering into his ear. "I would never tease you baby. You know better than that. So, we'll get stoned, you'll get showered, and then we'll go out okay?"
"Whatever." He didn’t look too thrilled at the prospect.
He lit the bowl, and took a deep lungful, then passed it to her. They finished the bowl and when he lay back on the bed, she lay back with him, staring at him as his eyes closed again.
She knew that weed made her tired sometimes but she couldn't have him going to sleep. She rummaged around in her purse for her soda and handed it him. "Drink some of this. It's got plenty of caffeine.”
He opened his eyes halfway and sat up, leaning back against the headboard. "Ugh, diet," he said as he took a big drink.
"Of course it's diet."
She started laughing, which got Tony laughing. It was so good to see him laugh again. She took his hand and he let her, joining his fingers with hers. It was like being home, home in the middle of a damned tornado, but what the hell she thought.
She let him doze for a few minutes and then she shook him gently. "Come on babe, I'm hungry. Get showered so we can go out."
"Mmm, just five more minutes Tor.”
"No baby.”
She kissed the side of his neck and then moved to his lips, parting them gently with her tongue. He moaned when she pulled away from him a few minutes later and then let out a quiet sigh.
"Oh, how I've missed you Tory."
"Believe me Tony, the feeling is mutual. Come on. Get in the shower before it's too late and we end up with convenience store nachos as our only choice for dinner."
She pulled him to his feet and then walked with him to the shower, faking a protest when he grabbed her ass as she was leaving the bathroom and spun her around, pulling her to him for another heart stopping kiss.
“I'm spending the night, so we'll have plenty of time for that later. Get that hot body of yours clean so we can go."
He gave her a mock salute and then bent down to turn on the water. She went back in the bedroom, and was rummaging through his drawers to find him something clean to wear when he called her from the bathroom.
"Tor, come here please."
When she entered the bathroom he was standing under the spray. The shower curtain was gone and water was spraying the small room.
"What's up Tony?"
"I'm so tired Tory. Can't you let me go to sleep? You can order a pizza if you're hungry."
He looked as if he was about to fall asleep on his feet. Scared that he would fall, she quickly stripped off her clothes and climbed into the shower with him, taking the bar of soap from his hand and soaping him up.
“Oh, Tor, I love you.”
"I love you too, Tony. We'll go out for a while. Then we'll come back and I'll let you go to sleep after you've made hot passionate love to me."
He opened his eyes. "Why can't I make love to you now? We can order a pizza and be done by the time it gets here."
"Don't spoil my fun. You need the fresh air, the exercise. And the anticipation, that makes it even better.”
"I know all about anticipation darlin’. I wanted you so bad the first time that I saw you that I pictured you every time I was with a chick until I got with you."
She laughed, reaching over to turn off the water. "And then when you were with me you pictured someone else?"
"Hell no." He took her hand and pulled her out of the shower with him. "You were better than I thought you'd be. Especially when I turned you into a sex addict."
"I'm not a sex addict," she protested weakly as he threw a towel at her, a towel that was mercifully clean though it was surprising considering the present state of his house.
He snorted. "There's no need to pretend with me. I'm not going to think you're without morals or that you're a slut because you like sex."
She could feel herself blushing and wondered if he noticed. She moved away from him and back into the bedroom, staying silent. Right now, it was almost like old times. She was beginning to let herself believe that everything might turn out all right after all.
Of course it wasn't going to be easy for Tony to quit the hard drugs but she was willing to do whatever she could to help him. She was sure that his aunt and uncle would do what they could, too. Right now she just wanted to get him out of the house, and keep him up for a while so she was sure that he was safe.
With all her other knowledge of things useful as well as almost useless, she didn't have much knowledge of overdoses. But common sense told her that with all the drugs and alcohol he'd ingested lately, that it certainly wouldn't hurt him to get some exercise and a real meal.
When she had finished dressing and came out of the bathroom, having run a brush through her hair, she found him sitting on the end of the bed, fully dressed, shoes on but untied, eyes closed again. She bent down and tied his shoes. When the movement didn't rouse him, she reached up and rubbed her hand over the crotch of his jeans. That was sure to wake him up she thought. But it didn’t.
She had stood up and was considering going to the bathroom for more cold water when he reached out and grabbed her hand, giving her his trademark cocky grin. "Did you think you were going to get away with teasing me again?" He pulled her into his arms.
She pulled back from a heated kiss a moment later, reaching f
or her cell phone. It was almost nine o'clock. If she remembered right most of the restaurants downtown closed at ten in the winter and they still had a walk ahead of them.
"C'mon Tony. We gotta go. I'm starving."
She took his hand and pulled him to his feet, reaching for her jacket.
"Fine. But we need to stop for cigarettes on the way. I can't believe I ran out."
"I still have a few. We can stop on the way back. Let's get outta here."
He followed her through the living room, grabbing his jacket from a pile beside the couch and pocketing his house keys. They walked briskly in the cool night air. She missed his beat up old car.
"When are you gonna get another car?"
"Hell, Tor, I don't know. It's not like I can rush out to the dealership tonight and pick up a new set of wheels. I may give my uncle a call in the morning. He has a friend that was looking to sell a car a while back. It's an old lady car, but it's in damn good condition as far as I know. His mom used it to get to the grocery store and stuff. Then she died. He doesn't want to keep it because it smells like old lady perfume and cigarettes."
"You don't think it would ruin your tough guy image, driving some dead old lady's car?"
He snorted. "As if I give a shit what anyone around here really thinks of me? As long as it drives down the road I don't care. Or is it you who would be embarrassed being seen in a car that probably has a bumper sticker that says 'I love bingo'?" He laughed.
She shook her head, taking his hand as a thought suddenly struck her. If he would agree it would be beautiful she thought. "Hey Tony?"
"Hey Tory?" He mimicked, pulling her close to him as they rounded the corner, coming up on the edge of the downtown area.
"If you do get that car would you mind giving me a ride?"
"I'll give you a ride anytime darlin'." He gave her a sexy grin.
She rolled her eyes at him. "I meant a ride in the car."
"Oh, so now you want that poor old lady rolling over in her grave because you're hot to screw in the backseat of her car?"
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 108
