Intoxicated By You_An Exposed Hearts Novel

by Kristin Mayer

  Her phone beeped, and she picked it up to read it. “I need to stop by my place. Then we’ll go to the dock.”

  “Okay. Sounds good.” We were close to her place.

  Teagan scratched her sleeve up farther, and I could see the track marks up her arm. My heart hammered in my chest. I knew how unpredictable drug addicts could be. If provoked, she could swerve the car and crash. Drug addicts couldn’t be reasoned with logically.

  Drake: Where the fuck is she taking you?

  Me: Her place. Then the dock. Hurry. I think she’s on drugs.

  Drake: I’m on my way. But when she stops at her place, if I haven’t made it, get out of the car.

  Me: Okay.

  I’d missed the signs. Somehow, I’d missed all the signs for who knows how long. I was trained to see this, and I’d completely overlooked it. But it now made sense.

  We pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. “Be right back. Then we’ll be on our way.” She went to close the door but then reopened it. “I missed you, Alexa. I really did.”

  Teagan left the car running and ran into her building. Her movements were awkward and lacked fluidity. In a panic, I opened the car door, but I paused when I saw her cell phone in the seat. The text app was pulled up. When I heard Drake’s truck pull into the parking lot, I decided to look at her text. It was from an unknown number.

  Unknown: I know what you need. Meet me at your place.

  My heart nearly stopped in my chest, and I glanced at the apartment door. Before I could get out of the car, Drake lifted me into his arms, and I dropped the phone. He wrapped his arms around me tightly and walked swiftly to his truck.

  “You okay? Are you hurt?”

  I was still a little shaken and couldn’t quite form a sentence.

  “Lex, speak to me.”

  “I’m not hurt.” It all felt like a dream. I shuddered, remembering what she looked like. “I think she’s on heroin. I saw the tracks up her arm. She wasn’t herself.”

  Within a minute, I was in Drake’s truck, and he whipped out of the parking lot. His jaw was tense as he watched his rearview mirror. His knuckles were white where he held onto the steering wheel, and his eyes were tight as he focused on the road. The vein in his neck pulsed. This wasn’t good. “You seem agitated.”

  “No, Lex, I’m fucking pissed.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Drake

  I focused on calming myself down as we drove out to our cabin. Damn it all to hell, Teagan had crossed the line that night. Drugs. And she’d had my girl with her. Lex knew better. She fucking knew Teagan was bad news. Always had been. But this was the first time it had gone too far.

  “Drake. Calm down. I’m okay.”

  That was it. I pulled the truck onto the side of the road. “This time you’re okay. This time. Drugs, Lex. Come on. You’re a nurse. You could have ended up in an accident. Or worse.”

  She let out a breath, and I could tell she was getting frustrated, too. Welcome to the club, baby. From the moment I got her text, everything had moved in slow motion. Things could have gone drastically wrong. I’d even called Hollis and asked him to be on standby in case something happened.

  “I’m okay, Drake.”

  Okay. There was that damn word again.

  “No more Teagan.”

  She held up her hand, and her eyes flashed fire. Well, step up to the plate, baby, because I’m not backing down.

  “You do not control me.”

  “No more Teagan.”

  Her eyes narrowed. I knew I was being a jackass. But my concern for her won over any common sense I may have possessed at that moment. Her lips thinned. “It’s amazing I somehow survived the two years we spent apart.”

  It felt like she slapped me, and I shook my head. This could escalate out of control fast. I knew she was scared. But Lex had a heart of gold, and it was bleeding for her friend. If we kept going on the way we were, one of us was going to say something we’d regret.

  So I held up my hands. “First, I’m not questioning whether you can survive on your own. You’re very capable. And don’t make me sound like some overbearing boyfriend. You were scared, or you wouldn’t have texted me. What happened tonight… If I’d lost you, or something had happened to you, Lex… I can’t lose you.” The thought was almost too much to bear.

  She touched my hand. “But you didn’t.”

  “But I could have.” I took a deep breath. “I get that we need to try and help Teagan. But the key word is we. If Donnie’s involved, and you’re there by yourself… Fuck. I don’t even want to think about what could happen.”

  “Drake, I get it.”

  I needed to calm down. My phone rang through the connection in the car, and I hit reject, wishing I could punch the screen.

  “Do you? Because I plan on marrying you, having kids with you. It’s my job to protect you. I fucking love you.”

  “Whoa. That’s a little deep for me. But by the way, I don’t want to marry or have kids with you. And telling me you fucking love me is a little weird.” Hayden’s voice boomed through the car speakers.

  Lex’s eyes went wide. This was not the time for Hayden. He had no idea how serious this was.

  “Damn it all to hell. What do you want, Hayden?”

  “Is Lex okay?” He must have picked up on the fact that something was wrong.

  I exhaled. “Yes, Teagan was driving her around. We think she’s doing drugs. Maybe heroin.”

  “Fuck. Lex, you can’t be doing that. You could have been seriously hurt.”

  Well, maybe I can let Hayden intervene for a minute. It made me feel a little less of an ass. When I looked over at Lex, she was nervously chewing on her lip. “Hayden, I’ll call you back.”

  I made sure to disconnect the call this time. She fidgeted with her hands. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Lex, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that. Can I hold you?”

  She unbuckled her seat belt and crawled into my lap. This was the fear coming out. Earlier had been a knee-jerk reaction. One thing I knew about Lex was she didn’t like being controlled. I tried to explain further, which I hoped would help. “When I got your text asking me to hurry, I died a thousand deaths. I could tell from your text you were scared. So I ran both stoplights to get to you. I just can’t ever lose you again.”

  “I know. I’m sorry for what I said.” She sniffed and pulled back to look at me. “Teagan showed up at the clinic and said she wasn’t good, that she needed to talk to me. I missed all the signs. All I saw was a shell of a friend who needed someone.”

  “We’ll get her help.”

  “She needs help now, Drake. She’s in bad shape.”

  The worry was clear in her face. This was more than Lex making a bad choice. She’d wanted to help her friend. I couldn’t stand in her way. I’d stand by her side the entire way, instead. “What do you need?”

  Leaning in, she kissed my lips, and I knew we would be okay.

  “Can Hayden meet us there? I’ll call Hollis, too. I’m not sure if your dad’s available. Drug addicts can become irate. But I have to try.”

  “Okay. But please don’t ever ride with her again.”

  “I promise. I was scared, too. And Drake?”

  “Yeah, baby.”

  “I want all those things, too.”

  The ring I’d bought for her was now burning a hole in my pocket.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Drake

  We pulled into the apartment complex with Dad, Hayden, and Hollis following behind us. They’d come from the clinic together. We thought it would be good to have two vehicles, just in case.

  One of the two cop cars in Skagway pulled into the lot, and Roy—the older of the two police officers in town—met us on the sidewalk. We thought it was better to have him there just in case.

  “If she doesn’t answer the door, we can’t enter without probable cause.”

  Lex looked shocked. “We can’t get in there?”

&nb
sp; “Not unless we have probable cause.”

  Closing her eyes, Lex took a deep breath and reeled herself in. “Okay. Let’s see if I can get her to open up the door.” She looked around the parking lot, scanning the cars. “Donnie’s truck is still here, too.”

  Great. There was still the unknown number that had me on edge.

  Knock.

  Knock.

  Knock.

  “Hey, Teagan, it’s Alexa. I wanted to see if we could talk now.”

  She listened for any sound. We waited. But there was nothing.

  Knock.

  Knock.

  Knock.

  “Teagan, open up.”

  Still, there was no answer. Again, Lex called out to Teagan. And again. But there was nothing.

  Roy was about done. “I’ll keep an eye out for her, Alexa.”

  She shook her head and muttered something under her breath. Roy turned to speak to Dad, and Lex narrowed her eyes at the door. I recognized the look of determination on her face. Silently, she turned the knob.

  “Oh, look. The door opened.”

  Roy spun around, his eyes flying open in surprise. “What?”

  “I think I heard someone call my name to come in.”

  A foul smell wafted out the open door. I took a step forward and extended my arm. “Roy, do you want to go in first?”

  “Yes.” Walking inside, he called, “Teagan, this is Sheriff Bolton with the police department. Did you open the door?”

  Roy knew damn well the door hadn’t been opened by someone on the inside, but I guess he had to cover all possibilities. After Roy entered, we followed him. There was an overpowering smell about the place. Trash was everywhere. A box with a half-eaten pizza with bugs crawling in it sat at our feet. How can anyone live like this?

  Hollis stayed with us while Dad and Hayden followed Roy further into the apartment.

  “I was here just twelve days ago. It’s like I’ve walked into another world,” Alexa said.

  From the back of the apartment, Roy called out, “Dr. Fritz, Alexa, we need you in the left bedroom.”

  Hollis hurried back with Lex following behind him. Lex slipped into professional mode, and suddenly she was all business. When we crossed over the threshold of the bedroom, I wasn’t prepared for what we’d find.

  Donnie was lying on the bed in a pool of vomit. Teagan lay unmoving on the bed, her arm flung out to the side with a needle still in it.

  Hollis immediately sprang into action. “Check his pulse.”

  Lex felt for a pulse, but I knew he was gone. His skin was a pale blue and his eyes were open and unmoving. Nevertheless, Lex kept searching for signs of life.

  On the other side of the bed, Hollis was working steadily on Teagan. “I have a pulse, but she’s not breathing. Get me a syringe with one milliliter naloxone.”

  Lex dug into Hollis’s bag. With a steady hand, she filled the syringe and handed it off.

  “Stay with me, Teagan. Don’t let this nasty stuff beat you.” Hollis continued to do chest compressions, and after every tenth, he squeezed the bag over her mouth to supply oxygen.

  Lex injected the needle into Teagan’s bony arm and released the plunger of the needle on Hollis’s command. Hollis kept working. Lex kept her fingers on Teagan’s wrist. “It’s still weak.”

  “Get another dose ready in case we need to repeat.”

  Time slowed down as Hollis continued to perform CPR on Teagan.

  “Another milliliter of naloxone.”

  Lex injected it in her upper thigh this time.

  There were more compressions. Another squeeze of the bag. Hollis wasn’t stopping. “Come on, Teagan. Fight. You want to live. We can get you help. Fight. Damn it. Fight.”

  Hollis was urging Teagan on, fighting for her. He’d never met her, but he cared. We all held our breath as we waited for her to breathe.

  For what seemed like an eternity, we watched, silently cheering her on.

  And then, suddenly, Teagan gasped for air.

  “Good girl. All right, let’s get you to the clinic.”

  She wasn’t coherent, but at least she was breathing.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Alexa

  What a night.

  Teagan was sleeping peacefully in a hospital bed. Hollis sat on the couch against the wall, reading one of his medical journals. Drake sat beside me as I watched Teagan’s weak body fight to come back from an overdose.

  We were in the back of the clinic in a room we’d set up as a hospital room. Across the hall was another room we would use for surgery. The operating room would need to have multiple upgrades come spring. We’d simply run out of time.

  The beeping of the machine filled the silence.

  From what had been found at the apartment, it had been determined that Teagan had been using heroin. Unfortunately, I’d been right. Donnie had overdosed and had already been dead when we got there. The police were handling the arrangement to transport his body to Juneau, as per his parents’ wishes, where the closest funeral home was.

  Hollis estimated time of death as sometime that morning, which meant Donnie had been dead when Teagan arrived back at her apartment. The police had interviewed me regarding everything that had happened today. I mentioned the text from the unknown number, but so far, no one had found her phone.

  I should have given up on Teagan a long time ago. But maybe, just maybe, I was meant to remain in her life in order to help her. Earlier, when Drake and I had been fighting, I’d actually agreed with him. I’d been scared to be in the car with Teagan.

  No more Teagan.

  I’d be there for her, but I knew I couldn’t take the risk of being in the car or alone with her again.

  The solid pressure of Drake’s hand on mine sent warmth through me. He’d dropped everything to help me, to help Teagan. Sometimes I felt like I didn’t deserve him.

  Marriage.

  Kids.

  He’d mentioned both of those things. And I wanted them. I wanted it all with him. This wasn’t the time or place to talk about that, though. So, I focused back on Teagan’s breathing. Hopefully she’d get better and start a life somewhere. Maybe find happiness and love.

  I wondered how long she’d been doing drugs and how she’d managed to hide it. We’d emailed from time to time when I was in New York. In the beginning, maybe once or twice a month. But lately, it had been every other month, at most.

  I took a deep breath. Life was a delicate balance. And I wanted to make sure I lived mine to the fullest.

  Movement at the door caught my attention. Hayden stood there, staring at Teagan while he ran his fingers through his hair. Something like this would rock the town to its core. The news of what happened would spread like wildfire. Things like overdoses rarely happened in Skagway. The townspeople would be wary of Teagan now. They would love her through it, but I don’t know how they’d ever trust her again.

  After a few minutes, Hayden motioned for Drake to meet him in the hallway. At our insistence, Ike had gone home to be with Amie, but Hayden had stuck around. The police were stopping by at regular intervals to check on Teagan. Our concern was what would happen when she awoke. She might be docile, or she could be violent. If it was the latter, Drake and Hayden would be able to help manage her if Hollis and I had to sedate her.

  Drake sat up. “I’m going to speak to Hayden. You want to come?”

  He must have known what his brother wanted to talk about if he asked me to join him. This only increased the unease I was feeling.

  Hollis was still engrossed in his journal, so I had to interrupt him for a second. “I’m going to step into the hallway if you’re okay with it.”

  “Mmm.” Without looking up, Hollis continued to read and make notes. The journal on genetics must have been the most interesting thing in the world.

  “Hollis?”

  He glanced up at me. “I’m fine. She’s not going to wake up for at least another hour or so.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right out
side.”

  Drake and I took a step out into the hallway, where the bleach smell still lingered from when Teagan had vomited earlier before she finally passed out.

  Hayden held the back of his neck. “How is she?”

  “Stable. But the hardest part is yet to come. Hollis has her on methadone. When she wakes up, that should keep the withdrawal symptoms at bay while we talk to her. She just won’t have that high feeling. But maybe it’ll allow us to reason with her.”

  He shook his head. “This is just so hard to believe. Mom called a little while ago. She’s bringing over breakfast. The quilting circle is going to bring lunch. They also wanted to know if there was anything Teagan needed.”

  I shouldn’t have been surprised. This town pulled together for the people who were part of it regardless of who they were. They always had. “Tell them thank-you. I’ll let you know.”

  “I will.” There was some sort of silent communication between the brothers before Hayden spoke again. “I was flying with one of my buddies yesterday. I asked if he knew about a Milano Incorporated. Said he’d had an offer from them he was seriously entertaining.”

  “Where’s his property?” I asked.

  From his raised eyebrow, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer. “Butts up to your place. You know the Ewings from Anchorage?”

  “Yes. That land has been in their family forever.” I was pretty sure their family had owned that land for almost as long as mine had owned ours.

  “It has. But he said they were offering over the market price. It’s hard to walk away from that kind of money. Business has been hard.”

  Drake nodded. “Yeah, at our quarterly business meeting, he talked about being down double digits. Wanted to know if anyone else had the same issue.”

  Drake was part of a group of other businessmen. They touched base four times a year to see how business was going and what could be done to help each other.

  It wouldn’t matter how much this Milano Incorporated offered. Some things weren’t for sale. My head spun as I wondered what was going on.