Tender Touch (36 page)

“Yeah, let’s cut this some or you’ll end up
out cold.” Ray raised an eyebrow at the bartender.

“From the looks of it, she can hold lots of
straight booze.” Greg gave a knowing grunt. “Yep, she ain’t just
started puttin’ away a lotta liquor.” He walked away.

“I don’t like his attitude,” Lanessa said
with a scowl. “I don’t have to spend my money here, you know,” she
called out at Greg’s retreating back. He only waved a hand in
dismissal as a reply.

“Ah, that’s just how he is. Hey, you some
kinda fine woman. How you got loose tonight without your man?” Ray
leaned toward her.

“Real easy.” Lanessa’s eyes filled with
unshed tears. She swiped at her face with the back of her hand. “I
don’t have to ask permission from anybody,” she said with force.
“To hell with him.”

“I know what you mean, baby.” Ray poured
more whiskey in both their glasses. “Woman like you needs the right
kinda man. Somebody gonna treat you good.”

“Uh-huh.” Lanessa took a deep drink. “It’s
too hot in here. Hey you, turn on the air conditioner,” she yelled.
“And turn down that music while you’re at it.”

“Say, listen, it’s hot ’cause it’s too
crowded up in here. Let’s go where we can really talk.” Ray took
her arm with one hand and picked up the bottle with the other. He
pulled her through a door leading down a dim hallway.

“Where we goin’?” Lanessa hesitated.

“Our own private bar, babe. With soft music.
Come on,” Ray urged in a soothing voice. “I’m going to take care of
you.”

Lanessa gazed up at his smiling face. “I
just want time to get myself together, you know? Everything is
rushing at me at once.” She let her body slump against his imposing
bulk. “You understand, don’t you?”

“Sure, babe. I understand just what you
need.”

Ray walked her into a dingy room and shut
the door. Illuminated by a single lamp with a dirty shade, the room
was furnished with a couch that sagged in the middle and several
ragged chairs. A fold-out single bed, covered with a faded blue
bedspread worn almost to holes in spots, was in one comer. Lanessa
plopped down onto the sofa before Ray could get her over to the
bed.

“Where’s the bottle?” Lanessa pushed back
her hair.

“Give me a kiss, and I’ll give you a drink.”
Ray stood in front of her.

Lanessa smiled and wagged a finger at him.
“Now don’t play games with me, Ray.” She got to her feet, wavering
a little. “Where’s that drinky?”

Ray laughed and danced backward with the
bottle held behind him. “Guess. Come on, babe.” He moved away from
her in time to the music that could be heard from the barroom. “You
give me what I want, you get what you want.”

“Okay, you asked for it.” Lanessa lunged at
him. She put both arms around him and touched the bottle. “Now give
it up.” She took it from him.

“You first,” Ray said in a husky voice. He
grabbed her to him as he fell onto the bed. “Some fine.” His hands
worked with amazing speed to undo the buttons on her jacket.

“Now don’t be in such a hurry,” Lanessa
said. She tried to wriggle out of his reach. “We’ve got plenty of
time.” His groping became more insistent, his fingers digging into
her flesh. ‘You’re hurting me. Stop it!”

“Feel this.” He guided her hand to his
crotch. “I’m ready now. Don’t try to tell me you don’t like it
rough. I know your kind.”

“Let go.” Lanessa’s voice rose in panic.

“Come down here for a little ghetto
excitement. I got it for you, sugar.” Ray groaned at the sight of
her beige lace bra. “Oo-wee,” he muttered.

“I said, let me go.” Lanessa slapped the
side of his face hard. Her long nails scraped skin from his
cheek.

Ray snarled as he jumped up from the bed.
“You really wanna play, huh? Then you got your wish.” He hit her
with a back- handed blow.

Lanessa staggered back in stunned horror.
Suddenly she remembered the bottle in her hands. “Stay away from
me.” Her voice trembled. She held the bottle upside down sloshing
the remaining whiskey down her pants.

“I’m going to show you something, pretty
woman.” Ray wore a nasty smile as he walked toward her.

In a blind panic, Lanessa swung the bottle.
The crunch of the heavy glass on his scalp shook her arm. Ray
stumbled a bit before he reached at her like an enraged bear, his
fingers curled into a claw. Lanessa hit him again harder. The
bottle broke and blood flowed down his face. Ray screamed at the
realization that the blood was his. He fell hard against the sofa
then fell to the floor. Lanessa backed away and looked down at him.
He did not move.

“My God!” Lanessa was shaking. She grabbed
her purse. “Gotta get out of here.”

Once out in the hallway, she ran blindly to
a door. With a cry of relief, she found herself outside. Somehow
she found her car. It seemed to take forever to get the driver door
open. Her hands shook so hard, she dropped the keys three times in
her attempt. Finally she got in and drove off the parking lot at
top speed. The dark highway curved ahead, causing her to jerk the
wheel more than once. Oncoming headlights left her blinking away
spots that danced in front of her. Which way was home? She had to
get her refuge. But she had no real refuge. Everywhere was pain.
Tears streamed down her face further reducing her vision. There was
nothing at home but emptiness, nothing at home to comfort her. The
car lurched to the left. With a spray of gravel, the tires hit a
soft shoulder. Lanessa screamed as the world spun around like a
carousel.

Chapter 15

Calm down. They didn’t say she was...”
Shaena’s voice trailed off. She drove at the speed limit but leaned
forward as though urging the car faster.

“Please let her be okay, please let her be
okay,” Jade mumbled the prayer over and over.

Jade was glad she’d been with her friend
when she called home to get her messages. Her mother’s frantic
voice on her answering machine saying Lanessa was hurt threw her
into a panic. Shaena had declared she was in no shape to drive. Now
they were still ten minutes from the small hospital in Plaquemine
where Lanessa had been taken. What was she doing at a bar across
the river? Jade thought once more of how little she knew about
Lanessa’s life these days. She had spent the last few minutes
assessing just how much was her fault.

“I should never have left her that night,”
Jade said in a tearful voice. “Alex said it was bad, but I didn’t
believe him. I never thought about...I was too wrapped up in my own
problems.”

“You couldn’t follow Lanessa around
twenty-four hours a day. And you couldn’t force her into treatment
she didn’t want.” Shaena took one hand from the steering wheel to
place it on her arm. “Stop blaming yourself.”

“I should have made her go into a clinic or
had her committed. Anything.”

“Jade, you know what Fred told you. That’s a
last resort,” Shaena said.

She was right of course. Jade had spoken in
confidence to a friend who worked in the field of substance use
disorders. He had encouraged her to get Lanessa in for evaluation.
Only if she was considered an immediate danger to herself and
others could she be committed by the coroner’s office.

“I know. She wasn’t threatening to kill
herself or anybody else— so we just had to let her self-destruct.”
Jade began to cry softly.

They drove in silence for another ten
minutes. The parking lot at Riverwest Hospital flashed with the red
lights of an ambulance. Both of them jumped from the car the moment
Shaena cut the engine. Jade raced ahead of her to search for her
parents. Her father met her just beyond the automatic doors and
gathered her into his arms.

“What did they say?” Jade’s heart pounded
like a drum. All surrounding sounds became muffled as she waited
for her father’s answer.

“She’ll live, but she’s going to have a long
recovery. The air bag saved her since she wasn’t wearing a seat
belt. She was tossed into the back seat s while the car was still
rolling.” Alton took in a long breath. “But she’s doing to make it.
Thank God.” He held Jade to him in a tight embrace.

Jade welcomed the reassuring warmth of being
in her father’s arms for several minutes. Then they went through
the emergency room to where Lanessa was being treated. Two nurses,
a blonde and a redhead, emerged from the small room. The door
closed behind them with a soft whoosh sound.

“Only immediate family, two at a time.” The
short, plump blonde spoke in a calm voice.

“This is my other daughter,” Alton
explained. “I’ll wait out here, baby.” He kissed the top of Jade’s
head.

“I’m Lisa. You holler if you need me. I’m
gonna be right down there.” There was compassion in her blue eyes.
She gave Jade’s shoulder a pat before she bustled off.

Jade was afraid of what she’d see. She took
a few seconds to steel herself before going in. Her mother sat next
to the bed, holding one of Lanessa’s hands. Jade forced herself to
look at her sister. Bruises covered her face. A tube was in her
nose and an IV tube snaked down to the needle stuck in the back of
her left hand. A cast was on her right leg from the thigh down.

“My baby’s going to be fine,” Clarice said.
“Lanessa has been asking for you.” Clarice got up and put an arm
around Jade’s shoulders. The effort was too much. She sagged
against Jade and began to sob.

“Mama,” Jade sobbed with her. Then she
pushed Clarice back. “Look at us. She’s going to wake up and get
upset if we don’t get it together.”

After a few more moments of sharing tears,
they broke apart. “You’re right.” Clarice dabbed at her eyes.
“Lanessa will be back to her old self, just like before, in no
time.”

Jade gazed at her sister. She thought of
what Fred had told her about a crisis being the best opportunity
for change. Pretending the only problem was recovering from her
injuries seemed wrong. “Mama, we don’t want Lanessa back to being
just like she was before.”

“What do you mean?” Clarice looked up at her
sharply. “Of course we do.” She bit off another remark when the
redheaded nurse came back into the room.

“Let’s step outside for a minute. All three
of us need to talk.” Jade led her outside.

The nurses showed them to the waiting area
for families. A separate section with a television was empty. Jade
turned down the sound of it.

“Jade, what is this about?” Clarice asked
soon after they were seated.

“Mama, Daddy...Lanessa has a substance use
disorder. Okay, that’s a fancy way of saying she’s an addicted—
alcohol for sure and maybe even drugs. Alex—”

“It’s a lie!” Clarice cut her off.

“No, Mama. Lanessa has been having problems
at work, and she’s deep in debt. Alex tried to tell me, but I was
in denial.”

“Alex? Why in the world would you listen to
him? He’s angry that Lanessa broke up with him.” Clarice shook her
head with vigor. “Lanessa is not a drug addict or an
alcoholic.”

Alton placed a hand over his wife’s.
“Clarice, we’ve got to face the truth. The police have ordered a
blood test to see if alcohol was a factor. But she smelled of
whiskey when they brought her in. And that’s not the worst of
it.”

“Oh, no. Someone else was hurt in the
crash?” Jade felt a dread that Lanessa had not only hurt herself,
but someone else. And Jade felt the burden of responsibility,
too.

“Not in the crash.” Alton gripped Clarice’s
hand tighter. “Lanessa was in a bar and she attacked a man. He’s in
here, too, getting his scalp stitched up. Apparently...” He glanced
at his wife’s stricken expression.

“Daddy, go on. We need to face the whole
truth now,” Jade prompted him.

“She was drinking heavily with this man, and
they ended up in an upstairs room of the bar. They got into a
struggle.” Alton looked down. “I think maybe he was too rough, and
Lanessa fought back.”

“You can’t mean he was going to— No, no.”
Clarice’s expression hardened. “Not Lanessa. End up with some bum
in the upstairs room of a bar like a prostitute? It’s all lies—”
Her voice broke. She looked at her husband, her eyes desperate for
some sign he agreed.

“No, baby. It’s true. Lanessa’s hit bottom.
She could be charged with aggravated assault and driving while
intoxicated.” Alton swallowed hard. He wrapped his sobbing wife in
his arms and rocked her gently

Jade looked up through the glass enclosure
to see Lisa approaching. She opened the door.

“You Jade?” She smiled.

“Yes.” Jade stood.

“You sister’s askin’ for you, sugar. Come
on.” Lisa gestured to her.

Jade entered the room to find Lanessa awake.
“Hi, Nessa,” she said in a soft voice.

“Hey. I’m glad to see you. Hell, I’m glad to
see,” Lanessa said with a pained smile that lasted only a moment.
Her voice was raspy and low. “I sure messed up this time, didn’t
I?”

“Nessa...” Jade’s voice failed her. She
caressed Lanessa’s face with care not to hurt her. “I’m sorry for
not being there for you.”

“Like you put the drink in my hand? Forget
it.” Lanessa gazed at her. “This isn’t your fault, Jade.”

“But I’ve been so busy being a jealous baby
sister that—”

“Shut up,” Lanessa broke in. “We competed
for the prize of most stupid sister, and I win hands down. So don’t
dare try to horn in on my moment of glory. You know how I hate
that.” She reached with effort to take Jade’s hand.

Jade gave her a gentle kiss. “I love you,
sister.”

“Me, too, Jade-girl. Now how bad is it?”
Lanessa’s expression showed fear, but also resolution to face the
damage she’d caused.

“You could be charged with drunk
driving.”

Lanessa’s bottom lip trembled. “Did I... was
anybody else hurt when I wrecked my car?”

“No, no other cars were involved.” Jade
shook her head.