Next to Me (11 page)

“I will do my best for you, because I know you are a good kid, Zane, but this might be out of my hands.” Thank God Charlie understood.

“Thanks, man.”

“I’m glad you could be honest with me about it. It takes a big man.”

Zane looked at his hands. He hated seeing the look of pity on his boss’s face. If there was something he could do, he knew he would help him. They went out to lunch, and Charlie didn’t mention it anymore. Zane had a feeling he was thinking it over, trying to figure out what he would tell the heavies if they asked. Zane didn’t have a good feeling about the whole thing as he drove home. He called his father and put on a happy face. His dad would see through it when he got home.

“Hey, Dad, do you need anything? I’m on my way home and just didn’t know if we have dinner.”

“I cooked us a little something, Son.” The last word sounded pained as Dustin grunted a little.

“Dad, are you all right?” Zane was alarmed, thinking his father had hurt himself.

“Just a little heartburn again, it will pass. I will see you in a few.” Zane hung up, debating on whether he should stop and get his dad some heartburn medicine. Something told him to keep driving, so he opted to go straight home. When he pulled into the driveway, his dad had every light in the house on.

He walked in laughing. “Dad, the power bill is going to cause me to have to take on a separate job. Dad?”

Dustin was lying on the floor in the living room holding his arm. He was gasping for breath, and the phone lay beside him on the floor.

Zane picked it up and dialed 911 immediately. “Hold on, Dad, I’m getting you some help. Just hang in there, okay?” Zane was trying not to panic and reached over to hold Dustin’s hand. It felt like hours went by before the ambulance came to the house. The paramedics immediately started working on him and trying to get him stable as people buzzed all around him. He felt numb. His dad had mistaken a heart attack for heartburn. Why hadn’t he gotten there sooner? Why hadn’t he made him hang up and call?

Once they had him hooked up to a breathing machine, an IV in his arm, and were asking him yes and no questions, they put him on the stretcher. Zane held his hand all the way to the ambulance and climbed in the back with him. He had been just as scared when he drove him to the hospital, but it didn’t make it any easier.

When they arrived at the hospital, which also felt like it took forever, they rushed them in the emergency door and straight to a room. Zane felt helpless because he wasn’t allowed to go back with him. He had to wait and paced the room, wringing his hands. His dad had to be all right, he just couldn’t take it.

His phone buzzed in his pocket with a text message. He looked at it and saw it was Lila asking what he was doing. He debated just leaving her out of it, but finally brought himself to text her, letting her know what was going on. She was his girlfriend after all.

Dad had a heart attack. In family waiting room on second floor.

He knew what she would say before she even texted him back.

I’m on my way, babe. Hang in there.

Leaning his head back against the chair, he thought about how much things had changed and the last time he had been at the hospital Whitney was there with him. As if she knew he was thinking of her, his phone rang. She was probably calling to say how sorry she was. He didn’t want to hear it. There was nothing she could say that would ever make what she did okay. She called several more times before he turned his phone off.

“I’m here.” Lila leaned over on her knees, out of breath. There had only been about ten minutes between the time he told her and the time she made it.

“Did you fly?” he asked.

“I was shopping out this way. How is he?” She walked over and hugged him tightly. It was about six forty-five. They’d gotten to the hospital at close to six. He was dying to hear some kind of news.

“I don’t know yet. I’m waiting on them to come and tell me something, anything really. I’m a nervous wreck and so glad you’re here.” He kissed her on the top of the head, and they sat together, holding hands and waiting.

“You’re going to come?” Whitney was happy Walter wanted to spend time with her even if it was for a strange contest between strippers.

“Yes, I’ll see you there. I have something I have to do first.” Walter hung up. She had finally gotten to wait tables, but she had to hide her tips throughout the night, because Tina continued to accuse her of stealing her tips and trying to grab her bag every chance she got. They cashed out and she went to go meet Thor so she could follow him to the Cock Fight. They got to the barn, and she texted Walter the address.

It was insane inside as she followed Thor through the large open red doors and took in the scene. Large penis shaped balloons were everywhere and there were big paintings of roosters on the walls with cock fight written really large. They had gone all out for this strange stripper gladiator contest. There was a bar, so Whitney hit it up first, marveling at the Jell-O shots with little roosters on top.

“The rooster shots are free. Everything else isn’t,” the bartender told her without looking up. She took two right away and swallowed them down. Thor had given her a few more oxys and a bag in the car which she was able to pay for and paid him for the money she owed him for bailing her out. Ordering just a beer, she swallowed down one of the pills and went to stand beside him. The girls were getting greased up. There was a large dark-headed one that Whitney immediately realized was Tina and a redhead on the other side.

“Why are they greasing them up?”

“If they slip it’s too hard to get back up on the platform. Makes it more difficult for them,” Thor said, laughing. “My money is on Red Tits.” He pointed to the redhead, and Whitney saw she had huge boobs with red pasties on the nipples, so red tits was an accurate name for her.

Walter didn’t show up for the first run of the Cock Fight. Tina won, so she was going to stay on the platform and battle the next participant. The large woman actually had a really sick body. She was skinny and curvy, two things not apparent in her uniform at work. Tina saw her, but ignored that she was there as she got ready for the next lady to climb up and take hold of her giant penis. This time it was a little blonde who actually growled when she lunged forward. The little platforms they were on were tiny. It would be difficult to stand on one even if another chick wasn’t hitting you with a giant blow up penis. There was a huge swimming pool beneath them full of K-Y. Whitney found herself wondering how long it had taken them to squeeze out enough K-Y to break the strippers’ fall.

“You want to do it?” Thor asked, and Whitney took a minute to turn to him, realizing the pill had kicked in and she was feeling pretty good.

“Me?” Whitney did think it looked like a lot of fun as she watched Tina fall from her platform into the pool of K-Y.

“Sure.” Whitney shrugged. “Why not?”

The place was packed at that point with a lot more men than women who had come to watch. It made sense. This wasn’t necessarily the kind of thing women just showed up for.

“We’ve got a virgin cock fighter over here. She’s ready to take the stick,” Thor yelled, and the crowd erupted.

A girl rushed over to her and pulled her to where the others were oiled. “You want to get down to your underwear, or you want to go in your clothes?”

Whitney stripped down. There was no point not having anything K-Y free to wear for the rest of the day. She had on matching red panties and a bra. Both were decent and covered up everything. She was just glad she’d waxed.

She was a little unstable as they helped her up onto the platform and handed her the large inflatable penis. It wasn’t heavy, just really big. She laughed as she tried to find the best way to handle it. Right before someone blew the start whistle she spotted Walter and he was glaring at her. She tilted her head toward him and got hit with the penis right on the side, causing her to wobble, but she regained her footing and sent a blow back at the little angry blonde. She laughed and aimlessly slung the penis around, knowing how strange that thought was. Finally, the girl hit her in the side, and she went down into the pool laughing, and heard Thor yelling above everyone.

“Virgin cock fighter has been fucked!” The crowd erupted and cheered as she climbed out of the K-Y and went to find Walter. He was standing near a pile of hay bells, smoking a cigarette.

“Is it safe to smoke that near the hay?” she joked, trying to wring some of the K-Y out of her hair. “Did you see me? I almost won.”

“You looked like a stupid slut out there. How does that make me look?” Walter glared at her and stayed rigid.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would be such a big deal, Walter.” He made her feel small, and she was embarrassed.

“I’m not going to stick around for this bullshit,” he said, and he took off walking toward the side door of the barn. She chased after him and ended up with dirt all over her feet.

“Where are you going? We’re supposed to spend time together.” Whitney jumped in front of him. He pushed her hard, sending her to the ground.

“Get out of my way, Whitney, I mean it.” His mouth was turned up into an angry grimace and his fists were balled. She was angry and didn’t care.

“No, what the hell, Walter? I’m sorry I embarrassed you, but it’s all for fun.”

“My girl up there slinging dicks around with some asshole screaming that you got fucked. That’s what fun is to you?”

“I didn’t know I was your girl, Walter, you certainly don’t act like it.” He hit her hard with the back of his hand. It knocked her down, and he moved over her, his anger getting the better of him. She cried out, and he reached down to jerk her off the ground.

“Get up, you slut, you can’t be my girl if you’re going to act like that.”

He was grabbing her arm really hard as he pulled her, and she fought to get away from him. “Let me go, Walter, let me go.” She was worried he was going to try to hurt her again or take her to the truck and force himself on her. Right now either one of those things would be terrible.

“Hey.” Whitney turned around to see Tina running at them. “Let her go, you asshole.”

“Stay out of this, “Walter said as he continued to drag her toward his truck which he rarely drove making her wonder where his motorcycle was. “This isn’t your business, whore!”

Tina moved fast and rushed at him, punching him in the throat. Walter let go of Whitney and started choking coming after Tina, but by this time Thor had come out and was standing behind the two girls, shaking his head.

“You bitches deserve each other. Whitney, fuck you,” he said and took off toward his motorcycle, leaving Whitney in Tina’s arms. She sank to the ground and cried, the dirt and hay sticking to the K-Y that still coated most of her body.

“Come on, honey, we need to get you under a hose.” Tina was being really nice to her, and she was a little suspicious, but she did think it would be nice to get the goo and the dirt off her. She followed her behind the barn and watched as she turned on a garden hose, washing off her legs and then moving over to Whitney and hosing off her legs.

“Thank you, Tina, I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“I don’t like you, Whitney, and I found out who actually stole my money and didn’t tell you. I had an old man that acted like Walter. We have to stick together against them.” She moved the hose up her legs and washed off her arms. The hay had cut her arms and the water stung a bit.

“I knew I didn’t take your money.” She leaned her head back and tried not to feel sorry for herself. Walter wasn’t what she thought he was. He was just like her daddy and all the other men in her life that had been mean and controlling. She’d only met one man in her entire life who really was the good guy. She had to get Zane back into her life no matter what it took.

Zane stretched out in the chair next to his dad. He was sleeping. They had put a stint in his heart and were keeping him for observation since he’d had so many issues before. Lila had gone down to the cafeteria to grab him an apple and something to drink. He hadn’t left the hospital, and he needed some things from the house for his dad.

“Hey,” she whispered coming back in. “They didn’t have apples, so I got you a banana and a cookie. I know that’s not the same as an apple.”

“It’s okay. Lila, I don’t want to ask you to do this, but I need some things from the house for dad. He’s probably going to need them. Hopefully we’ll be able to have him home tomorrow. We need some clothes, a toothbrush, and stuff like that.”

“Honey, I’ll get anything you need. You make a list and I’ll go ahead and get it done.”

“Dustin,” a high-pitched voice squeaked down the hall.

“Ma’am, you can’t just yell like that in here, there are a lot of patients that are trying to sleep.”

Lila and Zane exchanged glances with each other. Zane got up and went into the hall to see a very concerned Miss Lovelace making her way toward the room. How she could have possibly found out he was in the hospital?

“Zane darling, Mimi saw the ambulance, and I was out on one of my bird watching trips. I just didn’t find out until I came back. How is he? I brought him a fruit basket.” She didn’t stop coming as he tried to get in front of her and block her from the room.

Lila poked her head out into the hallway. “He’s awake now.”

Zane gave her a look that said way to go as Miss Lovelace bustled into the room. “Dustin, oh my Lord, you look terrible. No, you look wonderful. How are you feeling? I brought you a fruit basket.”

Lila giggled, and Zane winked at her as they stayed near the door to listen to Dustin try and sound pleased with the gift while not leading the poor old lady on.

“How’s your daughter doing?” Dustin asked sleepily and with an obvious purpose in mind. Zane decided to intervene.

“Miss Lovelace, that was so nice of you bringing a fruit basket for my dad,” he said.

“You know, Dustin, you’d be robbing the cradle if you took me up on my invitation. I’m exactly five years younger than you.” Zane had somehow missed the invitation she was speaking of, but he knew what that implied.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Petunia. I do know this old ticker isn’t going to be able to keep up with whatever your naughty little mind has planned.”

The lady giggled and made everyone in the room uncomfortable.

“All right, Miss Lovelace, you have to let Dad have his rest now. He can’t get excited.”

“Okay, goodbye, Dustin, feel better soon.” The lady sashayed out of the room, and Lila smiled at her, trying her best not to laugh.

“I told you she wanted in your pants, old man,” Zane said. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, I think. Can I get up yet?”

“Not until the doctor says. Lila is going to get some things from the house. Is there anything you need that she can grab you?”

“I have a leather vest I should probably wear out of here.”

“Nope, she will get you normal clothes, a toothbrush, and deodorant. Babe, if you’d grab my charger, it’s on my desk. Thank you so much. I’ll take you out for the nicest dinner soon.”

“Love you. Be back soon.”

“She’s a keeper, buddy,” Dustin said as he let his eyes fall closed again. Zane smiled, knowing his father was one hundred percent right.

Whitney spent the whole day thinking of what she would say when Zane walked in. She was going to have to really bring it. She wanted to be sober, but got super nervous and grabbed a pill pretty quickly into the rehearsal.

Duchess seemed impressed by the speech, but after three texts and one phone call not responded to she started to lose her courage.

“Zane, I know you’re angry at me, but I can change. I’m ready to change for you.”

The cat laid her head down on the couch and simply fell asleep.

“Okay, but you haven’t seen my secret weapon yet, Duchess. That’s what’s really going to sell it. I promise when you see this you’ll know why he’s going to change his mind.” Whitney went into the bedroom and put on the tiny pair of thongs she had bought for the occasion. They had cutouts in the front and the star-shaped pasties she bought matched them perfectly. After she struggled to figure out how to attach them to her body, she walked out for the cat, turning in a circle and then jiggling her tits in front of her. Duchess once again put her head down, unable to stay awake through all the jiggling.

“Nice pasties,” a deep voice said behind her.

Thor stood in the doorway having let himself in like he always did. She covered herself by jumping behind the couch, but he’d already seen her almost completely naked.

“Hot, Whitney, too bad I don’t date junkies,” Thor said as he looked in her cabinet for some vodka.

“I hid it from myself, Thor. I don’t really think I’m a junkie. That’s not very nice.”

“Whitney, you do all my coke. You’re my best customer. You want this bag right now, don’t you?” He dangled a bag of coke in front of her face, and she rolled her eyes.

“I’m trying to be good for Zane, Thor, and you are making it difficult.”

“So you don’t want this bag then?”

“No, I want it, put it on my dresser and I’ll get you some money.” Whitney sighed. She really was a slave to the coke. She was going to have to find some way to put it down or she’d never truly have Zane.

She counted out the money and grabbed a robe to cover herself, calling Thor into the room. She watched him put a bag on her dresser and then handed him the money.

“How do you resist the urge to get high on your own supply, Thor?” she asked.

He chuckled. “I never started putting the shit up my nose, Whitney. If you don’t start doing it, you never have to try and stop.”

“How do I quit?”

“You go to rehab and you get clean. Lose my number and anyone who ever gets you to buy from me or use with them.”

“I don’t want to go to rehab, Thor.”

“You think you’re not going to go to jail if you don’t go to rehab, Whitney? I know you’re not that high. They may not give you the choice, but if they do you need to go to rehab. I sell you the shit you put up your nose, sure, but you’re young. If you want to get clean and change your life, then you can. Make this your last bag.”

Thor stood up and left without another word, and Whitney knew he was right. She was capable of making her own decisions, right? She used because she wanted to, not because she had to. The bag looked at her from the dresser, and she started to sweat. There was still some left in the last bag she had, so she grabbed it and put it in her jewelry box. She went to fetch the used one out of her purse.

“I need to stay sober to go seduce Zane, right, Duchess?” The cat didn’t respond from the couch, and Whitney continued to pace. The sweating was worse. She actually couldn’t remember when she’d had her last line. Deciding a shower would be good because of the sweating and she needed a shower before she finally was able to let Zane put his mouth all over her, she ran into the bathroom.

Alternating cold and hot helped her wake up and snap out of the need to use. It was three o’clock at this point, so she only had to make it for an hour and a half and then she could leave to go to Zane’s.

She got out of the shower feeling good and went into the bedroom to put on her clothes. Once she had her clothes on and looked in the mirror, she started reasoning with herself.

“One line would be okay. I mean, I have to take the edge off.”

She paced back and forth in front of the dresser just looking at it. It was hard to have will power when the drugs were there, readily available. Finally, she broke it out, pouring a little on the dresser and pushing it around with an old driver’s license. She just stared at the line. It was too thin. That wasn’t going to be enough to get her high. There was less than half a gram left in the bag, so she just dumped it all out.

Three lines and a lot of cussing and jumping up and down later, she lay on the floor, running her hands over her body. She couldn’t wait for Zane to touch her and love her. It was going to be the best night of both of their lives. The coke moved through her, making her jittery. She was still about thirty minutes from leaving, but she couldn’t wait any longer, so she popped up and went out the door. She took a tiny bit from the other bag to get into her system right before he saw her. It would be good to be alert and completely ready for him.

She was ready. Her car almost didn’t start, but it finally did, and she pulled out onto the road, trying to find a good song on the radio to pump her up. Maybe she’d play some sexy music when he came in so she could dance a little. She’d gone over it in her head so many times she had pictured every possible scenario, including a few where he threw her out of his house. She really hoped that wouldn’t be what would happen. She really needed him right now more than she needed anything else in the whole world.