Page 48 of Mine

“It’s a patented move, you know,” she said with a chuckle, arching an eyebrow for me. “Steal a guy’s jacket and when the guy comes to get it, go home with the guy.”

“Huh.”

“I explained that she had the wrong equipment.”

“And the wrong face.”

“Mostly that.”

I nodded. “Most of all that.”

She cleared her throat. “So tell me, what kind of meds does Landry take now?”

It was meant to be just conversation, but it nearly killed me. “He doesn’t take anything.”

She scowled at me. “How is that possible?”

“Could you please just tell me the whole story, from the beginning?” I asked her. “I’m getting bits and pieces, and I don’t want to ask Landry for the whole explanation right now because I know he’s not ready.”

Her breath was shaky. “Trevan, I—”

“Please,” I pressed her.

“I’ll do my best, but you’d be better off to ask Mom or Dad.”

“I’d rather hear it from you.”

“Okay, well, as you know, Landry’s the son of a very rich man. We were all exposed to drugs very early, but in high school, Landry, with his crappy self-esteem and his need to fit in at any cost, he let it run right over him. I mean, we knew he was manic and then depressed, but until Mom and Dad gave us the diagnosis, that he was bipolar, we had no idea it was anything more than just the way he was.”

“And the drugs did what, made it worse?”

“Of course.” She sighed. “My parents were all freaked when they found cocaine, but really, that was the tip of the iceberg stuff; the meth was the real problem.”

But there was just no way.

He had quit the social drug use right after we met. I had told him I was clean and had to have a partner who was going to be the same way. He had told me it was no problem, it was only recreational so could be easily terminated. And it had been. He quit the day we had the talk. I had never known an addict who could do that without a relapse or withdrawal or anything. He could not have been a drug addict; there had to be another explanation.

“He stole money from my parents, took some of my mother’s jewelry for drugs, and all of it while they were trying, along with the doctors, to get his meds worked out—ohmygod, Trevan, you have no idea the horror it was. He became a completely different person.”

The question of why remained, however, and the only person who had answers was Landry himself.

“I don’t—oh.” She blanched.

“Jocelyn?” I questioned her because I had never seen anyone go completely white and their eyes get quite that big.

“Oh God… oh God….” She was starting to hyperventilate.

I took hold of her arms. “Honey?”

Her head snapped up, and I was faced with huge scared eyes as a woman stepped up beside us. She was tall and tan and stunning. She looked like a Barbie doll come to life.

“Who’s this, Jo, your next conquest? My husband not good enough?”

I noted her heavy-lidded eyes, the martini glass, and the combative stance. She was ready to fight, wanted it.

“He’s a little rough, isn’t he? This one might actually be too much man for you.” She was immaculately dressed.

“Who are you?” I snapped at her, annoyed over the change she was causing in Jocelyn.