I nod, understanding but feeling something awful tugging at my heart. He hands me my helmet and I quickly pull it on, not wanting to hold him up. I keep wondering how Macy rang him. Perhaps he’s taught her; a great deal of parents do. Or was it Lena just playing a game? I get onto the back of the bike after him and he quickly takes off.
The ride home is nothing compared to the ride here. Thoughts are traumatizing my mind, making me realize what a troubled situation I’ve been put in.
We arrive at the dance studio and Nate pulls up in the lot. I get off the bike quickly and he turns to me, meeting my hurt expression. “I gotta go.”
Without another word he zips away, leaving me broken and devastated on the side of the road. Is this all I’m ever going to be? A woman he goes to as an escape? What have I done? What the hell have I done?
CHAPTER 24
NATE
I bust through the front door and see Macy sitting on the floor beside the couch where Lena is laying. I squint and rush over, lowering to my knees. Lena is out of it, the smell of whiskey strong on her body. Her arm is flopped over the side of the couch and she’s got vomit surrounding her head and mattered into her hair. Fucking shit. I quickly lift her head, sitting her upright before checking her breathing and then her pulse. It’s there but it’s faint.
“Is Mommy okay, Daddy?” Macy asks.
“She’s okay, baby,” I grind out. “Can you bring me her phone?”
She rushes off and brings me Lena’s phone. I flip it open and dial for an ambulance. They assure me they’re on their way, so I turn back to Lena. I slap her cheeks softly. “Hey, wake up.”
She groans, but she doesn’t open her eyes.
“Macy, baby,” I say, turning to my little girl. “Can you get Daddy a towel?”
She nods again and runs away, coming back a minute later with a towel. I put it under Lena’s head, using it to prop her up as much as possible until the ambulance arrives. They do, a few minutes later. They quickly get to work, lifting her onto a stretcher and taking her out.
“Do you want to meet us there?” one officer asks.
I’m holding Macy in my arms, trying to keep her calm. “Yeah, I need to calm the little one.”
He nods. “She’s stable. I think she’s had too much to drink, but we’re not sure that she hasn’t taken something else, too.”
“Something else?” I ask, my body stiffening.
“Drugs. It may not be, but we need to check.”
I nod, feeling my neck ache. “No problem.”
He rushes out after giving me the name of the hospital. When they’re gone, I take Macy into the kitchen. I can’t keep leaving my daughter like this. Something bad is going to happen. I can’t trust that Lena is able to take care of her. I can’t . . . I just can’t. I do the only thing I can think of, making the best decision I can make for my daughter until I deal with Lena.
I lift my phone and I call my mother.
~*~*~*~
NATE
“You can’t keep doing this,” I say, pacing up and down beside Lena’s hospital bed.
She sighs and rolls to her side, sipping a juice. “It was a mistake; I took it too far. I’m allowed to have fun.”
My anger rises to boiling point, but I squash it down. I can’t talk about this with Macy sitting in the corner.
“There’s fun,” I grate out, “and there’s taking it to the next level. You could have been killed—or worse, something could have happened to Macy. How would you feel if something happened to her?”
She stares up at me and something flashes behind her eyes.
“Why are you even here, Nate? We both know this relationship is damaged.”
“Beats me,” I mutter, kicking my shoe into the pole of her bed over and over.
“You’re going to leave me?” she croaks, her eyes welling with tears.
Shit.
“I . . . shit isn’t good right now Lena, and . . .”
“Please don’t!” she cries. “Please, I’ll do better. I love you, Nate; don’t tear our family apart. If you leave, one of us is going to miss out on our daughter.”
That’s what fucking scares me.
“Let’s just worry about now,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I think you need to sort your shit out before we can work out where to go from here. I don’t think you should have Macy while you do that. I’m sending her to my mother’s house for a few weeks. She’ll love it, and it’ll give you a chance to pull yourself out of this slump you’re in.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” she says, her voice low.
Well at least we agree on something.