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I screwed my eyes shut, rubbing a hand across my head, which had begun to ache. "It's not gonna work, Mom. He'll be out looking for a score the first night."
"He promised me he wouldn't. We agreed. He'll just stay in the house. I'll watch him. It'll be different this time, Jace." Mom's voice was full of the desperate desire to believe these words were true, but we both knew they weren't. I'd done enough research about heroin recovery to understand that the first few weeks were critical, and Jarred didn't just need to be kept away from the drug, he needed intense therapy to help him relearn how to experience emotions on his own—that was the key to real recovery. We had been through this—and failed—before.
"Mom," I breathed, feeling helpless. "He can't stay there. He needs a rehab center that can take him immediately. Not in two weeks. It'll be too late."
I heard the hope leave my mother with her next sigh. "I know," she said, her voice cracking. "But the state-sponsored centers are the only ones we could afford, Jace. Those other places ..." she trailed off. She didn't need to finish the thought. They were expensive. And we didn't have it.
"I'll figure it out," I told her, my heart dissolving to dust as I uttered what was essentially a lie. I had no means of scraping together the money it would take to get my brother admitted to the kind of facility that would take him immediately and keep him for the amount of time it would take to truly give him a chance. That kind of place was for rich people—socialites. And movie stars. I cringed at the thought of Juliet finding out about this. She'd try to fix it. And then I'd owe her more than I could ever pay her back. I couldn't tell her ... I needed to figure this out on my own.
"This little dog sleeps a lot," Mom said, her voice tired.
"He's narcoleptic," I told her. "Just make sure he doesn't fall over into his water bowl and drown."
"Oh!" She sucked in a little breath. "Okay, yes, I will. We've been getting along well. It's nice having him here, actually."
Mom needed a dog, I thought. Maybe I could find her one. It felt good to discover something I might actually be able to do. "Did the doctor stop by, Mom?"
"Oh yes, she did," Mom said. "She took some things to a lab and is supposed to call me."
"Okay, good." It was good. But it was one more thing I'd allowed Juliet to do for me. "Well, I'm actually working, so I should go. But I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
"How is Juliet?" Mom asked. We hadn't told her there was anything going on between us, but Mom's question suggested she already knew. It would have been a relief to talk to her about it, but I couldn't. Especially not right here. "She's a lovely girl."
"She is. She's fine."
"Okay honey. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
We hung up and I called the hospital where Jarred was being held, and basically threatened the discharge nurse when she confirmed they were planning to release him in another forty-eight hours. "You keep him there as long as you possibly can," I'd growled at her. "If you let him go, you might as well just shoot him as he walks out the door," I said. I shouldn’t have been telling her. She wasn’t the one in charge, but I hoped maybe she could do something.
The nurse had said that she would see what she could do, but I already knew we'd need to find something else. Fast.
* * *
Chadand I took up positions inside as the afternoon went on, and Juliet wandered through the front room at one point, eyeing Chad suspiciously. She stopped in front of us, and I had the sense she wanted to talk to me, but with Chad right there, she couldn't.
"Have you seen Ryan?" she asked us. I swallowed down the ire that crept up at her asking about Ryan.
"Think he went for a run," I told her. We were supposed to be keeping track of both stars, but Juliet paid us, so we kept closer tabs on her.
"Okay, thanks," she said, casting a look over her shoulder as she disappeared back up the stairs. I wished I could follow her.
Chad made no effort to hide the way he watched her head back up the stairs. "What I wouldn't give for five minutes with that ass," he said.
My hand was bunched in his shirt before I'd even had time to think about what I was doing, Chad's face pulled close to mine and my other fist next to his jaw. "If you ever lay a finger on her, I'll kill you," I told him in a whisper.
"What the fuck, man?" Chad's face ricocheted between surprise and concern. "Just a comment," he said, pushing me away with his hands on my shoulders.
I released him and stepped back as he stared at me. "Keep it professional."
"I don't know what's going on with you, but you better get it under control, Jace." He shook his head and smoothed his shirt out. "Shit, man."
I forced myself to breathe, and by the time Ryan McDonnell strolled by, I had myself mostly under control.
"Hey," I said to him as he walked by, partly proving to myself that I could be civil.
"Hey," he said back, turning with a smile. "It's Jace, right?"
I couldn't explain why, but knowing he knew my name gave me a small bit of satisfaction. I nodded and angled my head at Chad. "That's Chad."
