Page 181 of Losing Faith

She keeps her eyes low but I lean over to catch her gaze. “I want to get high.”

“Okay…” I watch her carefully but she won’t meet my eyes. “Let’s call your brother. You can—”

“No.” She shakes her head and I feel my brows pull together at the sudden rage she takes on.

“You should go to a meeting,” I point out.

“So I’ll go to one, but I don’t need him.”

As I watch her, it’s obvious I missed something. “What happened, Lisette?” I lean back in my seat as I focus on her, taking in the bags in her eyes and the way her hair clings to her sweaty forehead.

She bites at her nails again as her eyes dart between everything but my face.

I pull her hand away from her mouth before holding her face in my hands. “Are you also high?”

She shakes her head and tries to pull away, but I keep her hand in my grasp.

“Use your words and look at me,” I tell her more sternly.

Slowly, her gaze meets mine. “I missed your calls…”

“I know, I was worried.”

“Iwashigh.” She watches me, waiting as if I’m supposed to explode at the news.

I falter before reining in my reaction. I nod slowly, holding my breath so I don’t sigh, not wanting her to think it’s a sigh of disappointment or frustration because I don’t feel either of those things.

“Where are the rest of the pills?”

She looks back down at her nails and as she picks at them again, they start bleeding. “I got rid of them.”

I scan her face, trying to figure out if she’s lying or not, but I can’t tell and I hate that I’m out of my element here.

“I’m going to call your brother and—”

“No.” Her eyes meet mine again, burning with fury. “I’m fine. Do you not trust me? I just told you the truth. I messed up, okay? But I came forward and told you like I said I would. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

I sink further in my seat. “You’re right. I’m sorry, that does count for something, but he’s worried about you.”

“Did he call you?” Her eyes scan my face now like she’s in trouble and I suddenly don’t trust her.

“You need to tell me what happened, Lis. You’re scaring me.”

She lets out a frustrated breath as she rolls her eyes. “We got into a fight.” She pushes the hair from her face before leaning against the wheel. “He wants me on stupid house arrest, but I don’t want to be monitored.”

“He’s trying to help.”

“Stop taking their side!”

I go still as I watch her blow out another angry breath. “I’m not taking sides… who’sthey?”

She rolls her eyes again as she bites at her thumb. “The twins andhim.” She shakes her head at something she thinks of. “Justdon’tfucking call him.”

“Okay,” I start, more bass in my voice. “I don’t know where this attitude came from, but drop it.Now.”

She hesitates, her brows pulling together and she opens her mouth to say something, but quickly shuts it at my warning look. When she settles back down, I nod to myself, and I don’t know jack shit about drugs, but I think she’s going through some sort of withdrawal. That or she’s a really mean drunk.

“You need to get this together.” I gesture to her frame and a warm pink flushes her face. “I’ll support you however you need me to, Lissy. If you don’t want to call Sire then fine, I won’t mess with your family drama, but what you’renotgoing to do is mess with my family. If you want to see my daughter, you’ll see her sober. Understood?”

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