that Mason was that man. He was loyal to her, almost to a fault.
His instructions to go over and clear out her apartment were proof of that. He felt like he had failed her and was grasping on to whatever he could to help her salvage what was decent in her life.
***
Fallyn’s POV
I managed to open one eye with great effort. With that one open eye, I surveyed my surroundings and came to the conclusion that I was lying on the cold, tiled floor at the top of the stairs. I was far too fucked up to celebrate that I’d come back from the black abyss. Whatever Jill had injected into my veins was like heaven and I wanted more.
I sat up slowly and stilled my spinning head with both of my hands. Once I’d regained some sense of equilibrium, I pushed myself to my feet and set off to the master bath to find Jill. She was sitting on the counter, half dressed. I shook her roughly and she woke easily, but her eyes remained closed.
“What? Fuck…Fallyn. Fuck off.”
“What was it?” I tried to yell but my voice was only a whisper. “Tell me what it was.”
She leaned over and vomited into my sink. “Heroin. It’s heroin,” she wheezed without righting herself again.
“I want more.”
Her head turned slowly and she stared at me through knotty hair and red rimmed eyes. “Are you kidding me? You’re fucking crazy. That shit almost killed me. Shoot yourself up this time.” She grabbed a little black bag and threw it at my face.
“I don’t know what to do. What do I do?”
“Melt it and stick it in your arm. Jesus, give it here.” Jill snatched the case back and began to clumsily prepare the needles.
I watched her without really comprehending what I was about to do to myself…again. The warm, fuzzy feeling was within my reach and I would do anything to have it again. She yanked my arm, the same one she had used before and tied the latex strip around the area above my elbow.
“Just do it,” I urged her with my head turned so I didn’t have to watch. I felt the cold needle pierce my skin, followed by the slow burn of the foreign substance entering my circulation.
“Now fuck off,” she pushed me away and repeated the same actions on her own arm.
I stumbled back and out into the hall where I’d woken up just moments before. I could feel my limbs growing lighter and my head growing heavier. With great concentration I made it down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen. Something was different. My eyelids were heavy but my heart was racing and I felt whatever was in my stomach rising in my throat. I tried to make it to the sink.
Chapter 21
Mason’s POV
It was a small miracle that I’d found someone willing to fly me back to California in the middle of the night. It was an even bigger miracle that we’d found an airport that would allow us to land at such short notice. I hadn’t given the guys much in way of explanation when I went to them for money. All I offered up was the fact that Fallyn needed me and they pooled whatever money they had available.
Lynn had cleared her apartment of anything illegal. I felt guilty about asking her to do it but I didn’t have much choice.
My head was pounding when I finally boarded the small plane and buckled my seat belt. I rubbed at my jaw, irritated that I obviously didn’t know the only woman I’d ever truly loved outside of my family. She was lost and I understood that because I’d been lost once myself. I was always looking for something to fill the hole inside, though I didn’t know why that hole was there to begin with. Unfortunately, she filled her empty spot with drugs. I had filled mine with her.
A dull ache began in my stomach and made its way up into my chest. I wasn’t prepared to deal with Fallyn and her issues. We had both spent so much time trying to pretend things were OK. I wanted her to be strong and I wanted her to be healthy, happy and so in love she couldn’t function without me. What I had gotten was so much different. She loved me endlessly and she didn’t like being away from me at all. Underneath all of that I’d created a monster and it took