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So I held up my hands. “First, I’m not questioning whether you can survive on your own. You’re very capable. And don’t make me sound like some overbearing boyfriend. You were scared, or you wouldn’t have texted me. What happened tonight… If I’d lost you, or something had happened to you, Lex… I can’t lose you.” The thought was almost too much to bear.
She touched my hand. “But you didn’t.”
“But I could have.” I took a deep breath. “I get that we need to try and help Teagan. But the key word is we. If Donnie’s involved, and you’re there by yourself… Fuck. I don’t even want to think about what could happen.”
“Drake, I get it.”
I needed to calm down. My phone rang through the connection in the car, and I hit reject, wishing I could punch the screen.
“Do you? Because I plan on marrying you, having kids with you. It’s my job to protect you. I fucking love you.”
“Whoa. That’s a little deep for me. But by the way, I don’t want to marry or have kids with you. And telling me you fucking love me is a little weird.” Hayden’s voice boomed through the car speakers.
Lex’s eyes went wide. This was not the time for Hayden. He had no idea how serious this was.
“Damn it all to hell. What do you want, Hayden?”
“Is Lex okay?” He must have picked up on the fact that something was wrong.
I exhaled. “Yes, Teagan was driving her around. We think she’s doing drugs. Maybe heroin.”
“Fuck. Lex, you can’t be doing that. You could have been seriously hurt.”
Well, maybe I can let Hayden intervene for a minute. It made me feel a little less of an ass. When I looked over at Lex, she was nervously chewing on her lip. “Hayden, I’ll call you back.”
I made sure to disconnect the call this time. She fidgeted with her hands. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Lex, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled like that. Can I hold you?”
She unbuckled her seat belt and crawled into my lap. This was the fear coming out. Earlier had been a knee-jerk reaction. One thing I knew about Lex was she didn’t like being controlled. I tried to explain further, which I hoped would help. “When I got your text asking me to hurry, I died a thousand deaths. I could tell from your text you were scared. So I ran both stoplights to get to you. I just can’t ever lose you again.”
“I know. I’m sorry for what I said.” She sniffed and pulled back to look at me. “Teagan showed up at the clinic and said she wasn’t good, that she needed to talk to me. I missed all the signs. All I saw was a shell of a friend who needed someone.”
“We’ll get her help.”
“She needs help now, Drake. She’s in bad shape.”
The worry was clear in her face. This was more than Lex making a bad choice. She’d wanted to help her friend. I couldn’t stand in her way. I’d stand by her side the entire way, instead. “What do you need?”
Leaning in, she kissed my lips, and I knew we would be okay.
“Can Hayden meet us there? I’ll call Hollis, too. I’m not sure if your dad’s available. Drug addicts can become irate. But I have to try.”
“Okay. But please don’t ever ride with her again.”
“I promise. I was scared, too. And Drake?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“I want all those things, too.”
The ring I’d bought for her was now burning a hole in my pocket.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Drake
We pulled into the apartment complex with Dad, Hayden, and Hollis following behind us. They’d come from the clinic together. We thought it would be good to have two vehicles, just in case.
One of the two cop cars in Skagway pulled into the lot, and Roy—the older of the two police officers in town—met us on the sidewalk. We thought it was better to have him there just in case.
