Chapter Two
Steel looked upas Dr. Sanchez entered the room. He came over and introduced himself to both him and Mika, then glanced down at Chenoa. Her eyes had fluttered open twenty minutes before the doctor had come in, and Mika was feeding her spoons of chipped ice.
Dr. Sanchez smiled at the young girl, then looked down at his chart. “Your daughter is doing well. I’ve given her naloxone. It’s an opioid receptor antagonist, which means the substance quickly attaches to the same areas of the brain that heroin seeks out. The good news is that Ms. Quine had your daughter brought in just in time, so the drug will reduce and most probably reverse all the symptoms of the overdose.” He turned to Chenoa. “You gave us quite a scare, young lady. You’re lucky you’re still alive. Heroin overdose is very serious business, and many addicts don’t live through it.” He wrote down something on the chart, then addressed Steel and Mika. “I want to keep her in the hospital for a few more days for observation, make sure there isn’t any lasting damage from the overdose. I’ll arrange a time when we can meet to go over some options after release.”
“What does that mean?” Chenoa asked in a soft voice.
Dr. Sanchez smiled. “We rarely send an addict home before we have some safeguards in place. Rehab is what we recommend. I’ll talk to your parents about it.”
The dark-haired girl pushed herself up a little more. “I don’t need rehab. It was a mistake. I was stupid. It was the first time I tried it.” Her eyes darted to each parent.
Mika put down the glass of ice and hugged her daughter. “I believe you, sweetie. I’m here for you, you know that.”
Steel narrowed his eyes. “You can bullshit your mom, but you’re not doing it to me. You’re a fucking addict. I can see your lines from here.” Dr. Sanchez cleared his throat. Steel glanced at him. “I’m just telling it like it is, Doc. Too much denial’s been going around here. Chenoa, your ass is in rehab, and you and I are gonna have a serious talk. I don’t give a shit what you or your mother wants. I’m fucking in charge now.”
Chenoa hung her head and the doctor squeezed her hand. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning to check on you. It was nice meeting you.”
Steel jerked his head at the doctor and watched him walk out of the room.
“Can you keep your temper in check for once?” Mika said as she sat down in a chair near the hospital bed.
“Not when it’s about our daughter putting shit in her body. What the fuck were you thinking, Chenoa? Where’d you get the stuff?”
“Dad, I’m tired. I’m not ready for the third degree right now. Can it wait?”
Steel wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense in her. “Can it wait?” Fuck no!He opened his mouth but then shut it when he saw his daughter’s eyes close. She looked so fragile lying on the bed, her black hair a stark contrast to the white sheets covering her. Her skin was pale, and her usual pinkish lips were drained of color. He decided to talk to her later; for the moment, he’d let her rest. As long as she was in the hospital, she was safe and he wouldn’t have to worry about her.
“I’m taking off,” he said to Mika. He went over and kissed his daughter on the forehead.
“I’m going to stay the rest of the night with her. We’re so lucky Breanna got to her when she did. We could’ve lost our baby.” Mika’s voice broke and Steel saw a couple of tears escape.
“Yeah, we gotta figure this shit out. I need to know who she’s hanging with. Do you know her friends?”
“Some of them.”
“Some? Fuck, Mika, you need to knowallof them. She’s hanging with the wrong crowd.”
“I can’t monitor every minute of her life.”
“Why the fuck not? If she wasn’t into this shit, I’d agree with you, but she is. She’s given up any right to privacy. I want to know everyone she knows. I need to find out who she got the stuff from. And how the hell is she paying for it? Are you giving her extra money?”
“No. I hardly have enough some months to pay all the bills. Thank God I have Roy helping out.”
“That’s another thing. I don’t like that fucker you’ve been going out with.”
Mika’s eyes widened. “Since when do you have the right to tell me who to go out with? I don’t tell you about the many women you screw, do I?”
“No, but I’m not exposing Chenoa to them either. I don’t give a shit who you date. I just don’t like him living with you while Chenoa’s in the house. There’s no reason for you to be living with him. She’s only seventeen years old. Anyway, she told me that Roy gives her the creeps.”
“She’s never liked any man I went out with. She keeps holding out hope that we’ll get back together. Roy’s always been nice and treated her well. I won’t have you or her dictate who I can or can’t go out with.”
“As I said, going out with him is fine. Shacking up is a different story.”
“I’m too tired for this. Believe me, Roy isn’t the problem. You not seeing Chenoa as much as you should is the bigger problem. You didn’t even know she had a new caseworker.”
“How the fuck would I know about Miss Uppity Bitch if no one told me? I don’t get shit from the Department of Human Services. And you keep badmouthing the club to Chenoa every chance you get. You have her terrified to step one foot into it.”
“Your family and your life is the club. You don’t fool me.”
