Chapter 3

Arrick flinched with the cold pulse that ran through him, anxiety and fear colliding with every worst-case scenario in his head. He tried her cell again quickly but got nothing but her answering machine, cursing out loud this time.

He would lecture her and shake the shit out of her when he got there. No doubt he’d have to carry her out like last weekend, and this time he was sitting her down for a serious heart-to-heart. He was done with whatever this was. Done with the drunken calls, putting herself in constant danger, the argumentative stroppy behavior, and difficult attitude of late. He understood that her past sometimes meant she was hard to handle. Even at her best, she had always been hard to handle, but this lately was beyond a joke. His nerves couldn’t take much more of this, and his relationship with Natasha was falling to pieces because of it.

Tonight, she was coming home with him and sobering up to get the third degree. Enough was enough; if anyone could get through to her and convince her to go home to her family, then it was him. He had been avoiding this conflict for too long, and he couldn’t avoid it anymore; that stubborn mindset hitting him hard that he wasn’t going to keep going through this anxiety over her safety anymore. The agony.

She had up and left home a few months before, after a heated fight concerning her drunken lifestyle; another night he scraped her off a sidewalk and took her back from the city to the Hamptons. Her family had lost all control by then, and Arrick had been the only one left she still clung to in any way. He had been treating her with kid gloves ever since, in fear she would cut him loose too, and that had been his biggest mistake. He had listened to Natasha over his gut; he should have trusted that he had always known how to handle Sophie and not gone for the soft approach at her bidding. Natasha only knew the bare facts and nothing more. She only saw Sophie as a broken child and had convinced him to go against his own reasoning in every way. Arrick should never have listened. He knew her better than anyone. She needed his stern side back.

Sophie needed real help and understanding, someone to reel her in a little before she got herself into a situation that only ended badly. Arrick knew that despite Natasha’s feelings on the matter, he was the only person with a chance to pull his girl back out of whatever this was and bring back some of the girl he missed crazily. His way.

Sophie and he had a bond like no other, and even though the past months had seen them changing towards each other, he knew his girl was still in there somewhere, and he needed to find her again. For his own sanity, as well as hers, all of this was slowly killing him. He hated seeing her messed up and unhappy, and he knew he had to do something before he lost her too. Despite always calling on him, he felt like he had been losing her for a long time, which was the root of his stress for months. The possible stomach ulcer too.

Arrick picked up his cell phone and scrolled to his most recent calls, hitting Natasha’s name, laying it back down in the console, eyes glued to the road, frowning. He hated driving in mid-town traffic past eight p.m.; the hustle and bustle of people hitting the nightlife always made navigating it a headache.

“Hey, Darling, are you almost here?” Natasha had a soft feminine voice that made her sound like a child most of the time, and he was hit with that pang of guilt at the fact he was doing this to her again.

“Hey, Tash. Look… I’m sorry, but I need to cancel our plans tonight. You go and meet everyone and enjoy dinner. I need to go deal with Sophie.” He waited with paused breath at the long silence that stretched between them. Zero response as she took it in, and he could already picture the hurt expression on her face. Knowing she was taking a moment to choose her words wisely and consider her reaction.

Natasha always remained composed and liked to see everything from everyone’s perspective before flying off the handle. She was the picture of mature and refined, outwardly calm like him, and he guessed it’s why they got on so well. The complete opposite of Sophie, and usually why Sophie was the one to start major rows with her, pushing her buttons and making her snap, despite it going against Natasha’s nature.

“Again?” She inhaled desperately, with no real anger in her even tone, only disappointment. He took a long slow breath, exhaling even more slowly, knowing that this wasn’t fair on her; it never was. Yet glad she was taking it well, despite bailing when he was supposed to be there already. Natasha had put up with so much in the past eighteen months that was causally related to Sophie.

“She’s a mess and alone at Randy’s bar. I can’t leave her there, and I think it’s best if she comes back to my apartment tonight for a real talk. I can’t keep ignoring this.” He hated the second stretch of silence, knowing Natasha was seriously upset with him, but the anxiety concerning Sophie’s vulnerability out there far outweighed anything else.

“What good does talking do? She has been getting worse over the last year, and in the last couple of months, she has had you run after her almost three nights a week, every week.” Natasha’s voice wobbled when she finally responded, and he knew the tears had started. He felt like shit for letting her down, but in this, he had made up his mind. He could see his friends and her another night when Sophie was safely back where she belonged and nowhere near any danger.

“I haven’t actually sat her down alone in a long time and just tried… I need to do this my way. I’m worried about her, Tash, and I can’t just let her go on living like this.” The visual of Sophie crossed his mind, and that same rise of anxiety that he was still stuck in traffic and not there yet. He could only picture her big tear-stained blue eyes and terrified face, and he tapped his hand impatiently.

“Fine! You know you’ll do whatever you want anyway regarding her. Good luck, I guess. If you think it will make a difference, try, but we can’t keep on like this. I can’t keep on like this.” Natasha sniffed softly, with no real anger; picturing her wiping her eyes, he frowned hard at the cab in front, willing it to move with more aggressive steering wheel tapping.

She was pissed at him, disappointed in ruining their night, but he knew she would get over it quickly. Deep down, Natasha was compassionate, and in the end, she always agreed that he couldn’t leave Sophie to her own devices. Anytime the two women argued, it had always been Sophie who sparked the girl-on-girl feud, and despite it all, Natasha just wanted to like her and get along for all their sakes. Natasha was a sweetheart; he knew she didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve the hard time Sophie always gave her.

“I know, and that’s partly why I need to do this. I’m sorry. I’ll call you tomorrow. Have a good night with Nate and the guys; wish Lydia a happy birthday for me.” Arrick growled at the Cab driver in the guy’s mirror, urging him to move now the lights had changed and getting hostile as hell, rapping his fingers loudly. He heard her sigh, resigned to the fact that he wasn’t coming and not the kind of girl to have a go when at the heart of this was Arrick’s caring side, his loyalty to his friend. She couldn’t be angry at that, even if it did interfere with them.

“I love you, Arrick,” Natasha added hesitantly, that tender affection she said often, and it tugged at his guilt, his chest aching a little, knowing she hated being mad at him, and this was her way of saying she understood.

“You too, Tash. Now go. Tell me how it went tomorrow. I’ll hopefully get through to her and have something positive to tell you.” He glared harder at the car in front and resisted the urge to hit his horn. His feet were ready to ram the gas.

“Goodbye, honey,” she breathed gently, lingering.

“Bye, Tash,” he answered distractedly.

He hung up before she did, getting seriously pissed with the yellow car now, weaving in and out and making it impossible to pass. If it weren’t for this asshole, he would have been there minutes ago and already scooping her up and out of harm’s way. He slammed his horn angrily and sighed with relief when the car pulled into the side to let him pass.

Thank fuck!