Chapter 22: Serena Grey l

-- SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2006, SENIOR YEAR --

"Elyse Laughton is dead."

I blinked twice before arching both eyebrows, hearing her words and yet absolutely certain of the identity of the young woman standing on the porch in front of me. "Dead? Uh ... You're going to have to explain that one."

She sighed, "It's a long story."

"I'm willing to hear it."

"Oh, for God's sake, Ben," Sasha grumped as she pushed past me and stepped out onto the porch. "Let the girl inside!"

With a weak smile, Elyse let Sasha grab hold of her hand and lead her inside. Since they were all still in the house and eating breakfast after this morning's five-chicks/one-dick orgy, Peyton, Andie, Jamie, and Casey had all come to the end of the hallway, curious to see who was at the door. Elyse took one look at them and stopped in her tracks. "Oh, dear. Am I interrupting something?" she asked with a wince.

I looked up at the four girls awaiting us, Andie and Jamie dressed in their slinkiest and Peyton and Casey having appropriated a dress shirt and a baggy T-shirt of mine, respectively. Technically, each of them was clothed, but it was obvious that their attire was designed more for sexual seduction than coverage. "What? No, no. These are my ... friends." I hesitated before the last word. The term 'harem girls' didn't seem appropriate. "We're just having breakfast. Are you hungry?"

Elyse eyes lit up at the mention of food. I grimaced, wondering just what kind of hellhole she'd crawled out of to look so rabid at the prospect of breakfast.

"Shouldn't we get her cleaned up?" Sasha asked pointedly before blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry; I don't mean to imply that you're dirty or anything. But--"

"No, it's okay," Elyse muttered. "I'm probably filthy right now."

"Let her eat something first," I suggested. "Maybe something light, like toast and some juice? Then you can get cleaned up and eat some more."

"Thank you, Ben. You're very kind." Suddenly, Elyse's face twisted into a grimace. It didn't appear to be physical, but she was feeling some kind of emotional pain. And as a deep frown creased her features, I couldn't help but reach out and wrap her up in a fierce hug.

"Ohmigawd..." I breathed while she started crying into my shoulder. "What the hell happened to you?"

She didn't answer except to keep crying. So I just kept hugging her while she shuddered in my grasp. And I hugged her. And I hugged her some more.

Eventually, she quieted down and the shuddering subsided. Breathing deeply, Elyse went so still in my arms that I began to wonder if she'd fallen asleep on my shoulder. But when I pulled back just a bit to look down and see, she stared back at me through tear-streaked eyes.

"I'm sorry," she muttered quietly.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Sorry for what?"

"For being here. For putting this on you. You don't owe me anything, and after what I did to you when we were younger, I deserve for you to put me right back out on the street."

I gave her a stern look, and my answer was already out of my lips. I didn't think about it, didn't stop to worry about the consequences of my verbal commitments or wonder what kind of shit I was getting myself involved in. It was kind of a hallmark of my decision-making process, the White Knight instinct that the girls around me either appreciated or derided, depending on the situation. There weren't any immediate thugs to beat up, but I was jumping into the fray without a moment's hesitation. And I promised her right then and there, "I will never put you out on the street. I don't know what the hell you're messed up in, but nobody is going to hurt you on my watch. Got it?"

She started crying again.

This time, though, the waterworks didn't last very long. Instead of just standing there, I led Elyse into the living room and put her on a chair at the dining table. Sasha had left us the first time Elyse broke down crying, and she'd already arranged a plate of toast, eggs, and orange juice on the placemat.

With heartfelt gratitude and moisture in her eyes, our new guest looked up at me and the five girls around her before saying, "Thank you. This is already more than I'd hoped for. Thank you all."

"You're welcome," Sasha said, sitting down on the chair beside her and reaching out to rub the back of her hand. "Whatever it is that you're going through, you're in the right place now. I'm Sasha. That's Peyton, Casey, Andie, and Jamie. Ben, I gather, you already know."

"Elyse and I went to high school together," I said quietly.

She had already taken a bite of the toast – three actually – but the dirty, dispirited, and disheveled young woman shook her head in the negative before staring off vacantly. She fought to swallow the food in her mouth, and once she did, in a haunted voice, she began, "I told you, Elyse Laughton is dead. My name..." She blinked, and her shoulders visibly sagged before she turned and gave me an apologetic look while she finished, " ... is Serena Grey."

The name thing was still confusing me, but Peyton wouldn't let me interrogate the poor girl. She and Sasha took charge, with Peyton insisting that explanations could wait and that we should let the poor girl eat, and Sasha leading the way into the first floor bathroom so that "Serena" could take a shower.

Casey was already following them, I think more curious than interested in helping out. I, of course, was expressly forbidden from entering, and Peyton ordered Andie and Jamie to keep me occupied. Nobody was in the mood for Andie's and Jamie's usual method of "occupying" me, so the girls settled for grilling me about Elyse and our background while we sat on the living room couches. Five minutes later, Casey joined us as well, having left the actual Elyse-support to Sasha and Peyton.

I told the three girls what little I knew of Elyse. I mentioned her being the Cheer Captain and a social rival to my then-girlfriend Adrienne back in high school, although I didn't bother to go into details about her seduction attempt during Spring Break or any of the other drama she'd caused me. I explained that I'd only seen her twice since then, the first time my sophomore year when we'd had a chance encounter on the street, and the second time almost exactly two years ago at a party in the hills. Again, I didn't mention the circumstances around those meetings. I certainly wasn't about to tell them about the triple-penetration or the Voyeur Room at Carter's house.

"So that's it? A girl you barely knew in high school and only bumped into a couple of times in the last four years has come to YOU for help?" Casey looked skeptical. "I don't buy it. There's more to the story you're not telling us."

I sighed. "There are details around the manner in which we bumped into each other that I'd rather not go into right now, but I'm honestly as mystified by her arrival as you. I have no idea what she's been through to end up looking like that, nor why she'd come HERE of all places. I'm serious: I barely know the girl, and I certainly have no clue why she's telling me she's dead and that her name is 'Serena Grey'."

Jamie frowned. "Are you SURE she's your friend from high school, and you're not mixing her up with someone else you know?"

"I'm sure," I stated seriously. "She's Elyse Laughton ... or at least, what's left of her."

Andie hadn't said much, and she still didn't. Instead, my bottle-blonde "cutie" merely wrapped her arms around me in a hug, laying her head on my shoulder and squeezing me just to let me know she was here for me. I appreciated it and patted her forearm.

Casey and Jamie spent the next couple of minutes asking me questions, mostly further variations on 'How do you know her?' and 'Why would she come to you?' When I didn't come up with anything new or relevant, they switched gears to talk about Elyse's physical condition.

"Did you see her dress?" Jamie wondered aloud.

"Looked like she'd been wearing it for a few days," Casey replied with a nod.

"And she wasn't wearing any underwear, period."

"I noticed the lack of bra. You sure she didn't have any panties?"

Jamie shrugged. "I didn't see a line. Maybe she had a G-string or something else ... maybe. But that dress was pretty sheer."

"And it was filthy. Like she'd slept in a gutter last night."

"Or something. Her hair and face were all messed up too. Did you see the bruises? They're faint, but you can tell someone's been beating the shit out of her."

Casey made a face.

"We should loan her some clothes," Andie finally spoke up. "She's a lot bigger than me, though. Jamie, do you have something that'll fit her?"

Jamie nodded but replied, "Sasha went upstairs during breakfast and got some of hers, already."

Casey stared off into space, shaking her head slowly. "What the hell happened to that girl? I mean, you hear about people falling into some bad shit, like in the news. But I've never seen someone look so wrecked. Hey Ben, was she always skinny like that?"

I shook my head. "Not like that. She had a good figure. Liked to keep herself slim, mostly her ego if I remember. But she'd never been anorexic or anything. Definitely not ... hollow ... like that."

"Did you see how fast she finished off that plate of food?" Jamie said, her voice still full of amazement. "I mean, how long has it been since she ate anything?"

Casey suddenly sat up. "You think she escaped from somewhere? Like, maybe somebody is gonna come after her? With like guns and shit?"

Andie's grip around my neck suddenly tightened. "Maybe we should call the police."

"Not a bad idea," I agreed. "But I think we should at least let her explain a little more about her situation. If there's someone after her, then hell yeah we'll call. But there are scenarios under which the authorities would bring her more problems than solutions. The last time I saw her, she wasn't exactly ... well ... in a normal situation. But at the same time, she didn't look like she was being held against her will. She was with her boyfriend, and they were into a pretty intense scene and all, but not like this."

"What WAS it like?" Casey asked. "Sex? Drugs?"

I shrugged and nodded.

"Really BAD shit?"

I grimaced. "Not my kind of scene, which is why I never went back. But like I said, she seemed to be comfortable with where she was at. Then again, that was two years ago. A lot has apparently happened since then."

It turned out, that was a major understatement.

Elyse was a brand new woman when she came out of DJ's old bedroom. Sasha and Peyton had taken the time to really clean her up and dress her in one of Sasha's comfortable pajama sets. They'd even taken the time to let her apply some makeup, and despite her skeletal figure and gaunt cheeks, Elyse was still a strikingly beautiful young woman.

Now devoid of the dirt smudges and with her bruises covered by foundation, nothing marred the elegant structure of her face. Her prominent cheekbones were model-esque, and the makeup enhanced the shape of her already alluring green eyes. Already standing 5'11", she looked even lengthier with her slimmed-down physique. Yet whatever weight she'd lost in the past two years, she hadn't lost much definition in her tits. They were still very big, very round, and very firm, especially as they were now supported by a borrowed bra. Plus, those extra inches of height left a strip of her bare belly exposed between the hem of her pajama top and the waistband of the matching pants, and I'm somewhat ashamed to say that despite the gravity of the situation, I couldn't help but feel sexually attracted to her.

But the beauty of her body aside, there was no escaping the deep frown on her face. One look at it and any sense of arousal was dashed. I sat up straight and watched as she approached me before coming to a stop in front of the couch, looking at me expectantly. But I was so busy checking her out from head-to-toe that it took Andie poking me in the ribs to make me say anything.

"You look nice," I managed to croak.

Elyse gave me a small smile. Canting her head to the side, she asked, "Can we talk?" Her eyes darted to Andie, still draped around me, as well as to Casey and Jamie. And then she added, "Alone?"

"Oh, of course," Andie chirped, letting go of me and sitting back.

"Sorry," Elyse apologized. "You've all been so kind, but--"

"Don't have to explain," Jamie interrupted. "It's okay."

I got up off the couch and gestured toward the stairs before leading the way. Elyse followed, and Sasha and Peyton headed for the couches to join the others. No doubt Jamie and Casey would grill them as much as they had just grilled me.

I went straight to the armchairs in my sitting area, and Elyse closed my bedroom door behind us before joining me. I chuckled to myself, thinking of all the really intense conversations I'd had in these two chairs over the past year. I already knew this would be one more.

"So about the name..." I began, eyebrows raised as Elyse sat down opposite me.

She perched on the edge of her seat, knees together and arms across her midsection, her palms holding onto both elbows. Clearly nervous, Elyse glanced out the window for a moment before fixing her gaze on the floor between us. "Yeah, the name thing..."

"Do you want me to call you 'Serena' or something?"

She made a face. "I'd rather you didn't. THEY called me that." She trailed off without explaining who 'they' were.

"Um, okay. 'Elyse' it is. But now I'm even more confused."

She took a deep breath and exhaled for a long few seconds. She was clearly trying very hard to maintain her composure, and her head was bowed as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. "The short answer is that legally, I'm not Elyse anymore. My driver's license says that my name is Serena Grey. That's the name I've used – the name they've called me – for the last several months."

I blinked twice, surprised and even more confused than before. "Okay, maybe you should start at the beginning. Or actually ... maybe you should start with why you're here. You're 'Elyse' to me and that's what I'll call you. But I guess what's really important is what you think I can do for you."

She winced and looked up at me with large, luminous green eyes. She took a deep breath and blinked several times, clearly concentrating with furrowed eyebrows. And when she spoke it was with the careful diction of one who had rehearsed what she had to say.

"I know you don't owe me anything. And I know I don't have much to offer you." She stopped, blinked a few more times, and almost nervously fiddled with the top button of her borrowed pajama top, as if she were readying herself to open it. "But I came to plead for help. I won't ask for much: just a roof over my head and maybe a meal or two. I can't stay on the street anymore, and I'm really hoping you'll ... you'll..."

She began sniffling as her rehearsed speech started breaking down. I waited a moment to see if she'd recover herself, but when her face twisted into a grimace and she clenched her eyes shut as if in pain, I reached out to reassuringly rub her knee. But the instant my hand touched it, she jerked away, twisting both knees to the side as she recoiled against the backrest with obvious fear in her eyes.

"Hey, hey!" I exclaimed instantly, raising both hands in the air as I backed away. Sitting upright in my own chair, I kept my distance and explained, "Not trying to hurt you."

Blinking rapidly, Elyse studied me for a few seconds, weighing my words before nodding rapidly. I started to relax, but when her head kept nodding rapidly with no sign of stopping, I started to worry about Elyse's mental stability.

But she explained while nodding, "I know you're not. I know ... I know..." Her voice trailed off as her gaze turned to the side while she kept nodding, as if in doing so she could convince herself of my innocent intentions. All of a sudden, she stopped nodding, and she looked over at me with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry. After everything I've been through, I think I'm just a bit jumpy about guys touching me unexpectedly."

"No touching, got it," I said with an exaggerated smile and my best impression of open, honest eyes.

"I'm sorry I reacted that way."

"You don't have to apologize."

"No, I do. I mean, I didn't have a problem with it when you hugged me by the front door. Actually..." She blushed as she glanced up at me. "I kinda liked it. It felt nice. I don't remember the last time a guy just ... hugged ... me. At least not without him wanting ... well..."

I grimaced as her voice trailed off. "The last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable, alright? I'll keep my hands to myself."

Pursing her lips, Elyse nodded and straightened herself back out again, although she was still bent over with her hands in her lap. She went quiet and furrowed her eyebrows again, trying to figure out what to say next.

"So back to what you think I can do for you," I began. "Roof over head, a few meals: those are easy. I've got plenty of space, and we've got plenty of food."

"I don't have any money," she said, her head bowed in shame. "I honestly have nothing to pay you with."

"I'm not asking for payment."

She took a deep breath, and as she exhaled she rather nervously glanced up at my face. "Where I've been, everything has a cost."

"Well, I might ask you to do a couple of chores around the house," I said breezily with a smirk. "Do the dishes, fold my laundry, go take notes in class so I can sleep in, that sort of thing, and we'll call it square."

Elyse snorted, quite loudly and quite rudely, and she blushed bright pink as she covered up her mouth and nose with one hand. I knew she'd been thinking about sexual favors as payment, and apparently my response bemused her.

"Really," I began more seriously. "I'm not going to ask anything of you. You're clearly in need, and I already promised I'd never put you back on the street. I want to help you, no strings attached, alright?"

Elyse started crying, and she'd gone back to hugging herself with her palms on both elbows. As her face turned ugly and she bowed her head, she looked so pitiful and frail that the instinct to reach out and physically comfort her kicked in again. But I remembered the way she'd reacted when I rubbed her knee, so I held myself in check for about three seconds.

Still, she kept on crying and I didn't know what else to do, so I reached forward again, quite deliberately and quite slowly as I showed her my hand and let her see me approaching all the way. This time, Elyse didn't recoil as I touched her shoulder and began rubbing it. And after a few seconds of doing that without any adverse reactions, I moved over to kneel beside her chair. And for the second time today I wrapped her up in a warm hug.

As before, it took a little while for Elyse to calm down, but eventually her tears stopped and her breathing was slow and steady. Her face buried against my shoulder, she went still enough that I wondered again if she'd fallen asleep. But when I turned my head to look down at her, she took a deep breath and sat back in her chair, wiping at her tears with both hands.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "I don't mean to keep breaking down on you."

"It's okay," I replied gently. "I can't imagine what you've been through."

"No you can't," she mumbled even more softly, and she threatened to start crying again. But inhaling deeply, she forced herself to remain calm and finished wiping away her last tears.

"I just want to help you," I said sincerely.

"You've already helped me," she replied, her voice sounding stronger as she sat up a little straighter. "Just by letting me be here. You ... well ... I guess Sasha and Peyton ... have fed me and clothed me and let me feel safe for the first time since ... since ... Fuck, I don't remember the last time I was someplace safe, but I feel safe here.

I nodded. "You are."

She eyed me a little warily. "I'm sorry, but I've heard that before. Kind man off the street, looking like the type who wants to rescue the damsel in distress. And then in the middle of the night I find his hand over my mouth and his erection pressing against my hip while he..." Her voice trailed off.

I shrank back in my seat, trying to appear as unthreatening as possible. "That's not me," I stated softly.

"I know." She did that nodding thing again, continually nodding while she repeated, "I know, I know, I know. You're not that kind of guy. You've been nothing but kind to me since you opened that door. You haven't leered at me, or tried to cop a feel. You've talked to me like I was a human being, not a toy."

I grimaced, thinking of what kind of people she must've been around who didn't treat her so kindly.

"Look, I really have no reason to trust you," she began, desperate hope in the eyes of a still wary face. "I don't know you; you don't know me. But you said you wouldn't put me out on the street and I want to believe that. Despite being lied to by every guy I've ever been around for the past three, four years, I want to believe you. Because even though I don't know you, I know Adrienne. I know her secrets, I know what she went through, and I think I know what you've done for her. And now she's a world famous supermodel jet-setting around the globe."

I arched an eyebrow. "You ... thought I could do the same for you or something?"

Elyse barked a short laugh, and flashed me the first genuine smile I'd seen from her in a long, long time. Shaking her head, she replied, "No. Of course not. But... (sigh) ... I've pretty much hit rock-bottom here..."

She trailed off again, her eyes unfocusing as she returned to some dark place I couldn't imagine, nor did I really want to. I waited her out, and at length she started talking again.

"You really don't know where I've been or what I've had to do for the last few months." Pursing her lips and still hugging herself, she continued with an almost catatonic stare to nowhere, "It's ugly ... and filthy ... and I don't even really want to think about it, especially about these last couple of days. But I'm trying to crawl out of the hellhole I've put myself in, and really, I have nowhere else to go."

"Nowhere? No other friends or relatives?" I arched an eyebrow, but tempered my skepticism when she shrank before me. "Not trying to foist you off on someone else. It's just that I find it hard to believe I was your number one option. C'mon, you barely know me and have no reason to believe I won't take advantage of you."

Shaking a little with nervousness, Elyse started doing that nodding thing again. "You won't ... you won't..." She blinked a couple of times before muttering, "Adrienne promised me."

That rocked my head back. "Adrienne? You've actually talked to her recently?"

"Just this morning." She let go of her elbows and glanced out the window. Keeping her gaze there, she continued explaining, "Took forever to get through her handlers and actually get her on the phone. It was her idea that I come to you, actually."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that.

Elyse looked back at me and shrugged. "She gave me your address, and she also said she'd call you, but I'm guessing you two didn't get in touch?"

With a frown, I dug into my pocket to retrieve my cell phone. I certainly hadn't talked to Adrienne or gotten any messages from her this-- Oops. I guess I had. My phone's Call Log showed both a missed call and a voicemail from Adrienne, and I also had a text that read: call me back asap. Im snding elyse to u.

Checking the timestamps, I gathered that Adrienne had been trying to call me while I was on the phone with Kim this morning, and I must have been so engrossed in that conversation that I didn't notice the call waiting beeps. Afterwards, everything had happened so fast that I simply never checked my phone until just now.

"Um, okay..." I muttered. "I was pretty busy this morning and must've missed her call."

"Busy? Yeah, I'll bet." Elyse's eyes darted downward and to the side, in the vague direction of my living room which would currently be occupied by five scantily-clad coeds. A look of apprehension filled Elyse's face, her wariness coming back. "What's with that, by the way? I'm trying to trust here. I really have nowhere else to go, and I want to believe so badly that I'm not making a huge mistake coming here for help. But I'm sorry, the last few guys I knew who kept groups of girls around them for pleasure were not very nice men."

"Carter?" I asked quietly.

Elyse picked her eyes up, looked at me for a moment, and averted her eyes once more. She shrugged noncommittally.

"Even after all this time, you're still with him?"

Head down in shame, she sighed, "Him ... others ... just part of that scene..."

I grimaced, and given her current state, I felt the need to explain, "We're not friends, you know, Carter and I. We only met the couple of times."

"Oh I know. If you were friends, believe me I'd have seen you more often. You probably would have fucked me a few times by now as well." The bitter tone in her voice made it clear that such a sexual encounter wouldn't have been entirely consensual.

"Yeah, well ... I'm not like him."

"I hope not..." She wouldn't look at me as she went back to hugging herself and doing that nodding thing again. "But the thing is ... the jaded part of me sees five girls wearing skimpy PJs, you know? And I get to wondering what kind of leverage you're holding over them."

I held my hands up straight away. "It's not like that. We're all friends. You just met them; do they seem like they're here against their will? Every girl downstairs is here by her own choice."

Elyse stared off behind my right ear, and she swallowed thickly. "I always had a choice, too," she mumbled. "But my choices were always between a rock and a hard place, forced choices to the point where I really had NO choice."

I blinked. "Elyse ... what HAPPENED to you?"

She sighed and looked away. "Crystal meth happened to me."

"You became an addict?"

She snorted. "I think 'addict' is putting it mildly."

"But you're not anymore."

"Of course I am," she scoffed before shaking her head sadly. "I'm just ... I'm just trying to crawl my way out of the hole."

"So that's what this is about? Escaping Carter?"

She shook her head and started staring vacantly behind me again. "No. Carter's an asshole, and he's a manipulative, sociopathic bastard, but he's never held me against my will. I was always free to walk away, only ... well ... It was my choice, you see. My choice ... My choice..." she mumbled in a haunted tone, as if it were a mantra that had been drilled into her time and again.

I sensed her drifting again, and I leaned forward and put my elbows on my knees. The movement drew her attention, and she snapped back to reality.

"I always had the choice to leave," she explained with a resigned sigh. "But I couldn't. In the end, no matter how much it hurt, I always chose to stay..."

I frowned, not quite understanding.

"I chose that until now. This isn't about escaping Carter. This is about escaping my addiction." Elyse started crying again. "If anything, I'm going to need YOU to hold me against my will."

Hold her against her will? What? My sense of alarm rose as she began choking up, her breathing erratic, with panic in her eyes.

Thrusting her hands forward, she presented me with her wrists and practically sobbed, "Hold me here, alright? Don't let me go back to him. Don't let me go back to the drugs, no matter how much I scream at you and order you to let me go."

I put my hands on the armrests and rolled forward onto the balls of my feet, instinctively putting myself in a better position to defend myself as Elyse's eyes got wilder and her movements became more spastic.

Her lips quivering, she shook her head and let the tears roll while crossing her arms over her chest and gripping her own shoulders so tight I thought her fingernails might draw blood. She started rocking back and forth, whimpering and crying while she explained, "I've tried this before, you see. Tried and failed. I've asked other friends to protect me from myself, to not let me go back to my addictions. In the end, they always caved." Shaking her head, she added bitterly, "Everyone always caves."

I wanted to tell her I wouldn't cave, that I'd succeed where others had failed. But the fact was that I didn't know enough of what the hell was going on to make empty promises like that. And as much as I wanted to reassure her that I was here to help, I couldn't stand the idea of only being the next in line to let her down.

Elyse started laughing out of nowhere, a crazed look on her face before she abruptly stopped and looked at me with the saddest, most haunted eyes I'd ever seen on a human being. Shaking her head slowly, she cried again and whimpered, "Maybe they cared too much to see me in that kind of pain, even though everyone knew it was in my best interest that I break free. Maybe they didn't care that much about me, remembering too much of the grief I'd caused them so that deep down, they really wanted me to fail. I dunno."

I took a deep breath, summoning my strength and readying myself to give her some kind of encouragement. But before I could, she suddenly went perfectly still, as if a supernatural calm had settled over her.

Abruptly appearing as stable and normal as any other girl just downstairs, Elyse took a deep breath and stated evenly. "But you're not one of my friends. You don't have any special friendship with me, stuff that would cloud your judgment. Really, you and I are near-strangers. You've proven in the past that you'll resist me, to do the right thing, and I'll need you to resist me again. Please, Ben, I'm asking this while I'm sober. Don't let me go back to him. Don't let me go back to the meth."

Elyse took a deep breath, pursed her lips, and started breaking down again.

"Don't let it kill me, too."

Elyse cracked after that last comment about meth killing her "too". She broke down into shuddering sobs, and I moved to hold her once again. She let me approach, and it took a long time for her to settle down, but once she did I realized that this time she really WAS falling asleep.

Considering her disheveled state upon arrival, it was likely Elyse hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time. The intensity of our conversation had wiped her out and she was thoroughly exhausted at this point, running on fumes. So I suggested that she take a nap, and I led her back downstairs and into Brooke's old bedroom.

My "harem" was waiting for me when I came out.

"So what's going on?" Sasha asked without preamble.

"It's a complicated story," I replied.

"I'm not going anywhere," Peyton answered.

"Me, neither," Andie added.

Jamie nodded, and Casey shrugged as well.

But I looked over at Sasha and sighed, "What about Kim? I still NEED to get her back."

Sasha winced. "Oh, shit. Forgot about her for a minute."

I rubbed my temples with the thumb and middle finger of my right hand, and I started shaking my head. "Ugh. I hate to say it, but I've gone this long without seeing Kim. Another few hours ... or days ... probably won't matter that much. At least, I hope they won't. It's not like she's going to give birth next weekend."

"Hold up. What?" Casey interrupted with a raised hand. "What was that about Kim giving birth next weekend?"

I groaned and looked over at Sasha before returning to Casey. Andie, Jamie, and Peyton likewise gave me strange looks. "Well ... uh ... I was just saying she's not going to give birth next weekend. She's not due until like October or something."

"But she's pregnant? Wow..." Casey's eyebrows were raised pretty high. "Is that why she didn't come back to school?"

I nodded. "It's complicated."

Andie leaned forward. "Are you the father?"

I sighed and nodded.

Jamie chimed in. "But you're not together?"

I shook my head. "Like I said, it's--"

"Complicated," Peyton finished for me. "You know what? Ben hasn't had a chance to eat anything yet. Let's let him sit down and fill his empty stomach, and then I think we're all going to have a very long conversation."

Thus ended Tri-Delt West. As suddenly as the Charter had appeared on my front door back in early February, it now disappeared. Peyton Kent, Tri-Delt President, took it down herself.

It's not like the girls were mad at me or anything; quite the opposite, in fact. When I explained about Elyse's request to let her stay here and help her get over her meth addiction, and my intention to make sure she did, the girls had been fully supportive. When I explained about Kim's pregnancy and her subsequent choice to move home and drop of out of school while her father threatened me with restraining orders, the girls had been fully sympathetic. If anything, Peyton, Andie, Jamie, and Casey all held the highest opinion of me, especially since we'd just taken down Professor Rutledge yesterday. The removal of the Tri-Delt West Charter was about recognizing the seriousness of the current situation, and not a sign of disapproval over the way I'd handled the harem.

The Charter had gone up in the first place as a gimmick of sorts. It had been an excuse to be together, to get laid, and to roleplay sexually. The girls had gotten a kick out of being subject to seizure and insemination, knowing full well I'd never do such a thing without their consent. But in recent weeks the original harem girls had been starting to drift away on their own, and even with the recent infusion of freshmen, the gimmick itself had pretty much been played out.

Besides, Peyton intended to limit the Tri-Delt occupation of my house from here on out. True, I'd never turn the girls away if they wanted to visit, but Peyton didn't want me distracted from what was really important. My life had suddenly become about so much more than my own relationship issues and the daily quest to get laid. I'd taken on a big responsibility in promising to help Elyse get over her addiction, and even though they didn't know her at all, the girls understood that she meant something to me. Plus, I still had the Kim situation to resolve once we got the Elyse situation stabilized, and continuing to seize and inseminate harem girls just didn't seem so important anymore.

After breakfast, I excused myself to check in with Adrienne and catch her up on everything while also finding out what she knew about Elyse. Unfortunately, she didn't really have any new information for me. Elyse had somehow gotten a hold of her agent early this morning and eventually gotten patched through to Adrienne herself. They'd talked for only a few minutes, with Elyse apologetic for all the shit she'd done to Adrienne all those years ago and Adrienne simply trying to wrap her head around the idea of a meth-addicted Elyse pleading for help. Adrienne knew that I'd run into Elyse at Carter's party just before getting together with Dawn, but neither of us had known she would eventually turn into this.

Adrienne had raised the same questions I had, about why Elyse had gone to HER after so many years. Ultimately, Elyse claimed that she had literally no one else to turn to, and she desperately hoped that the girl who had been her friend so many years ago in junior high could find it in herself to still care. Adrienne had explained that there was little she could do from New York, but that I was in town and would certainly be able to help her out. Adrienne apologized for volunteering me and literally dumping this problem on my doorstep, but I told her that I didn't mind. Yeah, I kind of had a lot going on right now, but there was no way I'd be able to turn Elyse away in good conscience. If anything, I wished I had done more to learn about her situation two years ago.

Adrienne reassured me that getting back together with Dawn had taken priority and was stress enough at the time, and that there was no way I could have known what was going on. It wasn't my job to take care of every human being within a hundred mile radius of me, or even my job to take care of Elyse now that she was here. But the little girl who had idolized Elyse back in junior high thanked me for doing this now.

Adrienne made me promise to keep her informed, and we hung up. I returned to the living room to find that Elyse was still sleeping, and also that Casey had left.

"She said she wishes us luck with everything that's going on, but that's it's all a little too heavy for her to deal with," Peyton explained. "She wanted to say goodbye, and that she'd see you in class, but that was it. She might flirt with you again, but I don't really think you can count on her for any help with all this stuff."

"But you can count on me," Sasha volunteered. "I don't know her at all, but no girl deserves whatever's happened to her. It's a good thing you didn't see her with her clothes off. She's bruised pretty much everywhere."

"And I'll be around, too," Peyton added. "I mean, I don't live here and I've got a lot of sorority business to deal with, not to mention making sure I graduate, but if you need anything from me, let me know. Eventually, somebody's going to have to pay for what they did to Elyse. And call me optimistic, but after what we just did to Henry Rutledge, I'm feeling in a vengeful mood."

I sighed. "You know, I still never got to that part of her story. I have no idea where she's been the last few days or who beat her."

"We should let her rest, for now," Sasha suggested. "I'm sure we'll all find out eventually."

Andie piped up. "So what now? Just ... wait?"

Jamie shrugged. "Do our homework. Think about lunch. Yeah, there's a beaten, meth-addicted girl in the bedroom over there, and she's kinda going to be a big distraction for as long as she's here. But in the meantime, we still have classes to attend and lives to lead. The only other alternative is to do what Casey did: Go home and put this all behind us."

"I'm not leaving," Andie humphed emphatically.

I smiled and reached out to caress her face. "Of course not, cutie."

She whimpered and leaned into my touch. "And what about us? With the Tri-Delt West Charter done, what happens? Do Jamie and I have to move out of your bedroom? Are we even still your harem? And not just me and Jamie ... I know you've got feelings for Sasha. And as for Peyton ... well ... I don't even have a clue what's going on between you two right now, but I can tell there's something up in the way you two look at each other. What now?"

I sighed and looked each girl in the eye one at a time. As festive as this morning's celebratory six-way orgy had been, the mood wasn't exactly conducive to further sexual shenanigans. Pulling Andie against my side, I pecked her forehead and then sighed. "I don't know, cutie. I guess we take things one step at a time."

Apparently the "first step" in "one step at a time" involved getting dressed. Andie and Jamie had long ago taken over half of my closet and a few of my drawers. They hadn't moved in their entire wardrobes or anything, but the point is that they both had to get dressed in my bedroom. I elected to spend more time watching those two strip down instead of getting dressed myself, and when the pair noticed, they put a little tease into their stripping. When they were done, they took it upon themselves to strip ME and also go about selecting my attire for the day. For some reason, wardrobe selection involved Andie stroking my growing cock in her hand while Jamie bent over at the waist to rummage around my sock drawer for a couple of minutes, as if selecting socks was really so difficult a task. But eventually we managed to get dressed.

Though the morning had turned rather melancholy with the manner of Elyse's arrival, the playfulness of getting dressed had significantly lightened our moods, and we were all smiles when we returned downstairs.

Sasha and Peyton were already dressed. Apparently Peyton had planned on crashing here overnight, having packed a bag for herself with a fresh change of clothing.

"Here's your shirt, though," she said, handing back the white button-down she'd appropriated for her morning attire.

I arched an eyebrow. "Packed a bag but forgot pajamas?"

"No, I remembered them. I just liked the idea of wearing your shirt instead." Peyton's green eyes twinkled. But after a moment, she sighed wistfully and picked up her bag. "I've got to get going. Can you give me a ride back to the Chapter House?"

My face fell. "You're leaving now?"

She shrugged. "It's Saturday. I've got sorority business to attend to and all my school gear is over there."

"But..." My voice trailed off and I sighed. She was right, and there was no point in turning into a whiner. "Yeah, of course I'll give you a ride."

Peyton smiled and reached up to caress my face. "I'll be back. For one thing, I promised you could count on me for help with that poor girl in there. Having needed a rescue of my own, I kinda feel the need to pay it forward or something, you know? And of course, you already know I'll want to see you again. Real soon." With that, she got up on her tip-toes and pecked my lips.

I blushed and nodded while gesturing to the door.

First, Peyton went over and hugged Sasha with a fond, "See you later, girl." Then, she waved to Andie and Jamie. And finally she followed me down the hall.

Once outside, with the front door closed behind us, I arched an eyebrow at Peyton. "'See you later, girl'? When did you two get so buddy-buddy?"

We went down the steps and then cut across the lawn toward my car. She shrugged and replied, "Sasha's really sweet. I like her."

"But you haven't known each other very long."

Peyton stuck her tongue out at me. "And we spent all night and all morning eating each other out to screaming orgasms. That sorta thing kinda bonds a couple of girls together in a hurry, dontcha think?"

"So does that mean you and Casey are going to become best pals all of a sudden?"

"Her? No. What's with the interrogation?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "Not trying to grill you here. Just curious."

Peyton sighed and opened her door once I remote unlocked it. After we both sat down in our seats, with the doors closed and the ignition started, she looked over at me and said, "Sasha's nice. I know a lot of different kinds of girls, including a whole bunch in the sorority and a lot of them outside of the sorority as well. I'm pretty good at reading people's characters, and she's one of the really good ones."

I nodded with half of my attention on the rear-view mirror as I backed out into the street. "That she is."

"She was so gentle and nurturing with Elyse. She's whip smart, and always seems to know what to do in any situation. She exudes calmness and logic, and yet she can turn on the sexy smolder at a moment's notice. And dayyum can she eat pussy!"

I barked a laugh at that, taking my eye off the road for a moment to glance over.

Peyton smiled back at me before turning her gaze forward. "She's like the quintessential lady in the street and freak in the bed you guys are always dreaming about, and she's head over heels in love with you. Really, I think she'd make a great girlfriend if you ever gave her the chance."

I jerked to a stop a little too hard, winding up a good fifteen feet away from the crosswalk. "Wait, what was that?"

Peyton giggled and gestured for me to keep driving. "I think you heard me just fine."

"Guess I'm just surprised to hear that come from you."

"Why? Were you hoping that I'd want to be your girlfriend?"

I blinked, and furrowed my eyebrows. "Well, not exactly. I think I've made it pretty clear that I don't want any serious relationships right now, period. You haven't spent as much time around me these past few months as the other Tri-Delts, but I think you knew I haven't been looking for a girlfriend."

"Oh, that's obvious. Why settle down with any one girl when you could have the harem servicing your every need?"

"I'm not--"

"It's alright. I'm not judging you," Peyton interrupted. "I'm just trying to say that you're in a good situation right now, the ideal situation for any guy, really. At the same time, I think your ego would love to believe that all four of us: me, Sasha, Andie, and Jamie, secretly are madly in love with you and all want to be your girlfriend, title and all."

"Uh ... well..."

"Don't be embarrassed. It's human nature. Again: not judging."

"But you aren't madly in love with me nor want to be my girlfriend, despite all that stuff you've been saying over the last couple of weeks about falling for me."

Peyton took a deep breath, and when we came to another stop sign I glanced over at her. She'd perched her elbow on the windowsill and cradled the side of her head in her palm, and she glanced back at me. "Falling for you, yes. These last few weeks have been a really, really wild ride for me, and I know I'm all flooded with hormones and emotions and feelings of gratitude after what you've done for me. But I'm not the kind of girl to lose my head over a guy. I'm too used to being in control, and as much as I love being with you, I'm scared of the way you make me feel. You're like ... like..."

She scrunched up her face, which for some reason made her nose crinkle in a way that was absolutely adorable. I couldn't resist reaching out and poking it with a fingertip.

"Stop that!" she giggled while batting my hand away. "You made me lose my train of thought!"

"Sorry. You were telling me that I'm like ... something. Something scary, apparently."

"Not scary. Just ... dangerous."

I frowned. "Dangerous good? Or dangerous bad?"

"Both. Oh, here we go." Peyton suddenly perked up in her seat and I could practically see the light bulb appear above her head. "You're like this Mustang-- No wait. You're like a Lamborghini."

I smirked. "Sexy but expensive, keeps scraping its body on the ground, makes a lot of noise, and seems to labor at low speeds?"

Peyton rolled her eyes. "See, all boyfriends are like cars, and you're the Lamborghini. You're exciting, you get my heart racing, and you can pull me around corners at ninety miles an hour and make me scream in ecstatic delirium. But honey, you'd be a bitch to drive every day. You're the weekend ride, the once in a while trip that would give me enough thrills in a single day to last me for the next month. I couldn't handle commuting in you Monday through Friday. Expensive parts and maintenance. Gas guzzler when it comes to my emotions. I'm sorry, but no."

I frowned. "I thought I was going to like the Lamborghini comparison, but now I'm not so sure."

She shrugged. "Other boyfriends are like a Toyota Camry: safe, dependable, but ultimately unexciting; as vanilla as it gets. Still other guys are like minivans: boring and yet eminently functional; can go to Costco and fit all those jumbo-size diapers and toilet paper in the trunk. When a girl wants to settle down and have a couple of kids, they settle down with those kinds of guys."

"I don't think I like where this is going."

Peyton was on a roll. "And then you've got those girls who can seemingly only afford used junk cars that always break down on them and disappoint, leaving them stranded on the side of the road in some horrific situation. Some girls get cars that look brand new but turn out to be lemons. And then--"

"I get the point," I interrupted. "But you're saying you don't want me to be your boyfriend because..."

She shrugged. "Because you're dangerous. You're thrilling, and you can make me feel things that no other car can make me feel. But you scare me and while I do love to go for a ride in the supercar, I don't want to own one."

I arched an eyebrow. "Too much maintenance?"

"Look at you: juggling a harem of my girls, crystal meth-addicts dropping by on your doorstep. Your reputation is so big that I'd get a zillion stares if I walked down the street holding your hand, and that was even BEFORE the sex tape with your ex-girlfriend the Sports Illustrated supermodel!"

"I get it, I get it. I never thought of myself as a high-maintenance kind of guy, quite the opposite, but--"

"It's not your personality that's high-maintenance. It's just that you have an effect on the people around you, and sometimes that's a bit much to deal with. And ... well..." she trailed off, took a deep breath, and shook her head.

"What?"

Peyton's eyebrows went up as she looked over and gave me a significant look. "Seriously ... You've got a baby on the way."

I pursed my lips and exhaled slowly. Right.

"We've had a really great time together," she continued, "but can you blame a girl for not being sure she wants to start a relationship with someone who's about to become a single dad?"

"I get it, I get it." By now, we'd arrived in the courtyard of the Tri-Delt Chapter House. The engine was off, but we both had our seatbelts still on. I had both hands on the steering wheel, and I stared blankly out the windshield while I let Peyton's words sink in.

She must've noticed the worn expression on my face, because she reached over and caressed my face. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad, or feel rejected. I really was falling for you, and I know I could turn into a mushy, hapless, lovesick little girl if I let myself, high-maintenance or not. You've done so much for me these last couple of weeks, and I can never repay you enough for how you helped me through this Rutledge situation. But I thought you deserved to know where I stood."

I shrugged and smiled at her, pressing my cheek harder against her caressing hand. "It's cool. Thank you for your honesty. If I look a little sad, it's not because of you and me; I never expected you to become my doting girlfriend. Rather, it's because your little 'boyfriends are cars' analogy is hitting a little too close to home regarding the entirety of my love life. Everyone squeals in excitement and wants to go for a ride in the Lamborghini. Nobody wants to take me home."

"Sasha does. Andie does. I've spent some time talking to both of them, and both believe they can tame the beast. Not restrain you, just to be clear; there's no sense trying to turn you into a midsize family sedan if that's not who you really are. But both believe that they can hold a place that's special in your life – become that 'doting girlfriend' if you will – if only you'll give them the opportunity."

"They both are already special to me."

Now it was Peyton's turn to tap my nose. "They want to be MORE special, and you know it. Can you imagine how high-pitched Andie's squeal would be if you ever asked her to go on a real date?"

I sighed.

Peyton unbuckled her seat, and she got up on one knee to lean across the center console while still holding onto my cheek. Without another word, she canted her head to the side and gave me a warm, wet kiss. Our liplock built and grew in intensity and fire, passion growing right up until it seemed like we'd end up fucking right there in the car. But just at that point, she began to pull away, and moments later she sat back down in her seat while reaching for the door handle. "This isn't goodbye. Tri-Delt West may be officially over, but I promised I'd come back. I'll see you around, and yes, I'm gonna want a few more rides in the Lamborghini, if you'll let me."

I chuckled and nodded, letting my eyes rove up and down her eminently fuckable body. "Anytime."

She tilted her head back gave me a cocky grin. "Yeah ... I know." And then she got out.

Sasha, Andie, and Jamie stuck around the house the entire day with me, and no other Tri-Delts came by. When the Charter had come down off the wall, texts had been sent out. But while the other harem girls had been understandably curious, nobody threw a fit and nobody showed up at my front door.

"It's not that they don't care," Jamie reassured me. "They all want to drop by and ask questions. But for now they're respecting the decision and giving you time and space to get your head straightened out."

"Time and space I may now have," I admitted. "The understanding of how to proceed from here? I don't. Elyse is still asleep. Kim is doing who knows what ... Aww, fuck! Tomorrow's DJ's birthday. I barely even know where to begin."

"One step at a time, right?" Andie chirped encouragingly as she rubbed my leg.

"Right."

"Want a blowjob to help clear your mind?"

My eyebrows popped as I looked back at my bottle-blonde cutie. She was dead serious. "Uh, the mood is kinda weird right now. I don't know that--"

"You let me worry about putting you in the right mood," Andie cut me off, her dark eyes glittering as she turned to kneel on the couch cushions beside me. "You'll feel better when I'm done. I promise."

Eyebrows still arched, I glanced over at Sasha and Jamie. Sasha shrugged and gestured toward the stairs. Jamie said, "Take your time. We'll figure out lunch."

Andie was right. When she was done, I felt better.

Elyse slept for more than ten hours in the middle of the day. Seriously, she slept right through lunch and even dinner, only waking up after the sun had set and I was in the shower with Jamie as my personal loofah.

Sasha had already left the house for work, but Andie had been on watch in the living room and she was waiting for Jamie and me when we came out from the bathroom. I got dressed in a hurry and went downstairs to go talk to Elyse, but at this point she was just really hungry and I heated up our leftovers.

Over dinner, Elyse asked where Sasha and Peyton had gone, and I explained that Sasha worked in the City in the evenings and Peyton had a sorority to run. She seemed a little disappointed. Those two girls had bathed and clothed her. Perhaps the first friendly faces she'd seen in a while weren't here anymore, and she had to feel like they'd already quit on her. In fact, Elyse seemed so momentarily depressed that I nearly called Peyton to drop everything and come over. But Elyse wouldn't let me do that, insisting that she'd be fine.

At first, Elyse didn't want to talk. She apologized for being a downer and cramping my lifestyle, saying that I wasn't obliged to keep her company. She said that I wasn't even obliged to let her stay in this house a minute longer, but I insisted that I was right where I wanted to be.

"Why? Why put your life on hold for me?" she asked more than once.

"Because that's just the way I am. I see someone in need and I can't help myself," I finally replied after a number of somewhat more trite responses.

Together with Andie and Jamie, I spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out a plan for combating Elyse's meth addiction. While I'd spent some time looking up treatment ideas online, the only person I could think of who'd ever actually tried to treat a meth addict was Elyse herself.

And then it hit me.

Well, -I- hit me – smacked myself in the forehead pretty good for how stupid I'd been not to think of her earlier – as I realized I DID know someone else who'd treated meth addition. My cell phone was out and dialing before I could let myself forget again.

Unfortunately, Amber didn't pick up her phone. Though I didn't feel comfortable spelling out in a voicemail that I had a meth addict who she might very well personally know in my house, and that I needed her help or advice, I said that it was pretty important that she call me back soon. And then I went back to hunting online for information.

We found out that there were no pharmacological treatments, no substitutes we could use to help wean her off. Really, there was nothing any of us could do for her. The only way for Elyse to get clean was for Elyse to decide for herself to be clean, an easy decision to make right now while she was sober, but something that would become much harder the next time a craving hit.

"The last girl who helped me was big on keeping me away from anything that would remind me of meth and set me off: people, places, situations that'll remind me of..." Elyse trailed off.

"Well," I said with a shrug, "that's unlikely to happen if you stay here in the house."

"I guess."

"And what kind of situations might set you off?"

Elyse shrugged, gave me a plain look, and head-nodded toward the girls. "Well ... sex."

Shit.

I screwed up my face. "Uh, do you mean--"

"Relax, I'm just fucking with you," Elyse laughed. "I'm not going to flip out if you and one of your girlfriends..." Her voice suddenly trailed off.

Andie, Jamie, and I all exchanged a look.

In a slightly haunted voice, Elyse asked the wall, "Okay, you don't call them all your 'girlfriends', do you?"

The girls and I exchanged another look, but I shook my head and said, "No, we're just friends. But there aren't any drugs here, nobody is coerced into doing anything, and you certainly don't have to put out to get a roof over your head or anything like that."

She started doing her extreme nodding thing again. "Okay then ... Okay..."

I exhaled a mild sigh of relief, but still, I figured the idea of me having sex with all of the different girls who came by here had the potential of being a sore subject moving forward.

"Look, you say everyone here is an equal and there aren't any power games, and I want to take you at your word," Elyse finally said, shivering. As she hugged herself, she gave me an apologetic look and added, "I honestly don't mean to cramp your style."

"It's okay."

"Avoiding triggers is important, but all you can really do is keep me company and give me a place where I can feel safe," she explained. "When I feel lonely, I want to inhale. When I feel threatened, I want to inhale. When I'm tired and confused and I just want to make the whole world go away and leave me a moment's peace, I want to inhale. And if the craving gets bad enough, I'll do anything ... literally anything ... to get my next hit."

"And you know where to do that around here? Know where to find a dealer or supplier or whatever?"

Elyse shrugged and nodded.

"So why don't you get out of town? Go someplace where you don't know how to get access to more drugs? Maybe go back home, to Orange County."

Elyse gave me cold look. "Daddy's dead. Got wasted and literally drove his car off a cliff by Crystal Cove. Evil Stepmother conned him into leaving her the entire inheritance and she moved to South Beach or something, I don't know exactly where."

My eyes popped. "Wow ... Uh ... I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"No reason you should have known," she said dismissively. "No relatives; haven't seen my real mom since I was a kid. No friends. And no money. I'm flat broke. I couldn't get to a different city even IF I knew somebody there who would take me."

"Well, what if -I- could get you to Orange County?" I perked up. "Even if your father's not there for you anymore, were there any friends you grew up with that might take you in? High school? Cheerleaders? I'm not trying to get rid of you, not at all. It's just that I'm thinking you might be safer far away from your known drug points."

"Burned bridges, pretty much. I did try to contact a few of them, honestly. But then I got a hold of Adrienne, and she told me how to find you here in Berkeley. So ... yeah, I'm here. But even if I did end up back home, all alone, with my history I'd turn to prostitution within days just to get enough money to buy my next fix. Either that or sneak into someone's home and stab them to death so I could loot the place blind. You know the way people think they're living in the safest cities in America and aren't always careful about locking their doors."

Elyse said that so casually that Andie and Jamie exchanged an alarmed look before giving me questioning stares. Really, they'd never met this girl before, and she seemed just unstable enough for them to worry that she might stab US to death in our sleep so she could rob us blind.

Elyse caught their stares and gave us a grim smile. "Relax, I'm not a violent person. I wouldn't hurt a fly..." She trailed off before looking down, rather nervously fidgeting with the tips of her hair, and mumbling, "Well ... not physically hurt..."

"What about rehab?"

"No money, remember?" Elyse caught my grimace and cut off my response. "No, you're not paying for it, either. I get that your family is well off, but no. Not happening. I wouldn't go even if you were a millionaire. Don't trust those places."

There was enough vehemence in her voice that I didn't argue. "So it's here or nothing then."

Elyse frowned. "Please, Ben ... You're my only hope."

For a guy with a White Knight complex like me, she couldn't have said anything more perfect than that. The part of me that reacted to the feeling of being needed stirred to life, and with firm resolution in my heart, I stated confidently, "I'm not going to let you down."

She blinked, taking deep breaths and looking like she desperately wanted to believe me.

But even though I'd just assured her I wouldn't let her down, I still didn't know how to treat her addiction. "So what now? We just hang out, play board games, and don't let you out of our sight?"

Elyse sighed and shrugged, hunching over and holding onto her elbows again. "Pretty much. I've known a couple of girls who got free, got clean, and then got the hell out of Dodge. It's mostly a matter of time. Each day away the physical craving gets much easier. It's the mental dependence that's the hard part. It's really hard not to think about the energy rush, the feeling of ... power ... that shoots through your limbs and makes you feel like you can fly. To not feel so shitty and depressed and used and abused but instead feel like, 'Dammit, I'm in control! I am me! I am on FIRE!' So good ... So nice ... So--"

"Elyse," I cut her off with a grim tone.

She'd been sitting up straight, her face turned to the sky and rising higher with each passing word until she'd started to stand up. But at the sound of my voice, the energy in her body vanished in the blink of an eye as if I'd snuffed out her candle flame with my fingers. Slumping again, she blushed in embarrassment and gave me a guilty look. "Sorry ... Not the best thing to be thinking about if I want to stay off the drugs."

"It's okay. It's understandable."

Elyse sighed. "Kinda what I mean. If you hadn't interrupted me, I might've lost myself in the memory of how the meth can make me feel. Thought about happiness and energy instead of coldness and fear. It's that sort of thing that would lead me to doing anything to get another fix."

"So we'll keep an eye on you. Make sure you're not alone." I looked around and met the eyes of both Andie and Jamie, getting their nods of understanding. "Bring you back to Earth if you try and take off like that again."

Elyse pursed her lips and shrugged. Putting her head down, she mumbled in a quiet voice, almost too quiet to be heard, "On my own, out there ... I nearly ran screaming back there already. Can barely believe I didn't crack before coming here in the first place."

"Well you didn't. You're here. That's a good thing."

She gave me a weak smile. "But for what? I'm gonna fail again. It's happened before and it'll happen again."

"Don't say that. We're here to help you."

Shaking her head dejectedly, Elyse sighed and muttered, "I'll freak out about something eventually. It's just a matter of time. Then I'll go running back into the lion's den unless someone stops me."

"We'll stop you," I insisted, and looked at Andie and Jamie again. Unfortunately they looked a little more nervous than understanding at the moment.

Elyse caught their looks and snorted derisively. Her eyes sharpened, and so did her tongue. "Yeah, right. Over your heads is what you are. You don't get it, do you? Meth addiction is INTENSE. This isn't some child's game. I'm seriously fucked up here, and I'm GOING to crack. Right now? I'm fine. Honestly, I feel as coherent right now as I've ever been, probably because this is the first time in a long time I've ever had any sense of hope I might actually turn things around."

"We will," I reassured her.

"Will we? I dunno." Elyse shook her head, and her almost cocky anger faded beneath crushing depression. This girl's mood had more swings than a public playground. "This sense of hope isn't going to last. Reality is gonna come crashing back down, and I WILL succumb to some craving and try to bolt. Fuck, I don't even know why I bothered coming here. Waste of your time. Waste of mine. I'm just a piece of trash slut not even worth rescuing. Why are we even bothering if it's a foregone conclusion that I'm going to fail?"

"If you keep believing that, then maybe, yeah. But you're not going to. Getting clean is all mental, and you HAVE to believe you can succeed. I want that for you. Sasha wants that for you. Andie and Jamie want that for you, don't you, girls?"

Nervous, both girls gulped but nodded their agreement.

"Maybe," Elyse conceded. "But sometime in the next few days, more than once probably, I'm going to flip out and run screaming out that door."

"Do I need to invert the lock on that bedroom door and glue the window shut so that you can't escape? Handcuff you to the bed or something?" I tried to keep my tone light, like it was a big joke, but Elyse took me seriously.

"Not a bad idea, actually. Might've helped the last time I tried to get clean."

Jamie finally spoke up. "You said 'a few days' just now. Does that mean that in like a week or so, if we can keep you clean and sober and out of trouble, that you'll have beaten the addiction?"

"A few days?" Elyse laughed in bemusement, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. "Try again, little girl. I got clean once before, years and years ago. But I wasn't as addicted back then and it was easier to quit. Now, I'm such a full-blown addict that the term 'addict' isn't sufficient."

"Well ... how long?" Jamie muttered.

Elyse sighed, and out of nowhere she started crying. "This is the sort of thing I'll be fighting for the rest of my life."

My eyebrows went up. "So ... umm ... You might need to stay here for a long, long time?"

Crestfallen, Elyse gave me a pained look. "I'm sorry for dumping this on you. I know it's not fair. You don't deserve this responsibility, this burden of watching out for a girl you barely know who's done nothing but bad things to you. I can't pretend that you're going to let me stay here forever, and at some point you'll probably get fed up enough to want to try and toss me out the door so I can be someone else's problem. But you see: I don't have a choice. I have to try..."

Jamie, Andie, and I were all sharing looks once again.

Elyse hung her head and shook it slowly. "If I don't ... Then I'll truly be dead."