Chapter 17 Falling Into Fire
falling into fire
The nightclub was jammed packed with gyrating sweaty bodies, loud bass-thumping music, and Lana was in the middle of it all, dancing like no one else was in the space.
She had arrived three and a half hours earlier, and there was no mistaking it: she was very tipsy and having a blast. At least that’s what she kept telling herself.
She had just finished dancing with a tall, handsy guy who wore way too much cologne and was walking back to the bar to order another drink.
He followed her, putting his arms around her waist. She didn’t like it, but she was single and free.
She could do whatever she wanted. Lana leaned over the bar and waved at the bartender, who walked up to her.
“Can I get a Long Island iced tea?” she screamed over the blaring music.
The bartender nodded her head and proceeded to mix the drink, flipping bottles, dancing, and putting on a show.
It was an impressive talent, Lana thought, swaying to the music as she watched the young girl twirl and throw bottles in the air.
When she was finished, Lana handed her a twenty.
Drinks were expensive, but she didn’t care; she just wanted to lose herself in them and dance the pain away.
As she started marching towards the dance floor, she took a huge gulp as Carmen approached her and seemed a little annoyed.
“Let’s go, Lana, I’m exhausted,” she said, grabbing her arm.
“Cologne guy” was still holding onto Lana and pulled her toward himself, away from Carmen. Giggling, Lana took another huge gulp and tried to get back on the floor and dance.
“Let her go!” Carmen yelled, pulling Lana’s arm, causing her drink to spill.
“You see what you did, you stupid bitch,” the cologne guy screamed as Lana pulled her arm free from him.
“She’s not a bitch,” she slurred.
“Here, let me buy you another,” he demanded, grabbing her around the waist and turning her into a crowd away from Carmen.
He leaned in and tried to kiss her, but even drunk, she knew she didn’t want that.
She tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t let her.
He’s way too strong, Lana thought as she started to panic.
Before she knew it, he had stuck his tongue in her mouth.
A mixture of cigarettes and hard liquor.
He started leading her away from everyone towards an exit.
What’s happening, Lana thought as “cologne-guy” seemed to have five arms around her.
She couldn’t break free of his gross kiss, and it was clear that whatever he had in mind, he wanted to accomplish.
Finally, she pried his face away from hers and yelled “help,” but no one could hear her.
It was way too loud, and no one was paying any attention.
She was only somewhat tipsy a little while ago, but now she felt like she had drunk way more than she did.
Then, she realized what was happening. He must’ve slipped me something!
As the room began to spin around her, he pushed on the exit door but struggled while trying to hold her up.
All she could see was black and the slow fading of the red exit light.
The music got quieter and quieter, when suddenly she hit the floor with a thud.
With her eyes barely able to stay open, she saw Carmen and the bouncer, who then tackled the guy to the floor.
This is out of control, she thought as she slipped into unconsciousness.
THE NEXT MORNING, Lana rose in a hospital bed, her head on fire.
She pried open her eyes, and the blaring room light shot stabbing pain straight to the back of her head.
She shut them back and covered her face with her hands.
She rolled over onto her pillow and buried her head deep, then she felt a hand on her head.
“Who is that?” she muffled into the pillow.
“It’s me, honey,” Carmen replied. “You’re ok, but you got roofied last night. Do you remember?”
Then, it all came crashing back, and she remembered the guy, the drink, and the feeling of losing consciousness.
She started to sob into the pillow as Carmen stroked her hair, which was a tangled, matted mess.
There was a knock on the door, and then it swung open as a police officer walked into the room. He nodded at Carmen, who stood up.
“It’s the cops, Lana.”
She forced her eyes to open through tears to look at him. She could barely see anything, as everything was way too blurry to make out more than shadows.
“I’ll give you some privacy,” Carmen said as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
CARMEN WAITED PATIENTLY in the hallway while Lana spoke with the police in her hospital room.
He had been taking her report for the last twenty minutes, and she wished he’d hurry up so Lana could rest. She sat in a chair outside the room, thankful that her friend was OK and exhausted from staying up all night to watch over her.
Just then, a woman came stalking down the hall, nose in the air, dressed to kill in Vera Wang.
You could tell she was important and didn’t take shit from anyone.
Paula breezed up to the door and started pushing it open as the police officer walked out. He stopped for a moment to look at her, but she hurried past him, closing the door behind her promptly.
“Lana?!” She exclaimed, seeing her friend in such a mess.
Last night’s makeup was all over her face, her hair was atrocious, and she was sitting up in bed, covering her face with her hands, sobbing.
Paula stopped, taking the situation in. She walked over to the bed and sat next to her friend, and couldn’t help a rogue tear escaping her own eye.
What was happening to the people she loved?
“Shh,” Paula soothed.
She held Lana as her best friend cried on her shoulder.
Lana knew it was Paula before she said a word.
She couldn’t look her in the face, mainly because she couldn’t see anyway, but also because she didn’t know what to say.
When Paula sat on the bed, she unloaded the pain from the night before as well as everything she had kept hidden away for the last month.
Paula stroked her head and held her friend tight as she cried for what felt like hours.
PAULA TURNED THE knob to Lana’s townhouse and helped her get in the door.
She was still slow on her feet from the drug, and coordination was a bit of a problem.
Lana headed to the bathroom and turned on the shower, leaving Paula in the living room.
They didn’t say much on the way there. As Lana closed the bathroom door, Paula took a seat on the couch and looked around the room.
Her friend wasn’t rich by any means, but she had good taste.
A familiar feeling came over Paula at that point.
Lana was spinning out of control, making poor decisions, and nearly put her life in danger last night.
It reminded her of Kayden after Joel. She wouldn’t let her best friend go down that path.
She stood from the couch and took a closer look at her friend’s place.
She saw pictures of her family, her nursing degrees on the walls, then her eyes landed on the computer screen on the desk.
It was the wedding announcement Kim had placed in Page Six.
She heard the shower turn off and closed the browser on the desktop computer. She sat back down on the couch when Lana came out of the bathroom, and she looked a hell of a lot better without the running mascara and eyeliner streaming down her face. She flopped down next to Paula and looked at her.
“How long have you been in Florida?” Lana asked.
“A couple of days. You wouldn’t answer my calls, Lana, and then you moved. I finally decided to check the hospitals, and there you were. I’m glad I checked when I did, or I’d have never found you!”
“That was a coincidence.”
“Yeah, a lot of that is going around lately.”
“I can’t go back to Hamby, Paula.”
“Yes, you can. You have to.”
Lana rose from the couch slowly and walked into the kitchen. She opened the cabinet above the stove and pulled down a box of hot chocolate. She turned to Paula.
“Want some?”
“In this heat, are you insane?” Lana smiled and turned back around.
She grabbed a mug from the counter and opened her microwave.
“What’s going on with you, Lana? And don’t bullshit me either.”
Lana knew it was useless, and fresh tears were already coming down her face.
“I don’t know how to move on, I guess,” she barely managed to say.
She put the mug in the microwave and hit the button.
Paula got up, walked to the small kitchen, and sat at the tiny breakfast table. When the microwave beeped, Lana sat next to her and sipped the chocolate.
“You shouldn’t have to move on, honey. What I saw on those tapes was beautiful, with the exception of the sex all over the house.”
Lana laughed a little.
“Sorry,” she replied, embarrassed.
“You didn’t know. I wish I had told you and saved myself some serious therapy,” Paula replied.
Lana laughed, but they turned to tears, and Paula pushed her chair closer to Lana.
“I’m trying to move on, to be strong and forget him, but I can’t and I don’t know how to stop from dying inside,” she sobbed, leaning her head on Paula’s shoulder.
“It’s gonna be OK. It’s why I’m here, it’s all gonna be OK.”
Paula spent the rest of the night explaining to Lana the ramifications of what her mother had done. She had a lawyer prepare to serve her mother papers along with the video evidence of the blackmail. Lana sat up and shook her head.
“I don’t know what you have, but Kim threatened to show evidence in court of Maureen using her pull to get Kayden out of all his past legal trouble. She said she’d put him away if I showed my face there, Paula. I can’t risk that,” Lana replied.
“What a bitch!” Paula yelled. She grabbed her cellphone and started texting someone at lightning speed. “I’ll have Taylor look into it. We will just have to be extra careful when we get there. No worries.”
Paula reached into her expensive briefcase and pulled out an envelope.
“Take a look at this,” she said and slapped it down on the table.
Lana wasn’t sure what was in there and was kind of afraid to open it.
“Go ahead. I want to show you how much of a monster my mother can truly be.”
Lana picked up the envelope and pried apart the metal tabs. She pulled a stack of photos out and looked them over. Dropping them on the table, she looked up at Paula in horror and almost fell out of her seat.
“Let’s get you packed,” Paula said, standing from the table.
Lana was still not believing what her own eyes were seeing. There was Rachel, in New Orleans—very much alive and well.