Role Play by Susan Wright Read Free Book Online Page A

called it weekend partying, but then she started staying out all night during the week, too.
    Dick had busted Lola with ecstasy in her pocket last summer in the park. If he had arrested her, Lola’s life would have been ruined. But Dick had taken pity on her, bringing her home in handcuffs, and releasing her to me as long as Lola promised to get into treatment. And she did, with Dick’s help. He went with her to meetings, setting her back on the right path. It had been a real relief for me to have help with Lola. Lola had relied on him, and even though her drama continued, there hadn’t been any real trouble over the past year.
    Until now.
    What if Lola started spiraling out of control again?
    Finally, I texted Dick back: Okay, after my class tonight.
    ...
    After a long day at work, I got on the bus from Midtown to the Long Island Expressway that took me deeper into the island to Queensborough College. It was strictly for people getting their associate degree, and everyone worked while they were doing it, so it wasn’t the college experience that I had always hoped for. But financial assistance was nonexistent, so I had to adjust my dream. The degree was a means to an end, not the end itself.
    I would be glad when I never had to take the long bus ride again. I wasn’t sure where I would finish my bachelor’s degree, but I would make sure it was closer to home than Horace Harding Parkway.
    By the time the class was over and I got back, I wished I had put Dick off until the next day. But he was parked up the street, texting me impatiently.
    I got into his car as he silenced the radio that was mounted on the floor. There was a view down the sidewalk to the front door of our four-story tenement building. The light in the front window on the third floor was coming from our apartment.
    “Lola ’s home,” I said.
    “Yup.”
    My sister knew I would be at class. So she was deliberately avoiding me.
    “I wish I knew what was up with her ,” I said.
    “You’re not even trying. You’re letting her self-destruct.”
    “How can I do anything when I never see her? She won’t answer my texts. She thinks I’m judging her.”
    Dick let out an anguished sound. “She won’t talk to me either. Did you find out anything about that asshole she’s seeing?”
    I was acutely aware that if I told Dick that his name was Martin, Lola might get so mad she would do something drastic. “Nothing. What about you?”
    “I followed her to a couple different places—in Flushing and Red Hook. I haven’t seen that guy around, though.”
    Now I was really glad I hadn’t told him Martin’s name. “You should stop following her, Dick. It’s not right.”
    “I wouldn’t have to if you would do something about it! It’s just like last summer. You’re sitting there watching her slide into hell.”
    That stung. “I ’m trying to help her. She keeps pushing me away.”
    He looked up at the window where a shadow passed. “She needs a jolt, like last time. She freaked when she thought I was taking her to jail. She knew she was facing serious shit. That’s the only reason she changed, because she didn’t want to lose everything.”
    “How can we do that now? She won’t be arrested for going to a club like that.” I considered it. “Will she?”
    “Nah, they keep it on the legal side of the line. I checked it out. No real sex happens in that place. No drugs . They keep it clean because they have to.”
    “It wasn’t clean,” I retorted, thinking of the sticky floors with a shudder.
    “We need something.” He turned to me, his voice softening. “You have to help me figure out something. I can’t stand seeing her ruin her life like this.”
    “ Ruin her life?” I asked. “Isn’t that a little extreme?”
    He jerked his head. “She has a profile on a fetish we bsite. Kind of like kinky Facebook. She has a list of events she clicked as maybe-going. What if those places are worse than the Chamber?”
    I stared at him for a