Free Alyssa's Desire by Krysten Raine Page B

walked over to the answering machine. Two new messages were showing on the display.
        First new message received on May 29 th at 2:47 pm. Alyssa Snyder this is Charles Krintz from payday loans express calling to offer you a special rate of only 2.9% on your next loan. Please respond within fourteen days to take advantage of this fabulous offer.
        Alyssa deleted the message before it was finished playing. Really the last thing she needed was to owe those people any more money than she already did. The machine played the next message.
        Second new message received on May 29 th at 4:19 pm. Alyssa? It's mom. If you're there please pick up. They are only going to allow me to call you once without it being a collect call for you. Something terrible has happened. One of Trevor's slimy friends went and gave a statement about me selling smack for him. They have added distribution and intent to sell charges. I'm looking at like ten to fifteen years now instead of just a few months and I have been transferred to the state prison now because these are felony charges. I'm in the rehab area so I can't call or have visitors until I'm clean. At least you got what you wanted there. Please come and see me when I finish the rehab. I feel so alone. The message ended there.
        Alyssa felt lower than dirt. She knew it was her statement that took her mother from the misdemeanor charges of possession and prostitution to felony charges of drug dealing. Alyssa threw up in the sink and then she dropped to the floor in her kitchen and just cried. She had wanted her mother to get help but now she felt like she had thrown her mom under the bus just to save her own ass. Maybe Jack knew about this and that was why he was avoiding her at work. Maybe he knew about this the whole time and didn't bother to tell her that the charges would be increased to felonies. Did he know this would add ten to fifteen years to her mother's sentence? That asshole! Alyssa was furious with Jack and with herself. She wanted her mother to get into a rehab program and to be safe, but not like this, not at the cost of her life! That was the reality of it, too. Alyssa knew that by the time her mother got out she would be nearly seventy years old. A broken old woman with hardly any life left to live. How would Alyssa ever live with the guilt? Before long, Alyssa was back to drinking the whiskey, despite the intense burn it offered while it was going down. This time she bypassed the glass and the ice and she drank straight from the bottle like a broken down whine-o. She continued this way until she eventually passed out on the kitchen floor.
        The next morning Alyssa awoke to hard linoleum and the smell of vomit and alcohol. She was hung over, nauseous and bitter. She was angry at Jack and even more upset with herself and now she had to drag herself to work and try to pretend like everything was fine. Alyssa made her way to the shower and cleaned up the best she could. She still looked like a train wreck though, with deep set circles under eyes and a look of utter disgust on her face. For breakfast she had a latte and four Tylenol. It was a good thing that she regularly used the subway to get to and from work because she was in no shape to drive. She was still buzzed yet hung- over at the same time. She felt like she was going to puke again and light and sound were nothing more than a torturous assault on her senses. Ah yes, it was going to be a lovely day. Alyssa kept telling herself to just get through the workday without letting on that she was still drunk from the night before.
       "Are you feeling okay, Alyssa?" June asked when Alyssa walked into the office looking like she had been to hell and back.
       "I have a really bad migraine but I'm okay," Alyssa said quickly and then she made her way to her desk. For the next few hours she worked in silence, still reeling from a dull, persistent headache and trying to determine if her stomach was going to