Hold the reins in one hand and the whip in the other,? Georgie instructed Nate. They were up in Georgie?s attic, but instead of hanging out inside the gorgeous antique carriage and smoking dope and kissing and being mellow, Georgie was acting all hyperactive and making Natedrive the carriage. The attic itself was incredible. It was full of beautiful old things from days gone by, but kept in perfect order as if at any time someone was going to carry them downstairs and put them to use again. The carriage was painted gold and lined with purple velvet, and under the seat inside, in a little leather chest, were fur rugs and muffs to keep your hands warm while you went out for a ride. Best of all, eight white carousel horses with white feather plumes affixed to real leather harnesses were pulling the carriage. ?Come on, faster,faster , giddyap,giddyap !? Georgie shouted at the carousel horses, cracking her long leather whip and bouncing up and down in the red leather coachman?s seat. Whoa. Nate sat back on the seat beside her and tried to light another joint, but Georgie was bouncing around so much, it fell right out of his hand. ?Fuck!? he cried, exasperated. He leaned over the side of the carriage to see where the joint had fallen on the white-painted wood floor, but the attic was lit only by a single dim bulb and he couldn?t see the joint anywhere. ?That?s okay.? Georgie jumped down from the carriage. ?Come on, there?s something I want to show you.? Reluctantly Nate left the joint where it had fallen and followed her to the other side of the attic, where a bunch of antique wooden trunks were stacked. ?This is where all my old horse stuff is kept,? Georgie explained. She opened the top trunk and pulled out a handful of ribbons she?d won at horse shows. ?I was a really good rider.? She offered the ribbons to Nate. All of them were blue, with the name of the competition stamped on them in gold.HAMPTONCLASSICJUNIORHUNTER GRANDCHAMPION, Nate read. ?Cool,? he said handing back the ribbons. He wished he?d found that joint. ?Check this out.? Georgie pulled a large white plastic canister out of the trunk and placed it in Nate?s hands. The canister rattled as Nate turned it over. The name of an equine veterinary practice was printed on one side.Connecticut Equine Health. He looked up at Georgie questioningly. ?They?re horse tranquilizers. I?ve taken them before. Half a pill is enough to send you to another planet, I swear.? Nate noticed that there were tiny beads of sweat on her upper lip, which was strange, because the attic was unheated and he was freezing his ass off. He shrugged and handed the canister back, uninterested. Georgie unscrewed the top and shook the giant white pills into her sweaty palm. ?Come on. This time I?m taking a whole one. Or maybe we should each take two and see what happens.? Her dark hair fell into her eyes and she shook it away impatiently as she counted out the pills. Nate stared at her, feeling frightened all of a sudden. He was pretty sure Georgie had taken some kind of pill when she?d disappeared into her bathroom before, and she had already been baked before that, so adding a horse tranquilizer to the mix sounded like the worst idea he?d ever heard. What was he going to do with a totally fucked-up ODed girl in the attic of a huge mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, in the middle of the worst snowstorm in New England history? ?I think I?ll pass.? He pointed to a little metal device in the trunk, thinking that maybe if he diverted her attention, Georgie would forget all about the pills. ?What?s that?? ?A hoof pick,? she answered quickly, holding out the pills. ?The groom uses it to clean out the horses? hooves. Come on, take one.? Nate shook his head, his mind fumbling for a way to get both of them out of the realm of horse pills and into safer territory. ?Georgie,? he said looking into her dark brown eyes with his sparkling emerald green ones and grabbing her wrist hard so that the horse pills scattered on the floor. He swept her up in his arms and kissed her dark red lips. ?Let?s go back downstairs, okay?? Georgie let her head fall heavily against his chest. ?Okay,? she demurred. Her dark, silky hair trailed almost to the floor as Nate carried her down the long hall from the attic stairs to her bedroom. He pulled back the plush white duvet and set her down on the bed, but she clung to him.
 ?Don?t leave me alone.? Nate wasn?t planning to. Who knew what she?d do if he did. ?I?ll be back in a sec,? he said, extracting himself. He walked across the room and into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar so he could catch Georgie before she did anything dumb. Lined up on the counter next to the bathroom sink were three little bottles of prescription pills. Nate recognized the name Percoset because he?d taken the painkiller when he?d had his wisdom teeth removed, but he didn?t recognize the names of the other two. None of the three prescriptions were made out to Georgina Spark. He washed his hands and then went back into the bedroom. Georgie lay flat on her stomach in her white cotton underwear, snoring softly and looking much more innocent than she deserved to. Nate sat down beside her and watched her for a while. The bones in her vertebrae stuck out from her back, moving up and down as she breathed. He wondered if he should call someone, or if it was normal for Georgie to just take a bunch of pills and then go to sleep. In the Breakaway meeting that day Jackie had said that if they were ever struggling and needed a hand to reach out to, they could call her. Nate pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and searched for Jackie?s number, which she?d insisted everyone program in during the meeting. Nate had thought there was no way he?d ever need it. He stood up and went back into the bathroom as the phone began to ring. It rang for a long time ............