Bases Loaded by Lolah Lace

has come up. I’m not going to be able to make it to the hotel.”
    “Is everything okay?”
    “Yeah, I think so. Tim is sick with a fever. You know he has bad allergies. I need to watch him closely.” Shit! I don’t why I lied to her.
    “Okay, I understand.” I heard the disappointment in her voice. “Are you sure you’re okay? You sound a little strange.”
    Damn, Kari knows me too well. “No, I’m cool.”
    “I hope he feels better.”
    “I ga ve him some meds. He should be alright. I just want to monitor him.” Shit! Another fucking lie. What the fuck is wrong with me?
    “Okay, text me later and tell me how he’s doing.”
    “I will. I love you.”
    “I love you too.”
    “Later.”
    Connie returned just as I was slipping my phone back into my pocket.
    “You okay.” I asked.
    “Yeah, it’s just a few scratches. Tess freaked out as soon as I mentioned his name. I never been raped so I don’t understand all this panic and rage but I know it’s real. I know my sister tried to kill herself once right after Jimmy showed up at our parents’ house unannounced. She would never tell me exactly what he did but I know it was bad. I supported her wish to keep this between me and her but it’s a lot for me. I have a family of my own now. I need help with her. Is she even going to a therapist?”
    “She was at one time but not anymore.” Connie didn’t know anything about Tess’ recent suicide attempt. I didn’t know she tried this before.
    “She needs help and medication. That was one of the worse panic attacks I’ve ever seen. She was actually violent. She can’t be violent around the kids.”
    “I know. I will get her help.”
    “The day that asshole was convicted and sentence d was the happiest day of my life. Tess got so much better after that.”
    “How long ago?”
    “He did fifteen years. He is a registered sex offender.”
    “Your parents don’t know any of this?”
    “Well they know he went to prison and what he was accused and convicted of. Our parents stood by him. They even helped pay for his lawyer. But they don’t know about Tess. She would die if they found out. She thinks they will blame her and with our mother, anything is possible.”
    “I can’t believe I didn’t know any of this.”
    “How could you? Tess builds layers and layers of amour around her. She doesn’t let people in. She doesn’t have friends. She has always been to herself. That asshole made her that way. He threatened to kill her friends so she made sure she didn’t have any.”
    “That’s sick and twisted.”
    Connie took a seat on the couch next to me. “Mason, don’t look so down. Tess is my sister. I love her just as much as you do. I’m going to help her. I will never let that bastard win. I wish he would’ve just died in prison. If someone could’ve just killed him, shank him or shiv him, whatever they do in prison. Uncle Jimmy being out is the worst thing that could have happened to my sister.”
    Connie’s words stabbed me and sliced at my heart. Maybe things would be different if I had loved Tess more. Did I remind her of her repulsive Uncle Jimmy? Did the sexual things I partook in remind her of the man that raped her? This thought made me sick to my stomach. I know now that she faked it. She probably loved me but the sex was something she could do without. I had something to do with her illness, her body image and her need to conceal things from me and the others around her.
    I was so busy in my world. I was so busy trying to be successful in my business that I neglected to see things that were staring me right in the face under my roof.
    I talked to Connie for hours. She told me about the allegations, the little girl’s testimony and a host of revolting and utterly disturbing information.
    We came up with a plan to help Tess. We decided she should go into a mental health facility for a brief period so she could get aggressive intensive care. Connie assured me that she would get