A/N: Midnight Update! Sorry for the wait. Hope this long chapter makes up for it. You're reviews are awesome and I love it! Follow the story for updates. I'm updating off schedule so if you don't follow then please check in. Review and let me know what you think, whether you love it or hate it. It feeds my soul. JK, but it makes me feel nice.
It was only two in the afternoon and they were already yelling at each other. It was hard living in a house where one person made the rest of the residents miserable. I was only here because Mary and Mike were nice enough to take me in so I didn't really have a voice in the matter, but it was still a mystery as to why Mary and Mike still haven't kicked Kerri out of the house. I had missed the peace and quiet the last few days, relished it even, and the loud voices from the floor below only seemed to add to my ever growing list of frustrations.
Madison, sitting on my bed with her back to the wall only seemed to feel right at home.
"I'm sorry for the noise. Once Kerri gets going it's hard to get her to stop." I apologized, taking a seat besides my friend. I had felt bad for putting her to the side so I had invited the girl over to hang out. Now I felt even worse that she had to deal with Kerri's bullshit.
"No worries! It reminds me of home. You ever been in a Puerto Rican household? There is never a calm moment," she replied, a knowing smirk on her lips. "Mami is always yelling at someone. It's like she's stuck in a constant PMS."
It didn't make me feel much better. "Still, you should at least be able to find some kind of peace. I should be used to this, but I still find myself throwing my headphones on when she gets going."
Madison reached into her purse and pulled out a small tin container, opening it to reveal a few pre-rolled joints. "This is the way I deal with it. I'll burn a few and suddenly the shouting is like music." She chuckled, putting one in her mouth and pulling a lighter from her purse.
I plucked it from between her lips before she had a chance to light it. "Sorry, no smoking in here. Most of us are in recovery, and drugs and booze aren't allowed in the house. If they smell this, Mary will kill me." I set it back in the tin. "I can't disrespect Mary after she took me in."
She shrugged. "We can go for a stroll? There's a park between our two communities. I'm sure we could go there without being bothered?" She offered, tucking the tin back into the purse.
"It's too cold," I complained, looking at the temperature on my phone. It was only 37 degrees, and growing up in California meant that I had zero tolerance for anything below 45.
"So we take the car," She offered.
"If we take the car, we might as well go somewhere. To be honest, I would much rather not be here." I replied.
She looked at her phone thoughtfully before she opened the message app. Her long, manicured fingernails tapped loudly as her fingers moved across the screen. "Did you guys figure out how you're going to get rid of all the gear?" She asked, barely looking up from the message she was writing.
I grabbed a hair tie from my bed side table and pulled my hair up. "Kind of. Aiden is going to do what he can, but he's going to need help. We can always try and push some at work, but we're going to have to expand and move to West Creek and see if we can unload some on the college kids." I explained. We hadn't really come up with a concrete plan, and I wasn't as familiar with the servers to just up and ask them to help sling some coke around the campus parties.
"I know a few of the servers who can help out. Plus my cousin in Oley Hills has a decent sized client base. He already sold Aiden's original stash." She offered, putting the phone into her purse and grabbing her keys.
"Already? Wait, where are we going?"
She got up off the bed and headed for my bedroom door. "Hurry up. Let's go pick some up from Aiden to take to Hery. He wants to sample it before he picks up any bulk." She gave me a smile. "What would you do without me?" She asked.
"Honestly, some days I feel like you keep me together, Mads. I've been all over the place lately."
She gave me a smug look and we walked out of my bedroom, traveling down the stairs and sneaking past Kerri and Mary who were still arguing in the kitchen. Once outside, Madison unlocked her Benz with her remote and we climbed inside.
"You should give Aiden a call to let him know were on the way." She said as she started the car and started to back out of the parking spot.
Aiden had moved into the new place the day before with the help of Glen and his girlfriend's truck. It was a nice little cabin in the backwoods of Honeydale, closer to where we were in Chester by about 5 minutes. Not that it was that big of a difference, but the trees and lack of neighbors made the location ideal for the kind of business that we were engaging in.
The trip was quick and traffic free. Soon we pulled up the long driveway that lead to the cabin, a green Honda Civic already parked close to the house. That must have been the ride that Glen said that he was providing. The cabin wasn't really that big looking from the outside, the yard neglected and overrun by sticks and fallen branches scattered across the partially melted snow. A stack of logs under a tarp sat along the side of the house, probably for a fireplace that heated the place.
Madison parked in front of the Civic, eyeing up the house with appraisal. "At least your brother picked someplace out of the way. You can't even see the place from the main road. Be nice to throw a party here." She observed.
"Absolutely not. Glen made me personally responsible for anything that gets fucked up here." I countered, hoping that my brother had passed that memo onto the others.
I sent Aiden a quick text letting him know that I had arrived, and we walked up to the front door. Before I could decide to ring the doorbell or not, the door opened with the tall brunette man standing inside. He gave us a wide grin, taking a moment to give Madison some appreciation. I felt a familiar tingle of jealousy from the last time I had spent time with the two, immediately chastising myself. I had no reason to be jealous, especially since I didn't have any attraction to the older man to begin with. Still, I was used to being the one who had his attention.
He lead us into the den, a small room with couches, the fireplace, and a glass coffee table situated in the center with a lock box and a few scales. Ashley sat on one of the couches with her back to us, head buried in a paperback novel. He gestured to the couches as he headed to the kitchen and Madison and I sat, waiting for him.
I stared at Ashley for a moment, expecting her to look up and greet us, but her eyes stayed trained to the pages in front of her. She wasn't reading, her eyes not moving back and forth from line to line. She just sat there, staring blankly at the page, determined not to look up. It was kind of odd, but everything about the girl didn't make sense.
Shortly after he had left, Aiden returned, a few water bottles in hand. He sat on the couch besides me, handing me and Madison a bottle. He unscrewed his and took a long sip before recapping it and setting it on the coffee table.
"So how much do you need to bring to Hery?" He asked, grabbing onto the lock box and dragging it across the glass surface. He turned the combination lock a few times and opened the lid, exposing several opaque bundles. "You think a gram would be enough for now? I don't want to give him too much in case he tries to rip us off."
Madison snorted and grabbed the bundle from the other brunette. "Hery would do no such thing. He knows better than to fuck you over." She reached into her purse and pulled out a thick envelope. "This is what he made off of the stuff you had him get rid of before. Minus his cut." She dropped the envelope on Aiden's lap and set the bundle into a pouch on the side of her purse.
Aiden opened the enveloped and counted the stack, nodding. "Fair enough. Tell him he can keep 10% of whatever he sells as a commission fee. Give him some kind of incentive to push the stuff faster. Have you guys talked to any of the servers at Boca's?"
I shook my head. "I haven't had a chance to. I've been off the last two days. I go back in tomorrow, but I don't know the servers as well as Madison does."
Finally Ashley looked up from her book. "I've been talking to a few of them on and off today. I know at least one who could be a middle man for us." She said, setting the book down. "I'm not sure how reliable he'll be but it's worth looking into."
Madison shot her a look. "And who would that be?" She questioned.
Ashley shrugged nonchalantly before standing up and walking to the kitchen, leaving Madison's question unanswered. Madison gave Aiden a glare.
"She can't just not tell us. We need to know who's getting involved with this in case someone leaks info, and I already don't trust her as far as I can throw her." She hissed. She put her purse down on the floor and leaned over my lap so that she could talk closer to Aiden. "I'm not working with some pendeja. Either she plays nice or I'm not helping." She waved a hand and clicked her fingers, the gesture loud with attitude,
Ashley returned from the kitchen, a glass of what looked like iced tea in her hand. She rolled her eyes as she caught the end of Madison's sentence and sat back in her seat on the other couch. "I was talking to Nate, if it's such a big deal."
My stomach clenched at his name. That's who Madison said Ashley was flirting with when she first started at Boca's. If Ashley was able to talk to him about dealing coke, did she talk to him about other things? Did they hang out? I could feel myself getting jealous, and judging by the looks of Ashley was giving me, it was clear on my face. Hastily I tried to wipe the expression off my face, reminding myself that I wasn't supposed to care anymore.
"Is he trustworthy?" I asked carefully. "You shouldn't just trust someone you don't know very well."
She gave me a pointed look. "I barely know you." She took a sip from her glass and set it on the table. "I know him well enough to say that he could be an asset. He's in a fraternity at WCU, has a lot of friends, plenty on connections. His frat throws a lot of parties too, so there's plenty of opportunity to distribute."
Aiden nodded. "That sounds ideal to me, as long as you are sure he's okay."
She gave him a slight nod back, returning to the book she had been pretending to read.
Aiden turned back to us. "'Ight well at least we're getting somewhere. I've already sold two grams the last few days. They say it's legit enough that they coming back, hopefully this time to cop more."
Madison's phone chimed and she dug it out of her purse, frowning as she read the text. "We gotta get going. Hery is home and I'm sure with rush hour starting it'll take us a bit to get to Oley Hills."
"Right," I agreed, standing up and confirming the time on my own phone.
Aiden stood up and grabbed my arm. "Can you take Ashley with you? It's not that I don't trust you, Madison, but I'd rather Ashley went to get a feel for him and tell me what she thinks."
Both me and Ashley shared the same look of surprise. "I don't know if that's necessary…" she said reluctantly.
"Shut up," he said. "I trust your judgement of people, and I'd feel better about fronting him gear if you agreed with Madison." He explained as he moved away from the couch. He circled around the table and opened the lock box, tossing me a baggie from the inside that was much smaller than the other bundles.
"That's for you guys. You know, keep you going." He winked.
I stuck it in a back pocket, looking at Ashley. "Are you ready then? We should get going now."
She gave me the "ok" sign and moved to the front doors, slipping on the loose high tops. "Let's go then."
We gave Aiden our goodbyes and walked out of the cabin. Madison and I sat in the front and Ashley sat in the back, automatically gazing out the window and ignoring us.
"Wanna break some of that up now or wait a bit?" Madison asked me, turning the ignition of the car. It came to like, the Mercedes purring contentedly. I pulled the baggie out of my pocket.
"You have something I can break this up on?" I asked, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket and pulling out a credit card and a dollar bill.
She handed me an old CD case from the door pocket. "Don't judge me. I know, ancient technology." She said apologetically.
I gave her a small smile. "It's cute, Mads. It's been a while since I've seen a…" I glanced at the album cover. "Is this a Green Day album? Didn't figure you to be a fan." I commented, surprised. She gave me a half-hearted shrug.
I dumped out enough of the fine powder and wrapped the open baggie in a piece of foil from my cigarette pack, depositing it into an empty space among the cigs. Using the credit card, I cut the powder and spread It out into three equal lines. Satisfied that they were all about the same size, I turned around and held the CD out to Ashley.
Carefully she took it, accepting the bill as well, and quickly took a line. After handing it back to me, her eyes returned to the window. A minute later Madison and I had taken ours, and she put the car into reverse, doing her best to make a three point turn in the small driveway and off we went.
The trip lasted almost 45 minutes filled with me and Madison's light chatter. Ashley refused to engage, even when we tried to include her in the conversations. She just sat in her seat, either looking out the window or staring down into her phone.
The sun was low to the horizon by the time we made it to Oley Hills. Madison's cousin Hery, whom I've never met, lived in a nice looking trailer home right on the inside of the town. It was nicely kept by a contracted landscaping company, and all the trailers seemed well maintained. It was quiet. Perfect if you were a low-key dealer.
We parked in front of a tan double wide alone at the very back of the park, the porch decorated with a few potted plants, and the brick and stone walkway was free of weeds. Compared to some of the parks I had seen in Honeydale, this park was a five-star location, and Hery hit the jackpot of being neighbor-free. We got out, and Madison lead us up the path and onto the porch, opening the front door without bothering to knock.
It was surprisingly spacious. The front door opened up into a large sitting room, the floor stepped down half a foot from the rest of the trailer. It even had a fireplace. A small Hispanic man, higher twenties, stepped out of a hallway from the right, a black Nike hat flipped backwards on his head. He was shorter than I was, which was surprising seeing as I only stood at five foot five. Standing next to the 5 foot 9 Madison, he was a dwarf. Still they had the same green eyes and tanned skin. The family resemblance was obvious.
He stood up on his toes and gave his cousin a quick peck on the cheek. They exchanged a few words in Spanish before he turned to us, a cautious smile on his face.
"Spencer, yes?" He asked, his voice thick with an accent. Madison's was barely noticeable, only coming to the surface when she was feeling especially riled up.
I nodded, holding my hand out to shake his. "Yeah, and this is Ashley," I said, pointing my thumb over my shoulder to the brunette behind me. He looked around me to see who I was pointing at and gave another nod, holding his hand out for her to take.
"Very nice. Ashley?" He repeated.
"Yes." She replied shortly.
Unfazed by her bluntness he returned to Madison. "So you brought it, yes? Can I see?"
Madison walked over to the couch in front of the fireplace, setting her purse down on the wooden end table and reached in the front pocket for the bundle she had tossed in there earlier. Finding it, she handed it over to the older Hispanic.
He accepted it and moved to the kitchen counter, the open layout of the trailer allowing us to still see him. He pulled a pocket knife out of his front pocket and quickly sliced open the bag, licking the white powder off the tip of the blade. He dumped some of the powder onto the granite surface and pulled a straw from the same pocket, leaning over and taking a quick sniff from the pile. He threw his head back and sniffed again, this time harder to pull the drug farther into his nose. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back down. "Bueno mierda, Madi." He said with a shake of his head. "It is good shit."
He tapped the granite a few times with the pocket knife tip, looking back and forth between me and Madison. "How much?"
I stepped forward. "That bag is $70. It's just a sample. We'll sell you and ounce for $600, you can keep 10%. Coke, money, doesn't matter." I said, standing at the opposite end of the counter. He sniffed, looking over my shoulder to Madison. She nodded in agreement and he looked back to me.
"What is la pureza?" He asked, separating himself another line.
This time Ashley answered. "85%. It's the purest coke I've seen in a while. You can taste it."
He gave an impressed look and nodded. "No mal." He spread out a few more lines and handing me the straw. "Take it. We celebrate."
Madison walked up to stand at the counter with us, taking the straw from my hands to help herself first. "Hery, so this means you're in?" She asked, dipping her head down and doing a line.
"Si, prima. I will. Next time bring me a full ounce. I will have the cash up front, and it will be gone muy rapido. No worries. I help you guys. If the rest is as good as this, it will be gone like that." He snapped his fingers. "Por ahora, we celebrate the new business. Stay, I bring my guys so you meet. We'll have some drinks, have some fun." He gave us a crooked smile not unlike Madison's, opening his arms in a welcoming gesture.
Ashley stepped forward to be a part of the group. "No offense, but I don't really want to stay." She shot Madison a look, urging her to decline. Madison only gave her a smirk and turned away.
"Of course we will. It would be rude to decline, after all." She responded, clearing not giving a fuck what Ashley thought.
The Latino gave small whoop and pulled a bottle of tequila and a few shot glasses from a cabinet, setting them down on the counter in front of us and pouring the shots. "Excellente. Let me make a few calls to tell them to come over, and we have some fun, yes?" He grabbed an iPhone that had been sitting on the counter nearby and disappeared down the hall, speaking in rapid Spanish the the person on the other side.
Ashley grabbed my arm, turning me around so that I was facing her. "Spencer, I can't stay. I need to go back to Aiden. Let him know that everything is good to go here."
Madison tittered. "Didn't you just here me? It would be pretty offensive to just leave after making a deal. We need to celebrate and show that we are willing to get along. You're on my turf, chica. My rules." She looked smug, and I had a feeling that she was enjoying making the other brunette uncomfortable. I didn't blame her. Even I felt pretty drug down by the other girl. Plus it had been a while since I had gone out, and I'm sure Madison's cousin knew some attractive guys to help keep me distracted.
Ashley let out a huff of irritation and sat on the couch. She dialed a number and put the phone to her ear, no doubt calling Aiden to update him on the situation.
XOXO
I definitely was not expecting it to get this bad. I had pictured maybe a few guys talking about drugs over drinks, maybe some cards. I was not expecting a full blown party. And when I say full blown, I mean this felt like one of those parties that you see in movies where some guy takes too much molly and jumps out the window. Which I'm almost positive just happened about an hour ago.
I was fucked up. I don't know if I was more drunk or high, but I was feeling something.
The double wide was full of people. It had started off slow, maybe about ten or so people at first. Then more showed up, and then they brought some friends. The whole park might as well have been at this house. The kitchen counters were lines with bottles of booze of every variation. People just kept bringing them along with cases of beer, thrown haphazardly across the counters and in the sinks. Plastic cups, red ones, blue ones, clear ones, all covered the floor and stuffed in black trash bags in the corner. At least some people had the decency to pretend to be neat.
The music was loud, a mix of American hip hop and Spanish rap, and seemed to resonate in every room of the house. It was always in the background wherever you went, like some weird soundtrack narrating the party. The lights where dim from the smoke that floated through the house, a combination of weed, cigarette and god knows what else as people smoked freely despite being inside. One of the rooms had a red sheet thrown over the floor lamp, bathing the room in red.
At first I had thought the house was a trailer like the other ones in the park, it turned out it wasn't. It was actually a house. It was shaped like an L and it even had a basement and a decent yard around it, with a stretch of trees that ran along the back of the trailer park.
I had no idea where Madison had gone. After a few people she knew from before showed up I lost her, ditched in the kitchen as I was fixing my third drink. Hery mostly hung around me, occasionally talking about the deal but mostly exchanging funny stories. He was a good enough guy, and for such a short guy her was pretty attractive. It definitely took me a while before I even realized that Madison had disappeared.
A few shots and some celebratory lines had me feeling restless and I had wandered around the house, which at that point had enough people in it that I had to push past people just to figure out where the bathroom was.
Being in the bathroom was incredibly stressful. The sudden lack of people and the incredibly bright light had me almost flinching as I peed, the small restroom making me feel slightly claustrophobic. Definitely not going back in there.
Which brings me to where I am now, standing in the back yard. I wasn't even entirely sure why I came outside. Maybe for some fresh air. Some semblance of personal space. Fuck, it just felt nice being outside. The chilly air sobered me up a bit, making me lightheaded from all the intoxicants in my system.
A cold hand grabbed my arm from behind and I jumped, almost letting out a scream of surprise. I turned around and my eyes met hazel. Oh fuck. I totally forgot about Ashley. My eyes widened with shock and I opened my mouth to apologize but her hand reached up, covering my mouth to silence me.
"Don't speak, just move."
This time my eyes were wide with fear. I reached up and grabbed her hand, pulling it off my face. "What they fuck, Ashley?" Was all I could manage. I looked down at her hand in mine and let go. I took a step back. "Are you just fucking with me because I swear… like fuck." I ran a hand through my hair, her look of amusement sparking a flame of irritation.
She laughed loudly, obviously just as messed up as I was. "Your face Spence. Fucking hilarious." She drew out the last word, sitting down into the grass and resting her arms on her knees.
I stood there, still fuming over her little prank, arms folded defensively against my chest. She sat there, staring up at me unabashedly. I stubbornly stood there, trying not to glare in her direction, until my legs wobbled and decided that sitting was probably better. I spread my legs out in front of me and rested back on my hands.
"What have you been doing?" I asked after a moment of awkward silence.
Ashley laid her legs out in front of her and leaned forward, stretching out her calves. "Um. I'm not entirely sure. A lot of tequila and I think I might have smoked crack at one point." She paused as if she was surprised, then narrowed her eyes. "I think they threw some dude out the window?" The last part came out like it was a question.
"I was wondering what that was," I replied. We looked at each other, for a moment, and I noticed for the first time how incredibly dilated Ashley's eyes were. I wondered if mine was the same.
"You saw it too?" She asked, leaning back a bit to search the pockets of her sweatpants. I could have sworn she was wearing jeans when she came along. She dropped a phone in her lap and a pack of cigarettes. She opened the pack and pulled a joint out, holding it up to me with a smile.
"Look what I found." She reached into the other pocket, nearly tipping herself over, and pulled out a lighter. After a few flicks she got it lit, reaching across the space between us to pass it to me.
I stared at her for a second before I accepted it, giving it a precautionary sniff before taking a puff. The harsh smoke burned, and I coughed, struggling to catch a breath. I reached back across and gave her back the joint.
I cleared my throat and groaned, mouth suddenly parched. "Fuck. I wish I grabbed a water bottle." I complained.
"Right-o!" Ashley sat up and stood, slightly unsteady. Once she got her legs back she walked off back into the house. Confused and slightly worried, I sat up. I should probably go follow her. Just in case.
I pushed myself up to my feet and stood, checking myself for wooziness. Satisfied, I walked back to the house through the double glass doors to the main sitting room. I didn't see Ashley in the crowd of people so I opted to check the kitchen area. And there she was, talking to Hery by the sink.
I walked over, noticing that he had pulled more powder out and was breaking up lines. He turned his head hearing footsteps and spotted me. "Ah mija!" He exclaimed, reaching his arm out to pull me over. He picked up the razor blade on the counter and deftly cut out three lines.
He turned his body slightly, pointing the razor blade at us. "I like you guys, yes? I am happy to work with you. But…" He hesitated, punctuating the pause with at jab of the blade. "… I only work with you two and mi prima, yes?" He set the blade down on the counter. "No one else. No one else must come here. Know one else can know. Entender?
I think that means understand. I nodded, and I noticed Ashley did the same. Only us. No biggie. I can make that happen. Hery grinned and handed us the straw. He gave me a pat on the shoulder and walked off, leaving me and Ashley to ourselves. She took the straw from my fingers and sniffed down one of the generous lines.
"This whole night is unreal." I said, half-dazed. She handed me the straw and I leaned closer, readying myself. I let out a breath then leaned in, quickly inhaling my own line. I tossed my head back, the nasty flavor of the powder instantly hitting the back of my throat. "Ugh, gross," I complained, my brain suddenly perking back up.
Ashley stifled a laugh with a hand. " I like you better when you're fucked up." She chucked, hitting me in the arm with her hand. "Not questioning every fucking thing."
I rubbed my eyes, willing myself to let that one go. Just let it be. Don't let it bother you. I sighed. "What they fuck is that supposed to mean?" So much for letting it go.
She seemed surprised. "Spencer, take the fucking compliment." She grumbled, backing up slightly. "No need to get bitey."
I blinked. "I get bitey?" I repeated, somehow lost on the word.
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like defensive. Relax. Believe it or not I'm not always trying to be mean." She leaned back against the counter, looking behind me at the sitting room full of grinding people. I moved to lean against the spot next to her so I didn't have to speak loudly.
"Certainly doesn't seem like you're trying to be nice either." I grumbled, looking down at my fingernails.
She sighed deeply, crossing her arms. "Maybe my nice is different than your nice." She countered. "Your so stuck on your own perspective that you don't bother to think about mine." She pushed herself off of the counter and strolled through the people, heading back outside.
I pushed through them after her, head starting to spin from trying to think too hard. I didn't notice when she stopped and collided right into her back. We hit the ground with a thud, and I laid there on top of her for a second to catch my wind.
A second turned into a minute of us just laying there, listening to the sound of each others breathing. It was relaxing, and started to make me aware of just how tired I was. The stillness was broken when she shifted, obviously trying to get me off of her. I rolled off of her and onto my back, looking up into the clear night sky. I had no idea what time it was, and I felt so out of it that I wasn't even sure what I had experienced the whole night. I turned my head out towards the house and noticed that the party had dwindled down to about half the size it was, mostly just the people in the center room and the two of us outside. It felt calmer. Maybe I was just that fucked up. I turned my head back towards Ashley and reached out, grabbing her wrist.
"I'm sorry." I said. It was the only thing I could think of to say. I didn't really understand what she meant, but I must have messed up somewhere if she felt misunderstood.
She turned her head over to look at me, her eyes glazed over. "I'm not a good person, Spencer. Not like you." She whispered. I just stared at her.
It was that same dark expression I had seen her wear before, only it didn't seem as angry and more so sad. I tightened my grip on her wrist reassuringly. "That's fine." I whispered back.
That probably wasn't what she was looking to hear, and it certainly wasn't something I would have said if I was sober. But I said it, and it felt right. Kind of. I frowned, second-guessing myself.
She pulled her arm, and I let go, thinking she was pulling her hand away. Instead she twisted her hand up so that she could hold mine, interlacing our fingers. "Thank you."
We laid like that for what felt like hours, neither one of us feeling the cold in the air. At some point someone came out and grabbed us, laying us on a bed in one of the guest rooms. I found myself staring at the dark chocolate curls on the back of Ashley's head until my eyes drooped and I drifted off into sleep.