Danny passed through the front door a few steps behind Charlie, finding Gloria waiting to de-wire both of them.
Danny yanked his own shirt off right there in the foyer, partly out of sheer frustration and partly to try and seem intimidating to Charlie who was already having his wire tended to.
Charlie couldn't help but scan Danny's upper body, quickly taking in what Lacey seemed so happy with. Danny looked over at him too, they were about the same size, scars, tattoos. They were more alike than not.
"Damn it." Danny fumbled with the tape stuck to his chest, he wanted this process over faster.
"Bad night, Danny?" Gloria asked, completely uncaring.
"He's supposed to be in jail!" Danny held his hand out as if pointing would help Gloria see who was standing in front of her.
"Charlie McBride is of use to me now, that's all you need to know."
"And those, those—ASSHOLES drove me home, I'm lucky my face isn't smashed in. Again."
Archie heard the commotion and descended the stairs in search of the source: Charlie smirking as Danny had a shirtless meltdown.
"Why is he here?" Archie also pointed.
"Hi Archie." Charlie said smugly, "Nice to see you."
"Gloria got him out! Again!" Danny wasn't through ranting.
"Am I really going to have to parent grown men?" Gloria replied calmly.
"You didn't see the effects of Charlie on Danny's face—" Archie tried to reason.
Gloria was in no mood to entertain their tantrums.
"Charlie has an ankle monitor. He will be on the other side of the house, your paths will not cross."
"But we're working together? How does that work?" Danny objected.
"You're both working for me, what your individual jobs are is classified information and you know that." Gloria lit up a cigarette, "Now, if you wish to attend that party tomorrow I suggest you change your tone of voice immediately."
Danny only had to survive one more night. One night in the house belonging to a drug kingpin that he was actively rolling on and Lacey's ex who previously had his minions almost kill him. If he fucked up his chance to get the hell out of here by crying like a bitch now he'd lose his damn mind.
"I apologize." Danny swallowed hard.
"Party?" Charlie inquired.
"It's a private party." Danny growled.
"You're not invited." Archie said at the same time.
"Well, look who it is." Regina also made her way down the front staircase in search of why there was such an obnoxious echo running through her typically peaceful house, "Trouble."
"You shouldn't talk about Danny like that." Charlie smiled.
Regina ignored him completely. If there was one thing she had learned about dealing with Charlie's personality and her mother's weird ability to drag losers like him in and out of everyday life, it was to pretend they didn't exist.
"Speaking of party, Lacey picking us up tomorrow?"
Danny realized that Regina was asking him this question, the person who was supposed to know this answer because he was a loving, caring boyfriend—instead, his posture shrunk by half and he looked down at his feet.
Charlie clicked his tongue, "Might have to find another ride." He leaned forward and cupped his hand around his mouth to whisper loudly in her direction, "They're a mess."
Regina glanced back at Danny who had lifted his head to meet her stare, his eyes big and apologetic. She squinted at him in confusion.
"Danny, I swear to god—"
"It's not that serious—"
"I shouldn't have let you two get together." Regina fumed to herself.
"It wasn't your choice—"
"Guys, please—" Archie tried.
Gloria finished packing up the wires and paused to take a long drag from her cigarette, a warm smile spreading across her face as she exhaled.
"Welcome back Charlie." She said as if she were delighted by the squabbling or at least hadn't noticed, "This way please."
Charlie smiled bigger and toddled after Gloria toward the opposite wing of the house.
"How does Charlie even know?" Regina asked, not willing to let this go.
"Lacey and I had a disagreement. He—saw me grab her arm when she walked away." Danny confessed.
"This is how you ended up almost beaten to death, Danny. You're an idiot and Lacey doesn't deserve that shit!" Regina yelled.
"It wasn't like what Charlie thinks he saw—I just—" Danny didn't have a good reason.
"Whatever." Regina decided to go check in with her best friend herself and took off back up the stairs.
"We need to talk." Danny said as he and Archie made their way to their own rooms.
"What's going on with you and Lacey?"
"I don't know, I—I don't know." Danny deflated further.
"How is Charlie out?" Archie shook his head in disbelief.
"This ends tomorrow." Danny promised.
"What does that even mean?"
Archie watched Danny shut his bedroom door behind them and scour the room looking for recording devices. He took their phones and tossed them in Archie's room before pulling Archie into his closet and shutting the door.
"Why are we in a closet together right now?"
"Shh, listen, what stuff do you have here?"
"Stuff?"
"Yeah, like, if we went back to the city tomorrow, is there anything here you need to take with you?"
"No—?"
"Good, me neither."
"Danny—"
"Look, things are happening tomorrow. Please just keep your mouth shut and go with it. Okay?"
"Okay, but—"
"Please? Please just trust me?"
Archie realized that Danny either knew more than he could say or that his best friend was starting to lose his mind. Either way, he would take this leap with him the way Danny always had for him.
"Okay."
Danny told Archie to be ready to leave for good after the party. He grabbed his phone back, locked the door and began to pour over the latest update to the plan that Lacey had slipped into his pocket.
To Danny's surprise, Kyle knew about Charlie's release and in his note he tried his best to comfort Danny knowing he'd be upset. Kyle also confirmed that Lacey didn't know about Charlie and that it would make sense to text her about it knowing that Gloria would see.
The final line in his update said that they were ready and this would finally be over tomorrow. Danny needed to read that more than he realized.
Danny: Charlie's out
Lacey: What?! How do you know?!
Danny: Cole and Scott basically kidnapped me and gave Charlie and I a ride back.
Lacey: Oh my god, I should have made sure you got back safe. Are you okay?
Danny: He's working for Gloria again.
Lacey: I can't believe this!
Danny: Lacey I screwed up
Danny's mind was all over the place. Not knowing who decided to steal from him was ruining all of the good things he had left.
Lacey struggled with rehashing their issues that had seemed so much bigger to her before knowing Danny just got a ride home from the three guys who collectively almost killed her boyfriend for no reason.
She didn't respond.
Danny: Goodnight
Danny lit the paper from Kyle on fire and tried to get some sleep. He was exhausted.
Danny knew that Gloria summoning Charlie could not be good. He was right.
The day that Jo had texted about having the party, Gloria decided it was the perfect time to bring Eddie down and seal her place as the untouchable drug lord she felt she was. She was ready to complete her summer agenda and had recruited Charlie and his merry band of trash friends to assist. Gloria prepped Charlie all night.
Somewhere above them Danny was also wide awake and running through as much of the plan as Kyle had revealed to him. As the sun began to rise, Danny, Charlie and their two overworked brains finally shut down and passed out.
"Dude, you alive?" Archie nudged his best friend just before noon.
"I assume so." Danny groaned, really not hating the idea of never waking up again.
"Lacey's texting me, she's looking for you."
Danny sat up and checked his phone, 11:48 am.
"I'm heading down for lunch, you coming?"
"Nah, no." Danny shooed Archie away and began scrolling through his texts.
Lacey: You up?
Lacey: We need to talk
Lacey: Text me when you're up pls
Danny: Good morning
Danny hit send and hoped for the best. He knew Lacey was a deep thinker and liked to sleep on things. He hoped that she would accept his apology for accusing her of stealing his money for the second time and, after Charlie had so valiantly pointed out, Danny also wanted to say sorry for grabbing her arm when she tried to walk away.
Lacey: How'd you sleep?
Danny: Not well, you?
Lacey: Fine
Danny: I'm sorry about last night
Lacey: School starts next week
Danny's heart dropped. She deflected and was obviously preparing him for something. He closed his eyes and tried to keep himself from spiraling into an anxiety attack.
They each took a deep breath and began texting how they were feeling in one big, emotional dump before reading any responses. Both of them about to have two very different conversations and arrive at the same place.
Lacey: I've been thinking about what my school routine will look like
Danny: I'm sorry for grabbing your arm like that
Lacey: Trying to make sense of how we fit into this huge change that's about to start basically overnight
Danny: I'm kind of all over the place right now but nothing excuses shit like that
Lacey: I'm going to be up early every day and you're going to be working nights
Danny: You've done nothing but love me all summer and here I am, still insecure about everything
Lacey: I don't even know if you'll stay in town after you're done working for Gloria
Danny: You deserve to be loved by someone that can give back all of themselves the same way that you give it
Lacey: I've had the fun summer I wanted with you, but summer is over now
Danny: Maybe we should take a break
Lacey: Maybe we should take a break
Danny had to say it because he knew that Lacey deserved a better partner than he felt he could be right now.
Lacey had to say it because she couldn't hold them up all by herself anymore.
When they had each finished trying their best to explain themselves they read through their exchange, neither of them wanting to be the next one to speak.
It hurt. It hurt so bad to read it.
Reading that they both came to the same conclusion about their relationship at the same time wasn't as much of a relief as it should have been.
Danny: I'll see you tonight?
Lacey: See you tonight
They left it there.
Danny: I can't come in tonight
Johnny: You're calling out on a Friday night?
Danny: I'm not feeling well
Johnny: If you don't want this job tell me now
Danny: I want this job
Johnny: Okay. Get some rest, I'll cover you tonight
Danny: Thanks
He should have been on top of the world. He, at the very least, should have been focused on how tonight was supposed to go. Instead, Danny stewed silently in his grief while Doug wired him up for the party.
"You okay?" Doug asked, showing rare moment of kindness from the socially awkward tech nerd.
Danny just shrugged, in no mood to talk.
"I, um—I looked into the camera layout of the house." Doug continued, "After we last spoke."
Danny perked up a bit and focused on what he was trying to tell him.
"There are cameras up there." Doug said calmly as if this wasn't life changing news.
"Did you see who went into my room?!" Danny whispered excitedly.
"Whitney. She was in and out of your room in less than thirty seconds on the night she was here."
"Anyone else?"
"Lacey."
His two favorite women. If Doug didn't say anyone else's name he'd be crushed beyond repair. Danny kept his huge, hopeful brown eyes trained on Doug's face as he connected the battery pack. Doug pressed the pack into Danny's side and taped it there before looking up at him.
"Regina went in there too."
"Regina?"
"Yeah, she was in and out faster than Whitney, money in hand."
"You could see it?!"
"Yeah."
"Thanks, Doug. I mean it."
Danny was grateful for this surprise ally and wished he had paid more attention to him before now.
"All set." Doug was careful with his words now that the wire was live.
Danny stepped out of the tiny closet and felt some relief now that one of the mysteries in his life was finally solved. The feeling was short lived when his thinking shifted into what to do next with this information.
How was he going to confront Regina? Should he even bother? How was he going to tell Lacey that her best friend stole his money? Would she believe him?
"Jesus, it's about time!" Regina complained from the couch by the front door when she caught sight of Danny, "I was about to leave your ass."
"You're driving?" Danny shot back, his eyes traveling between her and Archie as they sat on opposite sides of the couch, "I'll walk."
"Oh, so because you and Lacey are broken up we're not friends anymore?"
"We were never friends."
"Guys—" Archie tried to mediate.
"So it's official, they broke up?" The sound of a smug Charlie could be heard from somewhere behind Danny, he didn't bother to turn around.
"I'll meet you there, Arch." Danny couldn't handle this right now and took off out the front door for the long walk to the Masterson's.
"Wow, that's interesting." Charlie smiled big and watched an eye-rolling Regina and Archie head out right after him.
"Rico will be ready in a minute." Gloria said as she popped out of her office with a sack filled with bags of cocaine and heroin and handed it to Charlie, "Eddie is at the Masterson farm now. Make sure you plant these in Kyle's cruiser too. It needs to look like Kyle and Eddie are in business together."
"What about Tess?"
"I have someone heading into town to handle her. She's going down. Anyone else interferes, they go down too, Lacey included. Am I making myself clear?"
"I know what to do." Charlie pulled the bag from her hands.
"I hope so. You're working for me this time, not yourself."
Rico stuck his head inside the front door, "They're gone. Charlie, let's go."
"Show time." Gloria said and lit up another cigarette, "Do not screw this up. You're out of chances."