Notes from the author: So sorry about the long wait for this chapter guys, I really hadn't intended this to take so long. But it's an extra-long chapter for y'all, hopefully to tide you over to chapter eight (Chapter eight! Wow! I never expected this story to go so long!). Not much to say up here, more author's notes at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with The OC, or anything else for that matter. So please don't sue, I don't have much to give except for six tattered Harry Potter books and a fat rabbit.

Pairings: Ryan/Marissa, maybe some Seth/Summer and Kirsten/Sandy – no fluff.

Rating: T for language and violence

Summary: The death of Ryan's brother, Trey, sparks a domino effect that will alter the Cohen's lives forever.

My Elusive Drug

Chapter Seven

Another month passed. Ryan and Seth visited Trey at least twice a week, and though they told Summer and Marissa about where they were going, Ryan wanted to wait a little more time before letting them meet his brother. He didn't know who he was being more protective of by that decision, Marissa or Trey.

Life had taken a different turn for Ryan. For the first time in a while, he was angst-free... for the most part... his relationship with Marissa was better than it had ever been and he finally had the strong relationship with Trey that he had missed from their childhood years. He knew that Trey still did drugs a couple times a week, and more than once, he and Seth had stumbled in on a very stoned Atwood, but Ryan let Trey's business be his own business. He trusted his brother.

He soon found out how very wrong he had been.

Ryan knew something was up by the strange and hesitant way Trey was acting when Ryan and Seth arrived that Saturday afternoon. Every few minutes, he would glance at Ryan, opening and closing his mouth like a fish, as if he had something that he wanted to say but didn't know how to put it, then would seem to think better of it and look away.

"Spit it out, Trey," Ryan finally said after this had happened five or six times.

"Huh what?" Trey asked, turning to look at Ryan, feigning innocence. Seth glanced up, his eyes flickering between the brothers.

"You obviously have something to say," Ryan responded as he crossed his arms. "What's up, man?"

"Uh...," Trey scratched the back of his head fondly and stood up, putting a hand on his hip and running the other through his hair as he wandered around to the back of the sofa. He sighed. "I'm in some trouble, Ry; I owe some guys some money."

Ryan paused, his eyebrows furrowing. "How much?"

Trey smirked ironically, turning away. "Ooh boy," he chucked to himself, not believing he was coming to his little brother for this. "Five thousand," he finally said, glancing at Ryan for his reaction.

Ryan was taken aback. "Five thousand?" he repeated, dumbfounded. "What could you have possibly done to owe them five thousand?"

"Look, does it really matter?" Trey said, holding his hands out in a defensive gesture.

"Yeah Trey, I would say it does matter!" Ryan responded forcefully.

"You're all rich now, livin' in Newport! Big fancy house, I'm sure your new family can scrape up five grand!" Trey jeered.

"Oh, is that it?" snapped Ryan. "You've only been hanging out with me to get some money from the Cohen's?"

Trey ignored this question. "You're a great brother Ry," he sneered sarcastically. "You didn't used to be like this, it used to be no questions -"

"You're saying I'm not being a good brother?" Ryan exclaimed.

"I'm sure Mom and Dad could get the money," Seth interjected quietly.

"Stay out of this Seth," Ryan snapped harshly and the boy quieted, looking hurt.

"He doesn't have to stay out of it," Trey said loudly, pointing a finger towards Seth while glaring at Ryan. "He gets the idea, right Seth?" Trey's head snapped in the boy's direction.

Seth looked clearly uncomfortable being stuck in the middle of this. "I... I... uh..."

"Leave him out of this, Trey!" Ryan blurted. "This isn't about him!"

"Then what's it about Ryan!" hollered Trey, taking a few steps towards his younger brother.

"It's about you!" Ryan snapped, gesturing towards Trey with an open palm. "And all this shit you're doing! What's this five grand about, Trey, huh? You've been doing more drugs? What's it this time? Heroin? Crack? You dealing? Is that it? You squelch someone out of a deal?"

Trey's nostril's flared. "You didn't seem to have a problem with what I did with my life last week!"

"Yeah, well I guess I was wrong, wasn't I!" Ryan turned on his heel, stomping towards the door and yanking it open. "Seth." He held the door open slightly for the other boy to pass through. Seth didn't move; only let his eyes stare back and forth between Ryan and Trey. "Seth," Ryan said again, fiercer. Seth waited another second before standing to his feet and walking past Ryan.

"Ryan, wait," Trey said, his voice weaker... almost desperate. Ryan paused halfway out the door, and turned to look at his brother. "You don't know what these guys can do," Trey persisted. "Man, they're gonna kill me if I don't give 'em this money before the end of the week!"

Ryan paused, looking almost contemplative before locking his eyes with Trey. "That's your problem." He slammed the door behind him.

Half under his blanket, almost asleep, Ryan shivered. He cracked his eyes open a bit, the blue pools falling on the open window on the opposite wall. He must have forgotten to close it. Rolling out of bed, the teen swayed tiredly over towards the window, still unnerved about the phone call from his mother he had received fifteen minutes before. Why couldn't you save him?

The window was closed, but the pool house was still chilly. Pulling open a drawer in the wardrobe next to him, Ryan reached for a sweatshirt when his eyes landed on the photograph of Trey, smiling up at him from the dresser top. Ryan narrowed his eyes, grabbing the frame and throwing it forcefully into the garbage next to him. His ears rang with the sound of the glass shattering.

Trey's voice sounded scared on the phone. "Please, Ry, th-they're... I - they're gonna kill me, Ry."

Ryan felt his heart skip a beat, all anger and mistrust towards his brother flushed out of his mind. "Trey, what's going on?"

In the background, he could hear loud, clunking footsteps as Trey ran down the hallway of his apartment. "I'm getting out, they-they know where I live, it's Johnny, he told them - he... they're comin' for me, man."

"What happened, Trey? Why are they after you?" At these words, Seth perked up from across the room, game controller still in his hand as he sat cross-legged in front of the television.

"Man, I gave them their fucking money!" Trey exclaimed. "I - we were using a middleman, Johnny, he - he was supposed to deliver it -," the slamming of a door as Trey ran out of the building and onto the sidewalk, "- but he musta ran off with it... man, I don't know what to do... Ry, help me, please."

Ryan broke all speed limits and must have run at least three red lights, nearly causing an accident on the third. Seth sat next to him, fidgeting nervously, five thousand dollars in cash in his pocket from their record-breaking stop at the ATM machine. It was a blessing Sandy and Kirsten had been invited out to dinner that night.

They were going to meet Trey at the 7/11 off of Alden Street. There, they would give him the money, then he would call whoever he needed to, deliver the money, and go on his way. Ryan just prayed they weren't too late.

He pulled the Range Rover to a jerking halt in the parking lot of the convenience store, the red and green lights of the neon sign above the door casting an eerie glow. Trey was nowhere in sight. Pulling the keys out of the ignition, Ryan climbed hastily out of the car, looking around wildly, his heart thumping in his chest. "Trey?"

Then he heard it. The loud grunt from the alleyway behind the building. Ryan took off in a run, adrenaline pumping through his system like a drug; he could hear Seth's hard footsteps and panting breaths a few feet behind him.

There were five of them, and they had Trey backed up into a corner formed by the chain link fence and the hard green dumpster. "Hey!" Ryan's voice echoed loudly, and the men raining blows onto his brother stopped and looked up. "Get away from him."

The one that seemed to be their leader strolled cockily over towards Ryan, his breath smelling like rotten eggs as he breathed in Ryan's face. "Man, what'chu want?"

Ryan glared. "I said get away from him, you asshole." ...fuck...shouldn't have said that..., he thought fondly before the man's fist connected harshly with the side of his face, sending him wheeling towards the ground, barely having the time to throw his hands out to brace himself for the hard connection with the dirty cement.

A shoe connected with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to gasp for air as a strangled grunt of pain escaped. "You made a big mistake comin' down here, boy."

An "oof" reached his ears as one of the cronies left Trey to send Seth sprawling to the ground with one hard punch.

"Yeah?" Ryan said, raising a hand to wipe at the blood that dripped from his nose. "And you made a big mistake messing with my brother." Swinging his foot around, he made a connection with the man's knee, and he let out a cry of pain, falling next to Ryan on the ground and giving the teen enough time to jump to his feet.

Seth was fairing... not so well, but Trey was much worse, as one man pummeled the punches and kicks and the remaining two advanced on Ryan.

The fight was brutal, and Ryan was soon on the ground again, already feeling bruising forming on his face and a possible cracked rib or two from the continuous kicks he received. The men were laughing, finally backing up to look at the destruction they created. Ryan could feel Seth's presence a few feet away, not bothering to look to see if the boy was conscious or not. Letting out a pained groan, he rolled onto his back from the fetal position his body had unconsciously curled in to, feeling the already-drying blood sticky on his face.

Ignoring the dizzying and spinning world around him, he pushed himself into a half-sitting position, blinking rapidly to try to clear his eyesight, fighting to stay conscious.

"Aw, man, look at this, guys," rang the voice of the ringleader. "This fool wants some m-"

"No, stop," Ryan interrupted hoarsely, holding up a hand.

The leader strolled over towards him as the cronies laughed; grabbing a fistful of Ryan's hair, he jerked his head up painfully. Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan could see Trey's form slumped against the fence. "What's that boy? You had enough?"

Ryan grimaced. "I have your fucking money," he snapped, jerking his hair out of the strong grasp. Scurrying back a few feet, he allowed a glance towards Seth. His mouth and chin were covered with dried blood from his nose, and a black eye was already forming, but the teen was conscious, and struggling to sit up, clearly dazed and disoriented.

"Your stupid, fucking drug money," Ryan repeated. "I have it, okay?"

The man paused, before taking a few steps backwards, towards Trey. "Oooh, you hear that boys?" he asked, grinning at his cronies. "He has our stupid, fucking drug money." They laughed.

He had pulled out a gun, a small silver handgun, and was now pointing it at Trey, his glinting eyes still trained on Ryan. Trey was only semi-conscious, his face bloody, nose obviously broken, struggling to crawl away but hardly strong enough to sit up.

Ryan's eyes widened. "No, stop, I said I have your money, okay!" Scrambling over towards Seth, Ryan reached a hand into the teen's pocket, ignoring his soft, incoherent mutter of something that sounded like, "I don't swing that way..."

"Here, here's your money," Ryan exclaimed, pulling out a large wad of hundred-dollar bills and waving it in the air. "Stop it, okay?"

"Man, I gave this motherfucker a week to deliver this money... this money that he swore -," Click. He cocked the gun, "- he had."

"No! Stop!" Ryan exclaimed, his voice rising as he gave the money another shake. "You don't want to do this -"

He was interrupted by the sounds of loud, wailing sirens, not too far away. All heads turned towards the 7/11, and though the back door, a figure quickly ducked to the side.

"Man, the motherfucker called the cops!" One of the lackeys cried, looking distressed.

"Slim," another one added, "we gotta jet, now!"

The wailing got louder and the pack turned on their heels, climbing up and over the fence. Slim still had the gun on Trey. "Slim, man, let's go!" one of them hissed through the fence.

Slim's eyes glinted. The sirens were getting louder; Ryan could see flashes of red and blue in the distance. He was going to back down, everything would be okay.

Bang.

The bullet hit Trey straight in the chest, a perfect shot. Someone yelled "NO!", but it wasn't until Slim was up and over the fence, running after his group that Ryan realized it had been him.

---

Oh my, that was intense, wasn't it? I hadn't realized how much so until I just proof-read it. Hee. That was fun.

So, that's about the end of the flashbacks, though if needed be I might add one in here or there. But now that we know how/why Trey died and such, the story can develop more.

Thanks to all the reviews, and to everyone who has listed this as a favorite story, or me as a favorite author – it's so flattering.

Please keep the reviews coming guys, getting them is what inspires me to write more, it's really true. And until next time, remember – a reviewed author is a happy author.