I move into a sitting position to face him. “Get the hell out.”
“Daddy dearest is worried about you, so you’re going to participate in Chaos tonight.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Dude, what the fuck did you do to the wall?” He walks over to inspect the damage.
“The same thing I’m going to do to your face if you don’t get out of here.”
“Now, what did the wall ever do to you? You are all kinds of crazy, aren’t you?” He shakes his head.
“Five, four, three…” I count down as I leave the bed. He’s going to look like the wall when I’m through with him.
“Asshole, my father keeps giving me shit about not making you feel welcomed and not inviting you out. I want him off my case.”
“Sounds like a personal problem,” I retort.
“If you don’t come, I’ll tell him about your little art project over here.” He points to the damaged plaster. “Do you honestly want to spend your Saturday night talking about your feelings with my father?”
I stop in my tracks, snarling like a wild animal.
Josh smirks, folding his arms across his chest. “Let’s go. We leave now. It’s only the guys tonight.”
Just what I fucking need.
Five minutes later, I grudgingly walk with Josh to his truck. It’s a little after ten.
“You and Danny play nice tonight, okay?”
“I’m not making any promises.”
“Figures,” he grumbles, getting into his truck.
“What are we doing tonight? Raiding the Depends’ stash at a nursing home?”
“Very funny.” He gives me the finger.
“Well, you know me, always the jokester.”
“You’re not opposed to grand theft auto, are you?”
“What type of shit are you assholes going to get into tonight?”
“Just a little joyriding.” Josh winks.
“Whatever.”
Josh parks in front of a medium-sized house about thirty minutes later.
“Where are we?” I peer around the residential neighborhood.
“Zeke’s house.”
“I’m not going in there.”
I know blood is going to spill if I go in that motherfucker’s house.
“I’m not either. Our ride is almost here.”
Zeke, Trevor, and Dex emerge from the house when an old white van parks behind Josh’s truck.
“We’re joyriding in that piece of shit?”
Josh laughs. “Not in the least. That piece of shit is going to get us to our destination.”
He pulls a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and holds them out to me.
“The van is stolen. If you don’t want your fingerprints left at the scene of the crime, I suggest you wear them,” he says.
I take the offered gloves before exiting the truck.
I force my hands into the small pair of gloves. “My hands can barely fit in these tiny fucking gloves.”
“Medium was the only size left at the store.” Josh shrugs his shoulders.
“Where are Aiden and Robbie?” Josh gives his boys dap.
“They had to deal with some family shit,” Trevor answers.
Vineyard Baptist Church is displayed on the side of the van.
“Nice touch, stealing a van from a church.” I laugh.
“I thought so,” Josh replies.
Danny jumps out of the van, then comes barreling towards me. “Why the fuck is he here, Josh?”
My hands form fists, ready to break this fucker’s face if he gets in my personal space.
“Here we go.” Dex sighs.
“Stop this shit. The last time got way out of control, and Cin got hurt really bad,” Zeke says.
“Well, Cin isn’t here now.” Danny steps forward.
Josh places his hand on Danny’s chest, stopping him. “Zeke’s right. You need to calm down. A fight could draw unwanted attention to us. That’s something we don’t need with a stolen van in our possession.”
“Just keep him the hell away from me.” Danny storms back into the van.
Josh passes out gloves to the rest of the group.
“It’s showtime.” Dex slides open the van door, climbing in.
Josh gets in the front passenger seat while the rest of us file into the back. I sit in the second row.
Zeke tosses something in my lap. “What’s this?”
“It’s your disguise, Mr. President.” Dexter looks back, with a cheeky grin.
I pick up the unknown item to inspect it. It’s a Bill Clinton mask. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“You’ll wear it if you don’t want to be identifiable in a police lineup.” Dex looks back, sporting a George W. Bush mask.
“We don’t need you ratting us out if you get caught,” Danny adds.
“I’m not a rat. You guys act as if joyriding in a stolen car is a federal offense,” I retort.
“It’s who the car belongs to that would get us into a heap of trouble if we’re caught,” Josh says.
“And just whose car will we be joyriding in?” I’m tired of the dramatics.
Danny turns into the parking lot of Judy’s, where I had the immense pleasure of kicking his ass for the first time. He comes to a stop beside a blue Subaru.
“Deputy These Nuts. He’s a cocky motherfucker who’s always on our fucking backs, so it’s time to teach him a lesson,” Josh answers.
“So we’re going to steal a cop’s truck?”
“Stealing is such a harsh word. I prefer the term borrowing,” Trevor says.
Maybe these guys aren’t such pussies after all. It takes brass balls to do the reckless shit they have planned.
“We’ve been watching him for a while. He comes here every Saturday to eat dinner and flirt with the waitress. He has a major hard-on for her.” Josh grins.
“It’s time for Chaos!” Dex shouts.
We stealthily leave the van, closing the doors quietly.
Josh is Richard Nixon, Trevor is Ronald Reagan, Zeke is John F. Kennedy, and Danny is Jimmy Carter. We ease into the unlocked Subaru, cat burglar like, to avoid detection. Zeke is the driver for tonight’s episode of Chaos. Josh sits in the passenger seat beside him. Danny and I sit at opposite ends in the back seat, which is a good thing, because I don’t want to be hit with an attempted murder charge for throwing the fucker out of a moving vehicle. With the four of us it’s a tight fit.
Zeke hotwires the Subaru then zooms out of the parking lot.
“Woohoo!” Josh shouts with his head hanging out of the window.
The deputy runs out of the diner and chases after his stolen ride. “You fucking kids! I’m going to kick your asses!”
“There you are Deputy These Nuts. We were looking for you. Thanks for letting us borrow your ride!” Danny yells.
Zeke is doing at least ninety miles per hour. This reckless shit is right up my alley. I’m prepared to die, but I guarantee they’re not.
“You guys do know that every cop in the area will be on us in about ten minutes or less,” I say.
“Relax, we won’t get caught.” Dex grins.
Josh switches on the radio, turning the volume up full blast. The tires screech as Zeke jerks the steering wheel right to peel around a corner.
Two police cruisers come out of nowhere behind us, sirens echoing through the night.
“Fuck.” Zeke puts the pedal to the metal.
He turns onto a street lined with houses on either side.
“Push it, Zeke! If we get caught, I’m fucked. My dad is going to be beating my ass from now until I graduate college,” Danny yells behind him.
“I’m trying to get us out of this in one piece,” he replies.
“Shit, we’re going to die,” Dex says.
Zeke loses control and crashes into a fire hydrant. Water shoots into the air. The doors swing open and we bolt. The police give chase. I have no idea which way Danny, Dex, Trevor, or Zeke went, but Josh and I end up run
ning in the same direction. I jump over a metal fence surrounding a house and hit the ground running. Josh follows. When I hear a thud, I glance back. Josh is hanging upside down, his foot caught on the fence. I should leave the bitch, but I go back to help him. I jump back over the fence and attempt to free him. His shoe lace is tangled in the metal. The damn gloves make it difficult for me to loosen the laces. Shit.
“Shit, they’re coming,” Josh warns.
I pull the gloves off.
“Hurry up.”
“I’m trying asshole,” I snap.
The sounds of the cops’ footsteps are getting closer. When I release his foot, he takes off running. I lift my leg prepared to hop over the fence, but I’m grabbed by my arm and thrown to the ground.
Damn.
Policemen converge on me and a knee rams into the center of my back. My wrists are twisted behind me and handcuffed.
Ricky is going to be pissed.
Josh storms past my open door. Something is wrong. Ricky left the house in a fit of anger fifteen minutes earlier. I place the book I’d been reading on the bed before going into Josh’s bedroom. I find him pacing, sweating bullets. He’s in panic mode and hasn’t notice me.
“What happened?”
He looks over at me, startled.
“It’s all fucked up, Cin. It’s fucked.”
I sit on his bed, alarmed.
“We stole Deputy Wyatt’s car to joyride in.” He sits beside me.
“What the fuck, Josh? Someone could’ve gotten hurt.”
Out of all the idiotic shit I imagined they’d be doing, this possibility never crossed my mind. That’s why the guys were quiet about what their plans were for tonight.
“I know. Shit, it wasn’t supposed to go down like this. Zeke lost control and crashed.” He drags his hand roughly through his hair.
“Is everyone okay? Where’s Trevor?” I feel horrible for wanting to ask about Art first.
“Trevor is fine. He doesn’t want to face your wrath right now—that’s why he hasn’t called yet.”
“What about everyone else?” I really want to ask if Art is home.
Josh scrubs a hand down his face. “Everyone got away, except Art.”
I automatically assume the worst. “Did you guys set him up?”
“How could you even think that? I don’t like him, but I wouldn’t set him up. It all happened so fast. After Zeke crashed, all of us took off running. Art and I ran in the same direction. I jumped over the fence behind him, but my shoe got stuck. I thought he was going to leave me, but he came back.” Josh shakes his head in disbelief. “He got me free, but it was too late for him.”
“That’s why your father left here furious.”
“Fuck, he’s going to rat us out.” Josh drops his head into his upturned hands.
“Art doesn’t seem like the type to snitch, but are you going to let him take the fall by himself?”
“There’s no evidence we were involved. We wore masks, so no one can identity our faces. and gloves, so no fingerprints. It’ll be our word against his. No one will believe him over us,” Josh says with confidence.
Un-fucking-believable.
“How can you throw him to the wolves after he went back for you?” I glower at him.
At least he has the decency to look ashamed. I don’t understand why I always feel the need to defend Art, especially since he’s such an asshole to me.
“I know you’ll do the right thing,” I say, leaving his room.
The bastard left me to take all the blame. I can’t say I’m surprised. Josh and his friends are snakes. I should’ve stayed in like I fucking planned, but no, I let the asshole talk me into going out. So here I am at the police station in some shitty interrogation room, getting grilled.
Deputy These Nuts throws the Bill Clinton mask on the table in front of me before leaning close to my face. God, his breath smells like diarrhea.
“Who else was with you tonight? You’ll start talking now if you know what’s good for you, boy!”
Spittle hits my bottom lip. Fucking disgusting. Sheriff Andy lounges lazily against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Am I supposed to be scared?”
“You’re going to be in juvie until you’re twenty! You’re a menace to society!” The deputy is getting himself all worked up.
“Let me guess. Good cop.” I lift my handcuffed wrists, pointing at Sheriff Andy. “Bad cop.” I turn my finger towards Deputy These Nuts.
“What you and your friends did is very serious.” Sheriff Andy straightens from the wall.
“I’m ready to talk.”
“Good,” the deputy says, happily.
“I would be doing the entire community a disservice if I didn’t tell you how bad your breath stinks. I think it’s time you made an appointment to see a dentist. You may have halitosis.”
I can almost see the steam coming from his ears.
“Someone needs to wring this punk’s neck.”
“Why don’t you do it, Deputy These Nuts?” I challenge.
He wants to beat the fuck out of me. If the sheriff wasn’t here, he would make a move then come up with some bullshit excuse to explain how I got the bruises. He’s the type of motherfucker that was picked on throughout school and became a cop to compensate for his shortcomings. This fucker doesn’t need to wield any kind of power. He misuses it.
A light knock sounds at the door. “Come in,” the sheriff calls.
Deputy Megan cracks the door open. “Ricky’s here, Sheriff.” I met her while being escorted through this hellhole.
“Maybe he can talk some sense into you. Let him in.”
Not likely.
Ricky pushes through the door hard enough for it to bang against the wall.
“Have you lost your fucking mind, Art?” Ricky yells.
“Yeah, about three years ago when I tried to off myself.”
“Ricky, we have a real problem here. There were other kids involved, but he won’t give them up,” Sheriff Andy says.
Ricky rubs his fingers against his temples. “Art—”
“Go ahead and waste your breath. I’m not saying anything.”
Ricky slumps his shoulders, defeated. “I know Art well enough to know he isn’t going to talk.”
“All right, we’ll have to lock him up,” Sheriff Andy replies.
“Wait a minute. Can I have a private word with you both?” Ricky asks.
There’s a tense pause. “Okay, follow me,” the sheriff agrees.
All three leave the room.
Ricky and the sheriff come back into the room about twenty minutes later.
“About fucking time. I have to take a shit,” I say.
Sheriff Andy walks over and surprises me by taking off the handcuffs. “You’re free to go.”
“What?” I rub my sore wrists.
Then it hits me. “How much did the old man pay you to make this disappear? You’re nothing but a dirty cop who can be bought. I see where your son gets his morals from.” I smirk.
“Watch your mouth, you fucking delinquent.” He grasps the front of my shirt.
“Whoa, calm down, Sheriff.” Ricky clutches his arm.
“You want to hit me, don’t you? Come on. Give me your best shot.”
His body trembles with rage. Yeah, he wants to clean my clock.
“Art, shut your damn mouth,” Ricky hisses.
He lets my shirt go. “Keep your head down. Your grandfather won’t be able to help you next time.”
“Sure he will. All he has to do is add more zeros to the check.”
“Get him the hell out of here before I do something that’ll cause me to lose my job.”
I leave the room, not waiting for Ricky. The sheriff can kiss my ass. I brush by Deputy These Nuts on the way out of the building. He doesn’t have to open his mouth. The expression on his face tells me everything I need to know—he’ll be gunning for me now.
Ricky catches up to me in the parking lot. “What yo
u did tonight was reckless.”
“Well, you know reckless is my middle name.” I yank the door to Ricky’s truck open, then get in.
He starts the ignition. “Were Josh and his friends involved?”
“You’ll have to ask Josh that question. How much did the old man pay him?”
“It doesn’t matter. He wants you to go live with him since I’m not capable of handling you—his words. Shit, maybe he’s right.”
“Like he’d do any better. Anyway, I won’t go.”
“If you keep screwing up, I’ll have no choice but to ship you to him.”
“The day he comes for me will be the day I disappear.”
He controlled my father. I’ll be damned if I allow him to control me.
I lay on my stomach across the bed, glowering down at Trevor’s digital image through video chat.
“Babe, I’m sorry.”
He gives me his best sad puppy-face expression. I cock an eyebrow to let him know that look is not going to get him out of the doghouse.
“What you guys did was really shitty.” I roll onto my back, holding my cell phone above me.
“Come on, Cin, give me a break.”
“So many things could’ve gone wrong. Chaos is getting way out of control.”
“Well, during Chaos if you’re not out of control—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”
“Look on the bright side. Maybe Ricky will get rid of Art now.”
I should want him gone, but I don’t.
“That’s what you want, right?”
Damn, I need to learn how to control my facial expressions. “Yeah.”
I hear the rumble of an engine outside.
“They’re here.” I walk over to the window. “I have to go.”
“Call me later to let me know what happens.”
“Okay.” I end the video chat.
I watch as Ricky and Art exit the truck and walk up the porch steps. It’s nearly one o’clock in the morning, but I couldn’t go to sleep until Art got home.
“Josh, get down here,” Ricky yells.
“Do the right thing,” I tell Josh as he walks by my door.
I watch Josh descend the stairs, wanting to knock his teeth down his throat. He won’t even look at me—straight bitch.
“Talk,” Ricky demands when he clears the last step.
When Art Rises: Living in Cin: (A Twisted Interracial High School Love Triangle) Page 9
