“What kind of trouble?” Jade struck me as the quiet type. I couldn’t imagine her getting into the kind of trouble that required a two A.M. wake up call. I also couldn’t imagine, of all the people on the planet, she’d want my help. But if she was desperate enough that Kiernan was there asking for it, she was going to get it. Like it or not.
“The kind that involves the police. Hurry up.” He waved impatiently at my half-dressed body.
Stumbling around, I managed to pull my other leg through the jeans and slip a long sleeved thermal over my head. “She got arrested?”
“Not yet. Let’s go before she does.”
***
The farther we drove the tighter the knot in my stomach grew. We sped through the nicer part of town where we were fortunate enough to live, past the somewhat underdeveloped area, and deep into the downright scary section.
“What the hell was she thinking coming out here alone at night?” My stomach turned over at the thought of what could have happened to her.
“I don’t know.” Kiernan slowed to check a street sign and then pressed on the gas. “She was supposed deliver something.”
“What?”
“I didn’t waste time with the details, Cal. All I know is the police are there and whatever it is, she doesn’t want them finding it.”
Made sense considering where we were. And when. Somehow I doubted UPS was still on the clock. But I was having trouble picturing Jade as being the kind of person to transport legally questionable substances to sanity questionable locations.
“Where did she say she was?” Better to get to her, first, and figure the rest out, later.
“Corner of Seventh and Main.” Kiernan slowed to a roll and I peered through the darkness at a sign for Sixth Street.
“One more block. Go.”
We rolled down the rutted street fast enough not to draw attention, scoping out the sketchy landscape for any sign of her.
“There.” She stood, half hidden in shadow on a dark, damp street corner. As out of place as the sun at midnight.
She wasn’t dumb enough not to know how much danger she’d put herself in by being there. That much was clear from the terror illuminated in her face by the flashing red and blue lights. Just reckless enough to be there, anyway.
I watched Kiernan wrestle a box from her and toss it in the backseat. Two cop cars sat parked outside a decaying house across the road. Her intended destination, I assumed. God help her if she’d actually gone inside that place.
Jade slid in next, making a noticeable effort to distance herself from the package, as though it may grow fangs and bite her. Followed by Kiernan. We didn’t waste time on words. He pulled a uey—an illegal maneuver that probably wasn’t the best idea at the moment—and got the hell out of Dodge.
The speedometer barely ticked the speed limit as we coasted down silent, deserted streets. I watched Jade wringing her fingers in the visor mirror as we drove. Straight, white teeth gnawed frantically at her soft pink lower lip until the skin around it started to turn red. My fingers itched to reach out and rescue it, but I fisted them in my pant leg, instead.
It wasn’t until we were in somewhat safer territory that Kiernan finally broke the pressurized silence. “Where are we headed?”
“I don’t know.” Panic rolled off of her, crashing around the car like a tidal wave of fear and anxiety. “I don’t know what to do. DJ said if I screwed this up, he’d make me pay. But I can’t deliver it. And I can’t get rid of it. And I can’t—”
“Rewind. Who’s DJ?” Kiernan threw the car in park at a red light and twisted around to face her.
I was glad to hear he was as confused as I was.
“The guy I was delivering the box for. He lives in my complex. He doesn’t have a super great reputation.”
“So we’ve gathered.” It was obvious she was scared spitless of the guy. What I really wanted to know was how the hell she got mixed up with him in the first place. I was guessing it had to do with more than making a little extra cash on the side.
“I owed him a favor. He called it in tonight. But I can’t do what he asked and I don’t know what to do about it. Or with that.” Her voice shook almost as badly as the rest of her.
No doubt about it, she was in over her head. I didn’t know a whole lot about drug dealers. It’s not like they were a common occurrence in my life. But I did know one thing . . . As long as she had that box, Jade was in danger.
We couldn’t get it where it needed to go, so that left only one other option. “Simple. We give it back.”
***
The scrawling graffiti was a bold design choice for building management. One I could have lived without. It stretched down the hall in not-so-subtle shades of red, black, and an interesting choice of lime green. Images that must have looked like something to somebody and words that weren’t all spelled correctly. Whether that was intentional, or a reflection of the artist’s lack of skill in other areas, I didn’t know. And I didn’t care. All I cared about was that this was where Jade lived. This was her home. She didn’t even seem to notice the vandalism surrounding us. All of her attention focused solely on the wooden door with the number 3 hanging on front, where we’d come to a stop halfway down the first floor corridor.
My first guess: someone named DJ lived on the other side.
My second guess: I wasn’t going to like him.
“Go ahead.” I gave Jade a nudge forward when it became apparent she wasn’t going to be able to do it herself.
She tapped lightly on the wooden surface and stepped back to wait. I wasn’t quite as patient. My fist balled to pound on it when the door cracked open and a greasy head popped out. One look at Jade and the door swung wide. The guy standing there looked pretty much exactly the way I imagined he would. It was almost comical how cliché he was in his leather jacket and slicked back hair. He looked like he’d stepped right out of a bad sitcom.
Except the way he was staring at Jade. There was nothing funny about that.
“What the hell are you doing here? And who the hell are they?”
“Friends.” I had to give the girl credit. She was shaking in her boots, but you’d never know it from the way she stood her ground and laid out what she’d come to say. “Listen, DJ, I did what you asked. I tried to deliver the package, but when I got there, the place was crawling with cops. I couldn’t just walk in there. So I brought it back to you.”
“You brought it back. And you brought them with you?” DJ cast a dismissive glance in our direction before returning to Jade.
I felt Kiernan shift beside me and I knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to draw attention away from Jade. C’mon, asshole, look at us. Not her.
It didn’t work. Classic bully style, he focused on the weakest prey.
I’m not some chauvinistic jackass. The fact was, of the three of us, Jade was the weakest. Which made her his target.
“You fucked up, Jade. You fucked up, royally. You know what those people are going to do, they don’t get the shit they bought? You know who’s going to pay for that?”
I had an answer for him—one he wasn’t going to like—but I kept my lips sealed. This was Jade’s fight. He was her bully and if she was the one to stand up to him, it might actually make a difference. So, I was willing to let her handle things on her own.
Until the bastard made a move for her. Then all bets were off.
“Hey!” I wedged myself between them as Kiernan tugged Jade out of harm’s way. Bad move, jerk-off. Now he had me to deal with. “The girl did what you asked. It’s not her fault it went to hell. You’re done now. You and her? It’s done. Over. You don’t talk to her again. You don’t even look at her. You do and I swear, they’ll have to mop up what’s left of you. We clear?”
There wasn’t a whole lot more I could have said to make myself any clearer. But when he craned his neck to look past me—at Jade—I knew he was as dumb as he looked.
My third guess: DJ was the one responsible for the masterp
iece in the hallway.
“You live in my world, Jade. You can tell yourself different all you want with your books, and your studying, and your ‘friends’, but you’re a sewer rat just like the rest of us.” I heard her breath hitch behind me and it triggered every last one of my protective instincts. I clenched my fists to keep from doing something stupid, like pulling her into my arms and refusing to let her go. Focusing on the waste of human space in front of me, I funneled it into something much more familiar. Rage. And I had plenty. I may not have been able to take on Kiernan’s demons, but Jade’s I would gladly pummel into the ground. “And sewer rats stick together. They might be here to protect you now, but sooner or later, you’re going to need my help again. It’s only a matter of time. And when you do . . . the favor I have in mind . . . it’s a little bit different.”
His twisted grin made me physically ill. Evidently, DJ was more of a ‘hands-on’ learner.
“Son of a—” I was done talking. It was time to teach him a lesson he’d never forget.
Kiernan took his cue, herding Jade away from the scene as I laid into the dirtbag with every ounce of pent up fury I had in me. I hit him and I hit him. Again and again until the blood from my knuckles mingled with that from his busted face. He hit the floor hard and, God help me, there was a big part of me that wanted to keep going. To beat him into blood and bone. Release all of my anger. Give it somewhere to go, rather than let it continue to build inside of me. And make certain he never so much as looked in Jade’s direction ever again.
Forcing myself to walk away was not easy. Hands still fisted tight enough that my raw knuckles stung, I stormed through the front door to where Kiernan stood, Jade tucked away in his arms.
“No more favors.” If I couldn’t do what I wanted to do to make sure he stayed away from her, the least I could do was make damn sure she never went near him, willingly, again.
“Enough, man.” Kiernan shifted slightly, putting himself between her and me, as though I were the threat. “She’s shaking like a leaf.”
The red—which was all I was seeing—faded away and I saw that he wasn’t lying. She was terrified, still suffering the aftershock of everything that had happened.
I choked back my frustration, locking it away where it belonged. She didn’t deserve it. Not on top of everything else she’d been through. “How did you end up in this mess, anyway?”
“I—I owed him. He did me a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” Kiernan tightened his arms around her, steadying her as she stumbled against his chest.
“I had to pick my mom up at a bar. She passed out on the ride home and it was too cold to leave her in the car all night. I didn’t have enough gas to run the heater that long. So I asked DJ to help me get her upstairs.”
“Let me get this straight.” It hadn’t taken a whole lot of imagination to assume I wasn’t going to like this story, but this . . . It took every last ounce of self-control I possessed not to turn around and go back inside. And then find her mother’s apartment and finish the job. “You had to go out alone, at night, to get your drunk mother and drag her ass back here. And then that bastard had the nerve to demand a favor in return for helping you get her inside?”
“Pretty much.”
I was about two degrees short of that boiling point. Some small part of me had hoped the scene I’d witnessed in the library was a one-time ordeal, even knowing what Kiernan had said about her mother. There was no more fooling myself. “Like I said, no more favors.”
Jade’s face crumpled and I cursed my serious lack of brain-to-mouth filter around her. It should have been working overtime. Instead, it shut off completely. Luckily, my ever observant little brother stepped in to rescue us both from my loose lips.
“Jade, what he means is, if you ever need help, call me. Anything. Anytime. You call me, okay?”
“Or me. If Kiernan can’t make it . . .” My chest pinched, knowing the only reason why that would be. And again, knowing she didn’t know. “For any reason, you call me. Kiernan will give you my number. One of us will always be around.”
Kiernan peered at me over Jade’s head and, though silent, his gratitude was loud and clear.
Jade lifted her head from Kiernan’s chest and sniffled back her tears as she swiped her damp cheeks against his shirt front. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Her words were so sincere that they made me ache. She looked at not only Kiernan, but me with . . . awe? As though she couldn’t believe we were there. Helping her. As though no one ever had before. And a sickened part of me was afraid that was exactly right.
“I mean it.” Kiernan pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead, and I couldn’t stand there any longer.
Even watching them from inside the car, I could feel that sickness growing. I told myself it was because he was still lying to her. I told myself it was because she still needed to learn the truth and face the pain that came with knowing it. I told myself it was out of fear for them. That’s what I told myself.
Kiernan stood on the sidewalk, watching as Jade crossed the lot and disappeared inside another building with his hands shoved deep in his pockets to keep from reaching out and pulling her back. I knew this because my hands were shoved in my pockets, too.
Neither of us spoke as he slid behind the wheel and backed from the spot. Bathed in the unforgiving glare of our headlights, the crumbling foundation of the brick building looked even worse.
I stared out the side window, taking in as much depressing detail as I could from the poorly lit grounds of the dump Jade lived in. “It’s bad, isn’t it? Her situation. Worse than I thought.”
“Yeah.” Kiernan’s made a right out of the complex and slumped, exhausted, back into his seat. “It’s worse.”
What a mess. I knew her mother was a grade-A bitch, but this girl had it coming at her from every angle. Her mom, her neighbor, some ex-boyfriend issues at school I didn’t know much about, other than it was enough to get Kiernan into a fight. Something he’d never done before.
No wonder she was as timid as a field mouse half the time. Always hiding and shaking. The people who were supposed to protect her were the ones doing her the most harm. But she had a backbone in there somewhere. I’d caught a glimpse of it tonight. Everyone did. It was how we protected ourselves. But hers was buried so deep, I wondered if she even knew it was there. She reminded me, oddly, of a declawed cat. Deprived of her ability to defend herself and tossed out into the wild.
“Dammit.”
Kiernan flicked a glance in my direction. “Yeah.”
I felt the pressure growing in my chest. The vice-like tightness, threatening to crush my rib cage. Not now. Not here. Not like this. I’d been hiding my panic attacks from everyone for over a year. I sure as hell wasn’t about to have one in Kiernan’s car.
Anchoring my hand in the hair at the back of my head, pulling hard enough at the roots to ground me in the present, I bent my neck and stared at the floor boards, forcing a few deep breaths into my lungs. “What are we gonna do?”
“What can we do? She’s seventeen. It’s not like we can kidnap her.” Kiernan kept his tone casual, but the glow from the dashboard gave away the white knuckled grip with which he was strangling the wheel.
There had to be something I could do. For Jade. For Kiernan. For everyone. There were people in my life who needed me, counted on me. The number was only growing and I was failing them. All of them. Just as useless to help the new as the old. What good was I if I couldn’t protect the people that mattered most to me and my family?
“We’ll find a way. There has to be something we can—”
“We can’t get her out of there. Trust me, I’ve looked into it. Any legal avenues would take . . . Might as well just wait for her birthday. Besides, she wouldn’t leave. Her mother’s heaped on the guilt so heavily, it’s trapped her there. She’s buried alive, Cal. The best we can do is help her find a way to survive it.”
That wasn’t good enough. I didn’t want to help
her weather the blows. I wanted to shield her from them. I knew my brother. He wanted the same. And yet there was one blow he could offer her some protection from, but he refused.
“You want her to survive? Then you have to tell her the truth. I get that you’re afraid. I get that you have a lot to lose. But you want to do something for her? You want to protect her? That is where you start.”
Most of Kiernan’s face was concealed in shadow, but in the silence of the car I could hear the acceleration in his breathing. “I know. I will.”
The same answer I’d been getting for weeks. I wanted to push it, remind him how unfair he was being. The longer he waited the worse it would be. But it had been a long night and we were both exhausted. She’d find out one way or another, soon enough. I just hoped it was the right way.
Six
“No. Chapter seven.”
Tom slapped his textbook shut and glared across the oversized, round table at Alex, the fifth and final member of our study group. “He said chapter six was going to be on the test.”
We’d been meeting together every Wednesday night since the beginning of the semester and it occurred to me that I didn’t know a single one of their last names. Or anything about them outside of the fact that they were studying Intro to the Human Body. Pathetic. Other than Beth, I didn’t even know what they were majoring in. The classic college icebreaker question and I hadn’t even bothered to ask it.
“Guys.” Beth sighed and rubbed at her forehead. “Did we cover chapters six and seven in class? Then they’re both going to be on the midterm. We can’t concentrate on just one chapter. We have to review them all or we’re never going to pass.”
She wasn’t wrong. This exam was going to be a nightmare. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the professor asked his middle friggin’ initial. He wouldn’t even give us a study guide. Apparently, if we’d been paying attention in class, we shouldn’t need one. Well, I’d been paying attention—mostly—and let me tell you, I needed one. Fourteen chapters on the anatomy and functions of the human body were not something the human brain naturally stored, I knew that much for sure.
Angel (Pieces #1.5) Page 4
