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Nicky looks over to Mike, gesturing to his brother who’s crammed into the back seat next to me. “Me and Derek can do this.”
Mike shakes his head. “No, it’ll be better if I go in with you.” He looks over his shoulder to me, adding, “I wouldn’t mind hanging out for a little while, though.”
“So hang out. We can leave you here with your buddies.”
“Don’t be a dick, Liam.”
“Me? They called you to be their errand boy. And they just assume you can score drugs. Don’t you feel even the slightest bit insulted? You don’t even do drugs, you moron.”
Mike nods in Nicky’s direction. “I see it as helping out my friend’s business.”
“That’s some bullshit. They call and you come running.”
Mike’s brother, taking a break from cleaning his fingernails with his teeth, chuckles and adds, “You’re Logan’s bitch.”
“Fuck off,” Mike says as he gets out of the car. Nicky follows. His brother looks to me, shrugs and then follows after them.
I watch them walk up the front stairs. Stairs that lead to a tall set of front doors. That’s how you know it’s a nice house. Regular houses have one front door. Plain and simple. But just about all of the shore houses in this part of Jersey have double doors. There are no chips in the paint, the landscaping has been professionally designed, and the furniture on the front porch probably costs more than my car.
I can’t even believe I came along for the ride. Sometimes I want to shake Mike. He has no pride whatsoever. That asshole Logan called Mike an hour ago, and as soon as they got off the phone Mike was tapping out texts, trying to score some coke for his buddies. He doesn’t see it the way I do. He thinks they invited him to come to their party. I think they told him he could come, so long as he doesn’t come empty handed.
At least Mike didn’t lay out the money for it with the expectation that Logan would pay him back. Rich people never expect to pay. Nicky likes to know who his customers are, and he’ll make damn sure he gets paid. I don’t especially like the guy, but to use his brother’s words, at least he’s no one’s bitch.
When too much time has gone by, I lean my head back against the seat, growing angrier with every passing minute. The door opens, but it’s a petite little thing in a short white dress who emerges, not the three idiots I’m waiting on. She takes the stairs carefully, one at a time, holding onto the railing with both hands. Must be wasted. I keep watching, wondering when—not if—she’s going to teeter on those high heels and face-plant onto the lawn.
I almost want to break into a round of applause when she makes it to the landing without incident, but then lower my head in an effort to hide once her face comes into view. She passes our car, teeters down the driveway looking around, and then comes back to sit on the bottom step as she taps into her phone. I sneak a look at her face, but her expression is blank.
The guys finally come out, but my hopes to get out of here unnoticed are shot to hell when Nicky stops to chat her up. I reach over the seat and give the horn a quick tap to let him know I want out of here, but they’re ignoring me while paying attention to the hot girl in the tiny dress. Go figure.
“Your ride didn’t show?”
“It says a car is twenty minutes away.”
“It’s not high season yet. Not too many cars around. Sometimes they take the fare even though they’re way over on the mainland.” She doesn’t answer the first time Nicky asks, “You want a ride?”
The second time he asks, she shakes her head and says in a quiet voice, “Thank you, but I don’t know you.”
The girl said no, he should leave it at that. Getting into a car with strangers would be a dumb-ass thing to do. But no, Mike decides to chime in. “You know me,” he says. “I’m friends with Logan and with your boyfriend, Parker. I know Penny, too.” He crouches down so he’s at eye level with her. “I’m Mike. I’m sure they’ve mentioned my name.”
He sounds ridiculous, and when I see how uncomfortable she looks, I lose what little patience I had. Leaning my head out Nicky’s open window, I snap, “We’re not going to abduct you, Sarah. Get in. We’ll give you a ride.”
Yeah, I guess I’m as bad as Mike.
She looks relieved for a split second when she recognizes me but then drops her head into her hands just as quickly. I’m not begging her to get into the car. She can go back inside for all I care.
“Sarah?” Now Parker is coming down the stairs and shooing the guys away.
“Get the hell away from me.”
Whoa, Tiny is mad. Take that back—her angry words are delivered without any force. She looks tired more than anything else.
He stands over her, not moving. Barefoot and dressed in jeans and a white linen shirt that’s got half of the buttons undone, I can make out his glassy eyes from twenty feet away. Parker’s right hand shoots up as he extends his middle finger. I follow to where he’s directing the gesture to see Penny at the top of the stairs. Her hair is a mess, she’s got mascara smeared across one cheek, and the top of her dress looks like she tried to pull it back on in a hurry.
She calls out in a voice that’s barely audible, “Sarah?”
Sarah’s jaw is clenched tight when she shakes her head. A moment later she says, “Go back inside, Parker.”
When he doesn’t move, she nearly rips the strappy heels from her feet, gets up, pushing past her man in the process, and walks over to the car. She opens my door and says, “Move over,” without making eye contact.
