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“Nyx,” I squeal, as his fingers dig into my ribs and force me to giggle. He’s laughing too, his teeth nipping at the skin on my neck. We both stop when a pair of feet land in front of us and I look up and see that they belong to Luke, I tense, my heart sinking to the pit of my stomach.
He doesn’t say anything, just laughs smugly, smug enough to make Nyx raise to his feet in a matter of seconds.
“Please,” I reach up to tug on Nyx’s hand and Luke flicks his eyes down on me then back to Nyx, doing nothing to hide the satisfaction on his face.
“Look,” Nyx’s nostrils flare as he takes a calming breath. “For some reason, my girl doesn’t want me to wipe that look off your face. I figure you only got a short time left on that privilege.” Gripping at my hand, Nyx pulls me up to my feet and starts moving us away. I let out a long relieved breath as I move alongside him.
“I’m gonna find out what you’re hiding, Anderson, and I’m gonna ruin you,” Luke calls after us, and I panic for a moment when Nyx stops walking, his body turning rigid.
“Do ya worst,” he dares Luke over his shoulder, at least pretending to be calm as he moves us back inside the building.
“Nyx, you know there’s nothing you could tell me about yourself that would make me like you any less, don’t you?” I tell him when we get to my locker. I can’t remember if I’d told him that before or not, but I want him to be sure of it.
“I wish that was true.” He touches his lips to my forehead and smiles sadly at me, before dragging me towards our next class.
Mom calls me down for dinner at eight and we sit around the table like a normal family. She asks mindless questions in an attempt to create conversation, which I answer as simply as possible. As soon as Father finishes his meal, his chair scrapes against the slate floor and he walks away from the table towards his office without excusing himself. Mom doesn’t speak for ages, the silence between us sharper than a knife's edge before she sips her wine and clears her throat.
“You must make more of an effort to make conversation with your father, darling. He does so much for us. It wouldn’t harm you to show him a little more respect.” She dabs the corner of her mouth with her napkin, being careful not to ruin her lipstick.
“Are you kidding me?” I grip the edge of the table to stop myself from launching something at her. “You try and talk to him every time we sit at this table together and he blatantly ignores you. He humiliates you, he beats you and you sit there and ask me to show him my respect.” I slam my napkin onto the table and stand up.
“I will not let you ruin this family over a stupid boy,” she warns me, standing up herself and walking towards me. “Boys like him will never make you happy, Ella.”
“And what the fuck would you know about happiness, Mother?” I bite back at her before turning on my heels and storming out of the room. My heart beats wildly as I pass through the hall and up the stairs. I’ve never spoken to my Mom like that before, I’ve never sworn at her either. I’m not worried she’ll tell father, not unless she wants to be punished for it too.
Nothing I’ve said is untrue, I can’t remember a single time during my whole life when I’ve ever seen her look truly happy.
I shower and catch up on some homework. Unable to focus or stop myself from glancing out to the tree and hoping to see a sign of him. It’s just after ten when I turn off my light and get into bed. I leave my balcony door open hoping he might come and close it like he usually does.
After school, I ride straight to the studio to help Tac out for a few hours. The studio isn’t as busy as I expect it to be, so I manage to find some time to finish up the sketch for Jessie’s tattoo.
“Officer,” Tac looks up from the blunt he’s rolling when the door opens and Roswell’s second man steps into the shop. Danny Foster’s been a deputy for over a year now, and Roswell’s not far off retiring. Lucky for us, Danny here doesn't just agree with the way we run town, he appreciates it.
“Got something for ya.” He tosses a small baggy onto the desk in front of Tac, “Roswell wants to know where that’s come from, someone he busted for a DUI had it on him and he ain’t talking.”
“Happy to assist.” Tac grins, pulling a hand mirror up from under the desk. Carefully he taps some of the bag’s contents out onto its surface, and Danny gives me a friendly nod while Tac sets to work examining the product.
Deputy Foster’s a handsome guy, from what I hear he’s got half the women in town figuring how to get themselves arrested. He’s stopped by the club a few times since Roswell decided to bring him in deeper and I know some of the girls already have a wager down on who’s gonna drag his ass down to Sluts sanctuary first.
“Ain’t Mexican or Russian,” Tac tells him straight off. “Ya see that slight yellow tinge, this shit’s probably been cut with meth and that ain’t their style.” Wetting his finger with his tongue, he dabs it into the powder and rolls it between his thumb and finger then rubs some into his gums. “Yep, you definitely got some crank mixed in there.”
“Didn’t Jessie handle a meth situation last week with those college kids?” I point out.
“Yeah, and they didn’t get their shit from Bastards’ runners either,” Tac answers.
“You don’t think this has come from The Bastards?” Danny frowns.
Bastards are usually the only fuckers dumb enough to push their shit in our town. Tac shakes his head, and I can see that he’s thinking.
“Last I heard, Bastards were getting supply from a triad crew running out of Nevada. That shit comes at a heavy price and it’s pretty clean. Either Bastards got themselves a new supplier or we got ourselves a new problem.” Tac takes one of the shop’s business cards from the plastic holder and cuts himself a small neat line on his tray before he hoovers it up his nostril.
I watch Danny watching him, he doesn’t seem fazed. Perhaps there’s hope for him yet.
“I’m sorry, officer, how rude of me,” Tac clears out his airways and passes him the mirror.
“I’m on duty,” Danny shakes his head.
“Nyx?” Tac offers, and I shake my head. I ain’t in the mood for a buzz tonight, especially not off whatever shit that is.
