Chapter 14
Fourteen
Brandon
One of the challenges of searching the house is that it’s rarely empty.
Deja’s parents don’t have a very active social life.
Other than date nights they’re usually home in the evenings.
I have soccer practice four days a week, so I get home around the same time they do, or even later on days when I go visit my mom.
A lot of areas of the house I can make up a plausible excuse to be in, but not Devin’s office.
I’m left spinning my wheels for most of the week, so when Rourke invites me to grab dinner with him after practice I say yes.
We end up at one of those casual dining places that serves healthy food.
We make small talk about food and soccer while we wait.
I’m wondering what’s going on, because Rourke is not the kind of dude I’d expect to seek me out TBH.
I’m one of the poorest guys at Briarwood and he is one of the richest. We dress and act nothing alike and we don’t have the same kinds of friends.
I keep to myself, speak as little as possible while he’s loud and cocky and likes to flash his expensive toys.
I can’t decide if I like him or if he’s annoying, but maybe it’s both.
No one’s gone out of their way to befriend me like this since Mello did it when we were eleven.
Rourke starts talking about college scouts and how he thinks different guys on the team will fare.
I think he’s flattering me a bit when he says I have a good shot.
I know he DGAF about college scholarships, so I figure he’s talking about it because he thinks I’m interested and if I wasn’t on a secret mission I would be.
I probably should be. Once I find what I’m looking for at Devin’s I should have a plan for my life, shouldn’t I?
That gets me thinking about getting into the safe again, and I’m only half paying attention while Rourke rambles on, hardly seeming to care that I only offer the occasional word of agreement.
Our plates arrive, piled high with grilled chicken, brown rice and steamed vegetables. We dig in, and the conversation shifts to practice and the set piece drills Coach has been having us run.
“I heard a rumor about you,” Rourke says in an abrupt change of subject.
‘What’d you hear?”
“That you have the hookup.”
I’m taken completely off guard. I haven’t dealt for a while. I didn’t think anyone would know about it at Briarwood, but I guess it makes sense. I sold to a lot of kids back in the day.
“What are you looking for?”
“Candy.” Cocaine. I’ve managed to stay away from the hard stuff so far. I can’t believe a top-level athlete is using it.
“Is high school that boring?” I quip.
“Come on, man. Don’t hold out on me.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Can you get it?”
I’m about to answer when I hear someone saying Deja’s name in a nearby booth, and then laughing. He’s speaking in accented English and a quick check confirms it’s Gio, sitting with a group of football players. He’s not being discreet at all as he says that he dumped Deja for a hot blonde.
“That’s not what I heard,” one of the other guys says. “I heard you struck out.”
“It is no matter what you heard,” Gio says, clearly annoyed by being contradicted. “Friday night after your football game she spread her legs for me in the back of my car. La puttana she tell me I am so good.” He wrinkles his nose and sniggers.
“She’s not good, though. Somebody left the fish out in the sun too long.”
The other boys laugh, though I can tell some of them aren’t sure whether to believe him.
How dare this piece of shit even say Deja’s name.
I heard about her calling him out at the party on Saturday night, so I know he’s trying to save face, but he’s not allowed to do it at Deja’s expense.
I take the reins off, letting my rage build as he keeps mouthing off.
It feels good, like my super power getting activated, the energy spreading through my muscles.
“What are you smiling about?”
Gio gets up from the table and heads to the bathroom.
“I’ll be right back,’ I tell Rourke. My heart pounds with anticipation.
Gio is the only person in the bathroom when I get there.
I pull out my knife and flick it open. I love this thing.
It’s an all-black spring-loaded tactical knife with a four-inch blade.
It looks scary and it’s sharp as fuck, too.
Gio is whistling and doesn’t notice me until he turns towards the sinks to wash his hands and spots me in the mirror. He jerks around in surprise.
“Oh, hello,” he says. The corners of his mouth rise as he starts to smile, then fall when he sees the knife. His face pales as a grin spreads across my face. “What…what’s up?”
“You’re really stomping on my nerves, you know that.”
“I’m sorry,” he pleads. “I don’t know what you want.”
“First you mess with Mello—”
“That was an accident.”
“And now you’re talking shit about Deja?”
“I’m just joking around, man. It’s just...” His words trail off when I press the tip of the knife to his side. It’s sharp enough that it pierces his shirt and the top layer of skin. His eyes bug out in fear.
“You and I both know you didn’t sleep with Deja.”
He nods, his cheeks turning red in stark contrast to his clammy skin.
“If I ever hear a bad word about her out of your mouth, I’m going to demonstrate for you exactly how sharp my knife is? Capisce?”
“Yes, of course. I won’t say anything about her again. I’m sorry.”
“I do want you to say one thing, though?”
“What?”
“That you made the whole thing up because you’re a pathetic loser she wouldn’t spit on if you were on fire. Tell them the truth—that you blew it with her, and you were lying to compensate for how badly she humiliated you.”
“I can’t tell them that.”
“Really?” I ask, running the knife up his ribcage. He tries to back up, but he’s sandwiched against the sinks. He starts trembling, his breathing jerky and shallow. What a wuss.
“Okay,” he says, “I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them I was lying. I swear. And I’ll never say anything bad about her or even talk to her unless I have to.”
“Good. Because if you don’t, I’m going to make you regret it.”
I fold and pocket my knife, a little disappointed at how easily he folded. But as long as I’m here…
I whip my arm back and punch him in the solar plexus as hard as I can. He doubles over, his hand on the sink the only thing holding him up. A hoarse groan issues from his lips, giving me at least a tiny bit of the thrill I was hoping for.
Unhurriedly, I return to the table to find Rourke on his phone. I sit down and sip the last of my iced tea through a straw. Rourke looks up as Gio stumbles by, clutching his stomach.
“Nice,” he says. “Wanna bounce?”
I nod. I don’t need to hear Gio fulfill his end of the bargain. If he doesn’t, I’ll have even more fun teaching him why he should have.
I get into Devin’s office by the end of the week.
With the device Anton gives me I’m able to open the office safe.
There’s a shocking amount of cash inside and stock certificates.
That much bread is tempting, but I can’t risk getting caught.
Anton would fry me. I photograph everything.
The most promising find is a little bag of metal keys.
They look like the keys to lockboxes and at least one is a safe deposit box key with a leather tag that reads 0437.
I lay them all out on a piece of paper and photograph them.
It’s pretty easy to get key copies made from pictures—there’s even an app for it—but I figure I’ll let Anton handle that.
Saturday, I have nothing to do. I can’t search without drawing attention to myself and I’m not doing homework.
Even Deja doesn’t do homework on Saturdays.
She has people over in the afternoon, as usual, watching a rom com on the TV in the family room and throwing popcorn everywhere.
I try sitting with them but that lasts all of five minutes.
Shelby keeps saying the most inane things possible and even though I know I need to keep my distance, the temptation to go over and kiss Deja till she passes out from lack of oxygen is fierce.
I figure I’ll do a little extra credit. Not for school, for Anton.
When I mentioned hanging out with Rourke, Anton asked me to get closer to him and his friend Javi.
I figure now is as good a time as any to reach out.
Deja may think she’s the queen of Briarwood, and in a way, she is, but she can’t touch the kings.
These guys are the kind of rich Devin can only dream of.
Rourke van der Hoff’s dad is part of an old money banking family and Javier de la Garza’s family was lucky enough to get out of Venezuela early and with most of their oil wealth intact.
I know Javi is here because his mother’s family is originally from around here, but why the son of a European banker is at some random midwestern high school, I don’t know.
I invite Rourke and Javi to a pickup soccer game at the field near Devin’s house.
It’s on the other side of the woods, part of a big public park.
I invite a bunch of other guys too, including Von and Mello, even though I know Mello’s not back on his feet, I want to include him.
He’s a good kid and I still feel guilty about him getting hurt.
He’s on the A squad with Rourke and Javi, and I don’t think it hurts for him to hang around them.