Chapter 23
Lily
A pounding on my dorm room door woke me up at midnight. I looked over and saw Jane’s bed was empty. She must have lost her key. I got out of bed and walked to the door, but it wasn’t Jane.
“Are you Lily Spaulding?” a girl who seemed vaguely familiar asked me. I was pretty sure she lived in Creyts, but I knew she didn’t live on this floor.
“Yes.”
“Oh, thank God. You’re like the fourth room I’ve tried. There’s a guy out front says he needs to talk to you. He didn’t know your room number, just that he thought you lived on the third floor, but said it was important.”
So, not Lucas. Lucas absolutely knew my room number, having spent last night here with me, as well as all those lovely stolen hours when I didn’t have class and Andy was in school. Plus he would have texted me that he was downstairs.
“Says his name is Stick. Listen, if you don’t want to—”
“No, I want to see him. Thanks for finding me.”
She shrugged. “Guy gave me twenty bucks. Easy twenty bucks.”
“Thanks again,” I said as I left her to throw on a hoodie, yoga pants, and some shoes. I grabbed my phone and keys and quickly made my way down the stairs, texting Lucas as I did.
Did you send Stick over here?
No answer, but he could be asleep and have his phone on vibrate.
I had visions of Stick standing out front holding up a drunken Jane that he’d pulled out of yet another club.
Shit. The one Saturday night when I stayed home to study. That was what I got for studying on a Saturday night when I should have been out partying with Jane and Syd.
But he was alone, no Jane in sight. He was leaning on the pillar as Lucas always did, but straightened, and walked toward me when he saw me.
“What’s going on?” The look on his face caused a chill to run down my spine. “What’s happened?”
“Let’s go up to your room,” he said, looking around, motioning to the students that were returning to the dorm. He wanted privacy to tell me what he needed to say.
“Is he okay? Is he hurt?”
Stick shook his head, taking my arm and leading us back inside, using my ID to swipe us in. “He’s fine. I mean, he’s not hurt or anything. Physically he’s fine.”
We got to the elevator, but a couple of girls got in with us so we didn’t say anything.
During the ride up and the walk down the hallway, I had this crazy thought that maybe Lucas had sent Stick to break up with me. He had been acting weird last night, pulling away from me at the restaurant.
But then he’d told me he loved me.
And sending Stick to dump me would be the most monumental dick move ever. Lucas had promised—no more dick moves.
When we got to my room, my hands were shaking and I turned on Stick as soon as the door had closed. “What? What is it?”
“Lucas is in jail, and I need you to come and stay with Andy while I get it worked out.”
I walked to the desk and sat in the chair. Placing my shaking hands on my knees, I took a deep breath. “Oxy? Was it Oxy somehow?”
Stick looked at me like I was crazy. “No. No way. He’s totally clean.”
“Well, he’s not exactly ‘clean’ if he’s in jail, is he?” I almost didn’t recognize my own voice.
“No. He was busted for stealing a car.” He ducked his head.
“Yeah, you better duck your head, asshole,” Jane said from the doorway.
I hadn’t even noticed her coming in. “So Lily’s guy is in the pokey.
Why do I think this all circles back to you?
” Jane said to Stick as she shut the door and came into the room.
She was dressed in casual jeans, not club wear.
I didn’t know where she’d been, but she wasn’t at all tipsy.
She came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You okay, Lil?”
I nodded. “How often…when does…”
Stick stepped toward us. “This is the first job he’s done for me in forever. He’s really given it all up. He told me he told you the whole story. I just want you to know he wasn’t lying to you. This was a one-time thing and it all just came together tonight.”
I gave a skeptical look while Jane snorted.
“No. Seriously. He was doing me a solid. And you know he needed the money for all the legal stuff they’re trying to do for Andy, and to pay for his mom’s extended rehab stay.”
No, I hadn’t known that part. Not about him hurting for money. Not that I could have done anything to help on that front. I think Grayson and Susan might have had a few choice words if I came to them asking for money for my boyfriend’s mother’s rehab costs.
But I would have done it if it would’ve kept Lucas from resorting to going back to that life.
“It was a favor to me. All the cards fell into place for tonight and I needed his help. He did it for me.”
“And the money,” Jane added.
“Yeah, that too.”
“So, okay, you’ve told her. Time to take your Grand Theft Auto ass back to your side of town and leave us Bribury Basics the hell alone. We may all be lemmings, but we sure as shit aren’t car thieves.”
“Wait,” I said. “What did you mean you need my help with Andy?”
He looked around the room, and I knew he was thinking of a way to spin whatever it was he planned to say.
“I think I can have it all taken care of by Monday so that nothing shows up on his record. But I need you to stay with Andy tomorrow and into Monday while I make that happen. Mrs. Jankowski’s not up to being with Andy all day when he’s awake.
And Andy knows and likes you. It won’t freak him out to have you staying with him. ”
“What are you going to be doing?” I had visions of Stick, like, I don’t know, killing a witness or something on Lucas’s behalf. Probably a bit too harsh, but what did I know?
“I’m…I’m going to turn myself in. Trade myself for Lucas.”
“Can you even do that?” Jane asked.
Stick shrugged. “The DA can make that call. And let’s just say he’s been jonesing for me for a long time.”
“If he’s aware of you, why aren’t you in jail too?”
“He’s never caught me in the act, or with stolen goods.”
“Yeah, because you get others to do it,” Jane said.
“I take as many risks as anyone who…works for me. More.” He shook his head, sighed. “Listen, we don’t need to get into it all.” He looked at me. “Are you willing to stay with Andy while I make a deal with the DA? It could take a few days, and Lucas might not be released until it’s all hashed out.”
“So, you just take his place? Like it was you who stole the car? Who’s going to buy that?”
“No, it’s not like that. I have…information…
names that the DA has been after for a long time.
I give him some…locations where he might find some more cars, take the rap for the attempt to steal the Jag.
Do some time, but not too long. And Lucas is home with Andy, no smears on his record to throw CPS on his trail. ”
“So, you’re a bigger fish in all this than Lucas,” Jane said, like she needed clarification.
I honestly didn’t give a shit. I just wanted to get my stuff and get to Lucas’s apartment. I couldn’t stand the thought of him in jail, and I wanted to be closer to him. I also wanted to be there for Andy.
“Just let me pack a few things,” I said. I started to rise, but Jane’s firm hand pushed me back into the chair.
“Hang on, let’s just think about this for a second.”
“What’s to think about?” Stick said to Jane.
“You may not be the only person in this room who can make a deal.”
Stick looked from Jane to me, then back to Jane. “Do you know who Lily’s father is?” Jane asked.
A tiny glimmer of hope flickered within me. And then it was quickly extinguished when I thought of what I would have to do.
“Who’s your father?” Stick asked me suspiciously.
“Someone who that DA of yours would probably love to do a favor for. Isn’t that right, Lily?”
I nodded, my body going numb.
“Okay, fine. Wait until I turn myself in, and then make the pity call to Daddy. I’m not too proud to take some help from a bigwig.”
Jane shook her head as she stepped from behind me, and handed me my phone.
“That won’t work. Grayson Spaulding might stick his neck out and ask a small favor for his daughter of getting a petty first-time offender…
?” She raised a brow at Stick, wanting confirmation that Lucas was indeed a first-time offender.
Stick nodded. “But there’s no way he’s going to go so far out on a limb as to get somebody the DA is ‘interested in’ off.
He’s too smart to owe that big of a favor. It’s better that it’s Lucas.”
My phone was slippery in my sweaty hands. I ran my thumb along the long edge, up and down. Knowing I would do anything for Lucas and heartbroken—and pissed—that it had come to this.
But it wasn’t just for Lucas. It was for Andy too.
“You, asshole,” Jane said, patting Stick on his shoulder as she passed him, “are our Plan B. But let’s see if we can’t keep the both of you out of prison, shall we?” She went to my closet and pulled out a duffle bag.
“Make the call, Lily, while I pack your bag.”