CHAPTER 8
THEN
NICKY – Age 16
“Knock knock.”
I lean against J’s door, tapping my knuckles against the jamb. She glances up from her book, peering up at me from behind the oversized lenses of her red-framed glasses. Her face splits into a wide grin, clenching my lungs in the process.
“Hey! What’s up?”
I pad into her room, skipping the last few steps and power-bombing into her Queen-sized bed. J squeals with laughter, her small body briefly lifting from the sheets before crashing back down into the mattress. Her head comes to rest beside mine, our feet laying out in opposite directions.
“You and Ma have fun today?” I started calling Shannon ‘mom’ right after they got married. Honestly, it was an easier transition than I ever thought it would be. I didn’t plan on it. It just slipped out one night at dinner. We’d had a great day—the four of us—at the track, and that night when we sat down, she passed me the potatoes, and it just popped out. Thanks, Ma.
To be honest, it even shocked the hell outta me. Not only because I never thought I’d ever call another woman ‘mom,’ but because of how right it felt. My mom would’ve loved Shannon. If I was someone who subscribed to the whole higher power narrative, I’d even go so far to say that Mom sent her to us. If I believed that bullshit, that is.
“Yeah!” J answers my question. “Not as much as you and Daph, though. I can’t believe you went riding without me!” Her hand flips up, offering a playful slap to my forehead.
“Ay!” I swat back at her. “It was a spur of the moment decision. We were just killing time waiting for you guys to get back.”
“No, it was nice. I was actually surprised to see you guys hanging out. I know you had plans with the skankapotamus today.”
I snort. “What the hell is a skankapotamus?”
“You know.” She laughs.
“Absolutely not. Enlighten me. Part of speech?”
She exhales loudly, feigning annoyance like she doesn’t love this shit. “Noun.”
“Definition?”
“A woman of loose morals who is more interested in securing a birth certificate with you listed as the father than her high school diploma.”
“Hmmm. Still not ringing any bells. Alternate pronunciations?”
“Ho-bag. Hooker. Gold-digger. Sllllllut.”
“Ohhh! Skankapotamus!” I exclaim dramatically as though I’m stumbling upon a realization. “You mean Cat!”
We both erupt in a fit of laughter.
“Why the play on hippopotamus?”
“I don’t know.” Her snickers begin to slow as she wipes the tears from her eyes. “Now that I think about it, it’s insulting to the hippos.”
Shaking my head with a smirk, I flick her on the nose before allowing a comfortable silence to fall between us. My sister may only be twelve, but hanging with her is effortless. There’s never pressure to fill the void with meaningless chitchat. I can simply exist.
Tonight, however, I come in search of specific intel.
“Thank you,” Jones speaks before I’m able to, and I turn to her with a puzzled expression. “Daph told me about Catalina being a bitch.”
“Language,” I reprimand, earning me a roll of her eyes.
“Fine. She told me Catalina wasn’t being very nice. So, thank you for standing up for her.” Jonsie’s head turns to face the ceiling once more. “She deserves more people willing to do that for her.”
My chest tightens with the knowledge that Daphne holds as much value as a goddamn houseplant by her parents’ standard. No one in our family has ever thought those two wastes of space were worthy of such a daughter. Hence, why we allow her to spend so much time here. Though I’d never admit it to her, I actually feel better when she’s in our house.
“J, I need to ask you something about Daph.”
“Hmm?”
“Cat made a crack today about her. Right before I threw her out. Something about making sure the medicine bottles having childproof caps.”
My sister’s body tenses, a silent confirmation to my unasked question.
“What’s she on?” I’m barely able to force out the question with how hard I’m clenching my jaw.
“Nicky…”
“What’s she taking, Joanna?” She flinches at the harshness in my tone I don’t normally reserve for her.
“Please don’t make me betray my best friend.”
Her reluctance to answer shouldn’t anger me the way it does. Daph’s business doesn’t concern me. As long as J’s being safe, Daphne Burke is not my cross to bear. But something inside me teeters on the brink of insanity, and I know I’m never going to be able to let this go.
My brain quickly spirals to justify my actions, running through all the reasons why I have to take this on. Daph got screwed over royally in life when it came to having people in her corner. She inherited a pair of assholes for parents that spend half their time pretending she doesn’t exist, and the other half critiquing every so-called flaw. It would be easy for her to slip into the role of coked-out socialite, drowning her issues in designer labels and dick. We have enough of those cliches around here, we don’t need another. So, when I think about it, I’d be doing us all a favor by getting involved.
“Baby J, you can’t ask me to—”
“What if it was Rico or JP? Could you betray their trust? Tell their secrets?”
“If telling their secrets ensured they live to see another day? Then yes, I would sing that shit from the rooftops. It isn’t about being a snitch. Every decision I make is the result of extensive thought. I will always put the needs and safety of this family above all else. And the day you walked that pain in the ass into this house and claimed her as ours, she became part of this family.”
J turns to face me, eyes glistening with the shine of unshed tears. “You can’t tell anyone, Nick.”
“Who am I gonna tell? Her parents? We’ve established they don’t give a shit about her. Now, what is she on?”
My sister’s stare lingers a moment longer, a silent war waging within her. After several seconds, she expels a breath, her sigh defeated at the realization I’m not dropping this.
“It’s mainly just weed. Not every day, and never at school. Her mom—” She gets choked up, her voice catching in her throat. “Her mom’s been pretty hard on her lately, even by Belinda Burke standards. There was this camp she wanted her to join. It’s run by some of the varsity cheerleaders to prep the girls interested in trying out for the high school squad.”
“And what? Daph didn’t want to do it?”
J’s brow arches in question. “You really see Daph shaking a set of pom poms promoting school spirit?”
“Touche.” I shrug.
“The weed…” she continues. “It makes the crap her mom spews at her more tolerable.”
“You said mainly weed.”
“The guy she gets her stuff from. He’s offered her pills a couple times. Daph normally tells him no, but the last time she tried it.”
The tightening sensation returns to my chest, though this time it’s accompanied by an unfurling rage at the thought of some douchebag dealing to Daph, a fucking seventh grader.
“Where’d she get the stuff?”
“It isn’t hard, Nick. It’s everywhere. It’s all over my school.”
“Jesus Christ.” I scrub a hand over my eyes. I knew this shit’s been flooding the high school, but the middle school? Over the last year it’s gotten progressively worse. People want to talk shit about the local public school, but there’s really only one distinguishing factor between the two of us—we’ve got better drugs. “Please don’t tell me you’ve ever—”
“No! Never!”
I nod, relaxing somewhat at her assurances. “So, how does Cat know anything about this?”
“Her brother is where she gets it.”
This snags my attention. I sit up, perching on my elbows. “The one in your grade?”
J shakes her head. “The one a year ahead of you. He came to pick up Linus one day after school. Daph was waiting outside with him when he pulled up. Freakin’ creeper told her she was hot.”
I’m up off the bed before my sister’s barely finished her sentence.
“Nicky!” her panicked voice hisses after me as I stride down the hallway. I round the banister to descend the stairs, pinning her with a glare that lets her know she’s to keep her ass right where it is.
Pressing my cell to my ear, it rings twice before Rico’s voice travels through the line. “What’s up, bro?”
“You at practice?”
“We just finished up. I’m in the locker room now. What’s good?”
“Holbreck there?”
“He’s team captain, so yeah.” He chuckles.
I swipe my keys from the basket in the foyer on my way out the door. “I need you to do me a solid and keep him there. I’m on my way for a little chat.”
“Done,” Rico responds without hesitation. “Anything else?”
“Who plays second string for him?”
“D’Angelo.”
“He any good?”
“Uh… he’s aiight. Doesn’t get much playing time with pretty boy Holbreck dominating the field.”
“Tell him to step up his game.” I slide into the driver’s seat of my BMW. “He’ll be finishing the season.”
***
I whip into the mostly empty lot of our high school and circle around toward the back of the building where the athletic fields are located. It’s Saturday, and soccer’s the last team to practice for the day.
Good. Limited witnesses.
Exiting the car, I stride across the lot to where I see Rico distracting Colton with some bullshit conversation. Rico glances at me on my approach, tipping his chin to me in greeting.
“Your coaches still here?”
“Nah, all clear,” he responds with a smirk, backing up to give me room when he reads my intent. “No hard feelings, Cap.”
“What—” Colton turns to me in confusion just as my fist collides with his jaw.
“What the fuck, Conners?!” He stumbles back, though manages to maintain his footing.
“You’ve been dealing to seventh graders.”
Rico’s expression instantly hardens.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Colton continues to rub at his injured chin, now sporting a split lip.
“Daphne Burke. Redhead. ‘Bout yea tall.”
“That’s what this is about? Dude, what the hell? Why you care about some slut I sling pills at?”
Rico practically giggles with malice. “You stupid shit. You gone and did it now.”
“What—” His question is cut off when my fist cracks him square in the nose. He drops this time on a wail, clutching his face as blood pours from beneath his hands.
Gripping hold of his hair, I rip his head back, forcing him to stare up at me. “That so-called slut is my baby sister’s best friend, and she’s only thirteen.”
“So? She sure as shit don’t look thirteen. You see that pouty ass mouth of hers? Bet you she could suck a dick like a porn star.”
My knee drives up into his chin, the impact disorienting him and causing his eyes to roll about in his head. He collapses to the pavement, where I proceed to kick him twice in the gut.
“Let me be perfectly clear. I’ll even speak slowly so your neanderthal brain can comprehend.” Crouching beside his crumpled form, I snatch hold of his chin, forcing his bloody face to stare up at me. “If I find out you so much as breathe in Daphne’s direction, let alone deal her drugs, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” He laughs, spitting blood onto my jeans. “Tell on me? My dad’s a lawyer, Nick. Charges won’t even be filed.”
“No. I’ll fucking kill you.” I rise, never once breaking my predatory stare. “Consider yourself lucky I’m letting you go with just the knee injury.”
“Knee injury?” His smug-ass look morphs to one of confusion, before he realizes my intentions all too late.
Lifting my foot, I drive it down repeatedly into his knee. Colton’s tortured screams fill the space around us, growing louder with each and every stomp. On the third blow, I feel the crack I was waiting for, and a surge of satisfaction swells within me.
“YOU ASSHOLE!” He clutches his mangled joint. “Do you have any idea what my father’s going to do to you?!”
“Daddy isn’t gonna do shit to me, Colton, because you’re gonna tell him how you were jumped by a bunch of kids in masks and rival school colors after practice.”
“And why the fuck would I do that?” he seethes.
“Because if you don’t, I’m gonna be forced to release all those naked pictures you have of your sister on your phone.”
“What the fuck?!” His face twists into an expression of disgust. “I don’t have naked pictures of Cat on my phone!”
“Oh, but you do. I mean—” I reach into my back pocket, pulling my cell free and flipping open to my photos “—there’s this one.” I flip the screen around to reveal the image of Cat topless, her reflection posing suggestively in a floor length mirror. “And then this one.” Swiping right, I show him the next one of her arching her back, flaunting her bare ass in the direction of the camera. “Oh, and… wow… I can’t imagine people will receive this one well.” I dangle the phone in front of him, taunting him with the video of his sister fingering herself in her bed as she moans loudly.”
“Jesus, dude.” He winces as he attempts to shove at me. “That’s fucking disgusting. None of that shit’s in my phone.”
“Are you sure?” I raise a brow suggestively. “I’d check if I were you.”
Colton looks at me like I’m crazy, but he still obliges me. Unlocking his phone, he navigates to his photos, where I watch as his expression morphs. Shifting from one of suspicion, to absolute horror, before settling on downright pissed.
He tosses his phone off to the side, his hands flying up in surrender. “SHE DID NOT SEND THOSE TO ME.”
She actually sent them to me. Catalina Holbreck’s been chasing my dick all summer sending me those kinds of unsolicited pictures. And while the images did nothing to boost my respect for her, they did earn her a spot in the rotation when school started back up. So, how’d they end up on douchebag’s phone? Please, I’ve taken shits longer than the time it takes me to hack someone’s Cloud. It’s so easy I even taught JP and Rico how to do it. The former being the one who handled this particular project for me when I called him on the drive over. You know what else is ridiculously easy to hack? The system the school uses to store its digital security files. When they check the footage later, all they’re gonna find is an unfortunate malfunction of all the south-bound facing cameras on the property.
“The way I see it, you have two options, Colt. You can take your beating like a man and chalk this up to the unfortunate consequences of Fucked Around and Found Out, or you can rat. In which case I’m going to supply an ironclad alibi complete with at least three witnesses, and you’re going to be exposed as a sister-fucker. Choose.”
His jaw hardens, his mouth forming a tight line across his face, and I know I’ve made my point.
“Anything else?” he grits out.
“Yeah.” I slip my phone back into my pocket. “Tell your sister to stop sending me pictures like that. Had she not done it in the first place, I still would’ve found a way to blackmail you, but I at least would have had to put effort in.”
“Fuck you, Nick.” He spits at me.
“Your sister already did this morning. Twice.” Flipping him off, I offer up a crooked smirk before making my way back toward my car.
“You got something to say, too, Romero?” I hear Colton snarl from behind me.
“Don’t come at me just because you can’t hold your own. What kind of drug dealer can’t fight? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, bitch.”
The increased tempo of feet slapping against asphalt sounds at my back until Rico catches up to me and meets my strides. “Dude, while I thoroughly enjoyed that little show, I think I speak for everyone when I say, what the fuck? You wanna explain to me what that was all about?”
“You heard what it was about. He was fucking with Daphne.” My car beeps as I hit the unlock button. “You need a ride?”
“Yeah, I told my ma not to worry about scooping me after you called.” He rounds the front of the BMW, dropping into the passenger seat beside me. “Now, back to our discussion, you don’t think that response was just a little out of proportion?”
The engine roars to life, and I settle back into the soft leather of my seat. Turning to meet his gaze, I shrug, offering up the only explanation I have.
“It’s Daph.”