Lost in the Game {Brollins}

| Chapter 40 |

Rebecca approached the meet point and instantly wished she hadn't answered the call from Mercedes, once she recognized that it was Thomas who was waiting.

She shook her head and walked over to him, "Money, make it quick."

Thomas had a weary look on his face at first, and Rebecca watched as the memories of their last encounter play through his mind before he quickly covered up his fear with a snarl, "I don't need to give you anything."

"You want the stuff," Rebecca rolled her eyes, "You give the money."

Thomas shook his head and blew the smoke from his joint straight into her face. The smoke burned Rebecca's eyes, and left a stinging sensation, causing her to clench her jaw. 

"You're gonna give me the weed, and I'm gonna keep my cash." He slowly moved his jacket to the side, flashing what appeared to be a large pocket knife.

Rebecca stood her ground, ignoring the threat, waiting for Thomas to drop the act and pay. But, Thomas just brought his joint to her cheek and pressed the scorching tip into her skin, watching the way she barely flinched and how she smirked in the slightest.

"Men," She wiped her cheek, looking at the ashes as she rubbed them between her fingertips, "You figure they'd learn."

She redirected the pain into anger, kneeing him directly in the groin, before bashing her fist into his face for good measure. 

She quickly lifted his head by his chin, wasting no time, "It's the same story every goddamn time."

She let go of him watching him fall on his hands and knees, before turning around and running her hands through her hair as she tried to calm herself down. She quickly figured that if she needed to get some aggression out this was probably one of the best ways possible.

Rebecca stormed back towards him and pulled him up by his jacket, letting him stand only on his knees. "If you don't give me the goddamn money, I swear to God I'll break every bone in your body, one by one and I'll watch as you squirm and scream in pain until I inevitably put you out of your misery and kill you."

He stared into the soulless pits of Rebecca's eyes and gave up, quickly handing her the money from his pockets as he scrambled to stand back up. "Now you owe me compensation cash. Hand it over."

He stared at her angrily, "You can't-"

"Oh but I can." She kept her arm out, waiting.

He handed her the cash and scurried away when she threw the bag of weed at him, and only then did she grimace in agony. Her pre-existing headache, as well as the bruising on her cheek from the previous night, mixed with the fresh joint burn on the other side of her face as well as her stinging eyes, were not mixing well together.

She made her way to the closest washroom, which just so happened to be a staff room. Not caring, she went through the doors, while rubbing her eyes.

After trying to see through her obstructed vision while fumbling with the faucet. While washing her eyes, Rebecca heard some rummaging behind her, and froze, she then heard some sniffling and turned quickly.

"Mercedes?" Rebecca raised an eyebrow as she saw her standing next to a shelf, with her binder on it.

Mercedes quickly wiped her hand across her face, "Hey."

Rebecca examined, a fidgeting and restless Mercedes, seeing no sign of tear-filled eyes or a state of sadness, yet still hearing sniffling, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Mercedes shook her head before repeating herself, "Nothing."

Rebecca turned her head slightly and walked over to the binder quickly.

"Becks, it's just my stuff." Mercedes tried but failed to grab her arm.

Remnants of a white substance were scattered across the surface of it, leading Rebecca to look up at Mercedes with wide eyes.

"Is this crack?" Rebecca stared at her intensely, "Don't you dare lie to me."

Mercedes just stared at her, and Rebecca knew. She dropped her binder and ran her hands through her hair.

"How long?" She paced back and forth, before stopping abruptly and connecting everything on her own, "The party."

"Every time you asked for me to help you with a deal it was because of this wasn't it?" Rebecca shook her head, "When you left the football game too. How did I not see this before?"

Mercedes just stood there, having no explanation for herself.

"You used me." Rebecca turned to her with an unreadable expression on her face. "You used me so that you could get high on your drugs."

Mercedes crossed her arms, trying to de-escalate what she knew was coming, "Becks I-"

"No." Rebecca shook her head, "You have no damn idea what I just went through for you."

"Hell, you have no idea what I've gone through in the past twenty-four hours." Her voice was scarily steady, "But you wouldn't understand even if I told you, would you? Because you'd be too high."

Rebecca went silent for a while before continuing. She already had so much on her mind and now that she had to deal with this, she was having a very hard time not lashing out.

"But that's not even the worst part." She spoke slightly quieter, "You've been lying to me this entire time. And you of all people know how much I hate liars."

She tossed the money from her pocket to Mercedes before walking out of the washroom.

Mercedes sat frozen, thinking about the severity of her actions, as guilt ripped through her.

A single tear rolled down her cheek as she recognized that one of her most valued friendships might be ruined, and the one person who could've helped save her, may have just walked out of her life, forever.