Viper House

High

I left my parent's house the next week to do runs for Julian and to get more drugs for myself. Spencer hadn't spoken to me since he told me I was following in my father's footsteps. My mother still walked around like a ghost. My father only bothered me when he needed something, which was becoming more often than not. At least by that time, I was pretty sure he was leaving Spencer alone. Spencer wasn't using drugs to deal with the abuse. I was. It didn't bother me nearly as much as it had when I was little.

I was laying on the floor near the window, smoking a joint, when my phone rang. Slowly, I reached over and grabbed it. If it was Julian, I wanted to enjoy my high for a few seconds longer before seeing whatever shit he wanted me for.

Instead, it was Kaylan. Which, somehow, was worse than it being Julian. I sighed and took another drag of the joint, before I pressed the talk button.

"Where the fuck are you?" Kaylan said before I was even able to say a word. In the background, I heard someone lay on their horn.

"Well," I said, grinning to myself, "hello to you, too."

"Don't fuck with me, Rafe. Where are you? I'm coming to get you."

"You sound mad, Kay."

"Just fucking tell me where you are!" he shouted.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and when I put it back to respond, I said in a cool voice, "You're ruining my high, Kaylan, and you do not want to piss me off."

"Well, you'd better get pissed because I fucking am! The fucking cops showed up at my house today, Rafe, demanding that I either tell them where you are or they're taking me to jail on prostitution, child pornography, sexual assault, and I don't know what other charges they'll think of!"

I sat up. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I thought. Who the fuck did you tell, Rafe, because they're coming after not just me, but they're coming after you!" he shouted.

I groaned and pressed my palm firmly against my forehead. "What did you tell them, Kaylan?"

"What I knew! I don't know where the fuck you stay because you always have me pick you up in different places. You'd better tell me where you are, Rafe, because if I find you before the cops, you're going to wish that you'd never left juvie!"

I took a drag of the joint and laid back down. They knew nothing. If they were going to Kaylan, they had no idea where I was or where my parents were. Maybe they had never been looking for my family to start with.

Kudos to Maia, though, for following through with her promise. At least one of us was capable of doing that.

"Are you fucking listening to me, Rafe?"

"Just chill. I'm good now. I don't need you anymore."

"What? That's not what's going on here, Rafe! I'm going to jail unless you turn yourself in! You know what will happen to me there and how long I'll be there! At least your charges will let you out before you're dead!"

I laughed, closing my eyes. "Oh, Kaylan. Sucks not to get what you want, doesn't it?"

"Rafe!"

"Maybe you should have given me a ride last weekend," I told him. "Goodbye, Kaylan."

"Don't you fucking—"

The silence was amazing.

I lay on the couch, tossing a stress ball up and down as Julian hassled some of his new guys about making sure that the bags they weighed were right. He'd just measured five of them and they'd been a tenth of a gram over. It was just unacceptable.