Heathens & Hold Ups (Book 2 of the Heathens Duet)

Chapter 47- Callie

"I didn't even make her drink that strong," Nicole insists. "Just a shot and a half. Plus, it's in a tall glass. It's mostly ice and mixer anyway," she dismisses.

"Are you sure," Maya asks skeptically.

I can in fact hear them, despite what my empty eyed stare would suggest. I don't blame them. I've been out of it all night, barely looking at my cards and folding more than anything. I'm bringing down the whole spirit of Rachel's Thursday night poker game. Doubt they would mind if I left early. Tomorrow's meeting has been looming over me ominously for the past two days ever since running into Mrs. Wells at the coffee shop.

"Positive. It's not the drinks. It's something else," Nicole tries her best to whisper, but she's about as quiet as a dinner bell.

Mr. Miller, wisely, has chosen to stay out of things, studiously checking his cards and casting love filled glances at my aunt. It's ridiculously cute. She deserves someone to share her life with and make her happy. Not that she'll ever admit it. Marriage has never been one of her aspirations in life. She prefers to live her life like the Doctor she so adores, companions along for the adventure. Though hopefully her companions have had better outcomes.

"Calista, I really can't afford to be caught with a dead body in my apartment, so I'm going to need you to snap out of it," she sighs like it's something she's had to deal with before and isn't looking forward to repeating the experience. "Whatever it is, we can figure it out. I still have plenty of markers I could call in," she reminds me. Yes, the mysterious markers that she's collected over the years. I've still not even heard half of the stories from the life my aunt had lived before she had to take over my care. I've gathered that some if not most of them would put me in a bind legally though. I'm pretty sure that's half of the reason she has Mr. Miller as a 'friend' though. Attorney client privilege is working overdrive in their relationship.

Her words are enough to give the rest of the table pause which she pointedly ignores. As if she hadn't just kind of implied that a dead body on her hands wouldn't be a first-time occurrence. Most people don't just admit that, but she just waves off their stares like it's neither here nor there.

"I'm fine."

"You want to try that again? Might be more believable if you try to sound less like you just found out River Phoenix died?"

"In my defense, when you first showed me all of his movies, you didn't tell me he had already been dead for decades. I might as well have been crushing on Casper," I defend myself vehemently against the old argument. It was a cruel thing to do to a teenage girl and I still stand by that position.

"The lack of cell phones wasn't a clue," she points out while arching one of her brows in amusement.

"They could've been period pieces!"

"All of them?" She adds as her lips tip up in a corner smile.

"Ugh, fine," I huff. "That's what I get for just assuming blindly. I know, I know," I cut her off before she can remind me about the problem with assuming. "Maybe I just didn't want to look into it too hard," I admit with my arms thrown up in surrender. "If I had, I would've realized that River would've been old enough to be my grandpa or dad if he was the older sort when he met my mom. You know, if he wasn't dead," I mumble the last bit, but despite her ailing health, Rachel hears me just fine. The rest of her body might be failing her, but her ears and sharp wit work all too well.

"Humpf," she all but growls out. It must have been the brief, if passing mention of my dad. Mom never told me much about him, Rachel even less. All mention of the man would have her spitting and cursing the air 'that man' didn't even deserve to draw breath from.