e-Bae

8.5

Sinful Secrets by Rye_Bread

Thomas leaned against the building, scanning the patrons entering the liquor store. His client should have been here by now. Pulling his jacket closer to himself, he shifted, being careful not to step in the puddle next to him. The fall air was becoming frigid, with chilling breezes carrying cold humidity. The humidity and the fact his hands were sheltered from the freezing air were the only things keeping him from lighting his cigarette at the moment.

He jumped when he heard a crash, he looked around the corner of the building, and saw a group of inebriated teenagers collapsed on abandoned milk crates passing around a water bottle. Rolling his eyes, Thomas watched as they started passing around a tiny stub and giggled to themselves.

"Getting high and drunk in public. What geniuses," he muttered to himself, watching as their already limited amount of brain cells died off.

Fisting his hand, he felt his knuckles brush the little baggie of pills he had, reminding him why he was there. No one in a red hoodie and a yellow baseball cap had showed up yet, and with that combination of colors, Thomas knew he couldn't have missed them.

His eyes scanned the area again, catching the attention of a woman walking to the door. Sizing him up, she discreetly slipped her bag to the other side of her body, angling herself away from him. Thomas tried to not be offended by that, but he was the only minority at the moment hanging around at the only upper-middle class convenience store in town. He'd be more surprised if the woman smiled at him.

"Uh. . . are you Murphy?"

Pulling his attention away from the woman, he turned to meet the eyes of a jittery blonde. His hair hid his eyes, but the distinct yellow hat and red hoodie couldn't be ignored. The young boy shifted in his feet, jittery like he had too much caffeine.

"Yeah," Thomas said with a sigh, studying the face of the person in front of him. The kid couldn't have been more than fourteen.

Looking at him quizzically, the blonde pulled his hat off his head and ran a shaking hand through his hair.

"You don't look like a Murphy. More like a Lee or something Asian like that," he said, and Thomas shook his head sadly at how ignorant he was being. Pulling his hands out of his pocket, Thomas made it look like he was giving Yellow Hat a handshake, when he was really palming him the pills.

Feeling a hand in his pocket, he heard the welcoming rustle of money, glad that he could finally afford something other than "free."

Moving away from the kid, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking down to count it. It was all there.

"Thanks, Murphy. You're a lifesaver," Yellow Hat said, a wide smile on his now relaxed face. Frowning at the kid's retreating figure, Thomas gripped the crumpled bills in hand. The money was there, but he felt empty. It felt dirty, like something he had that he shouldn't have gotten. He wasn't even sure he could spend money he made by fueling someone's addiction.

"Lifesaver, huh," Thomas muttered to himself, shaking his head as he walked away. He knew that he was the opposite.

Published 8/11/14

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Hi everyone!

If you've noticed, e-Bae has just hit #228 on Short Story, and to celebrate, I'm trying to edit about four chapters and get them up really soon. And, I've also been debating with something.

I really want to enter the story in the Watty's. I'm not expecting to win, but I just realized that out of all the years I've been on Wattpad, I haven't entered any contests.

Well, that will be remedied soon.

Thank you all for reading, and a new part should be coming up soon (the next chapter is basically one of my favorite chapters of all time, and I can't wait to put it up)!

Until then. . .