-Noah-
I was standing in front of the bar Nathan asked me to meet him at. After five minutes of being on the phone, he finally told me his name. Or at least I think it’s his real name, I never know what to believe anymore.
The bar leaked loud music and drunk people. And the strong scent of cigarette smoke. The bar was called Scruffy’s, which in my opinion sounds more like a kids place. But this was definitely no place for kids. The scent blasted me in the face the moment I stepped in. I stopped for a moment, just to get a good look around and to see if I could spot Nathan. The bar itself was crowded by bikers and women in fishnet stockings. There were a few lonely drinkers sitting at the tables, but other than that everyone seemed to be friendly.
I scanned the room, trying to spot Nathan. I found him leaning against a pool table, tipping back the amber liquid into his mouth. His eyebrows perked up when he saw me and he set his glass down on the edge of the pool table, picking up a full one and handing it to me. “Uh—”
“No one cares here.”
I couldn’t complain.
Next he hands me a pool cue. “Do you play?”
“Not much.” I grabbed the cue. “Jesse played a lot.”
“I know. This is where we met. Kid weaseled me out of a hundred bucks.”
Ah, sounds like Jesse.
After an intense game of pool and none of my questions getting answered, we made our way over to the bar. We sat down at the end, more quiet and secluded. “The guy that was with Jesse goes to school with me. His name is Scott.” I took a long drink of the beer.
“Yeah, that’s his name! Now I remember. He was a little on the creepy side.”
A little? “He’s also my half-brother.”
Nathan nearly choked on his drink. “Brother? What the hell?”
“Found out before I moved here.”
He sucked air in through his teeth as he sat down the empty glass for a refill. “I mean, they seemed okay when I sold to Jesse. He probably said a total of two words to me. One night when Jesse was just alone-maybe a few days before he died-he was going on and on about him. Not in a good way, but venting, I guess?”
“What do you mean?”
“He kept saying ‘he’s getting bad again’. I wasn’t exactly sure who, or what he meant. I thought he was talking about you or Joel.”
My chest was starting to hurt. “And? Who was he talking about?”
“Scott. He was telling me about how he just got out of rehab. And how he thought he was doing better, but he was getting worse.”
Scott in rehab? There are things he’s keeping from me. “Rehab? You’re positive he was talking about Scott?”
He nodded, taking a sip from his full glass. “He started shaking really badly and heaving. I gave him a valium and he was out like a light.”
I traced the pad of my pointer finger around the rim of my glass, unable to put any of these pieces together. “How long was this going on?”
“Maybe a year? It could have been longer.”
YOU ARE READING
The Bad Boy's Secret (Book 1)
Teen Fiction(Book 1) "What exactly did you do to get kicked out of your last school?" I felt my chest tighten when the vicious smirk played across Noah's lips. He leaned toward me in a flash, pressing me against my bedroom wall. "If I told you, I would have t...
