“I’m gonna do this one time, because you’re one of my best players.” Javi pauses. “Get here in an hour, we can talk, you keep your job, I get my money and I’ll throw you a bag.”
I run my hand over my face, knowing I have no option. I need the job, I need the money, but I don’t need the bag of dope. After my knee surgery and the Oxys, that’s how I got myself into this mess and fucking with Javi. I need to get away from it, yet it follows me everywhere, it’s shoved up my nose whether I want it or not. And it’s only a matter of time before it’s shoved into my veins too.
I look at the beautiful girl with the chestnut hair across the room and know I can’t get her mixed up in this shit. She’s too good for this, but fuck if I don’t want her. I destroy everything around me; I can’t bring her down too.
“Okay,” I tell Javi. “I’ll be there in a bit,” I say quietly and end the call. I sit there for a few moments, spinning my glass of Coke in my hands, watching her tidy up around the diner. I have an hour to get there, it won’t take me that long but I should get going. Yet here I still sit, not needing to say anything else to her. All I needed to do was throw some money on the counter and make my way out of here and to the casino.
She finally looks up and catches my eye. Wiping her hands on her short jean shorts, she walks over and steps back behind the counter, using it as a barrier separating us.
“Is everything okay?” she asks tentatively. “You look a little upset,” she says, offering an explanation.
I shake my head and give her one of my cocky grins. “Everything’s good now that you’re back over here.”
She narrows her eyes at me, a slight frown on her face. She’s not buying the facade at all, I can tell by the way she stares straight through me.
“One rule,” she says, continuing her assault with her eyes. “The ‘everything’s cool, playboy’ act stops here.”
I should stop everything right here, right in its tracks. But I can’t. I’m already too far into this, into her. Like a leech, I’m stuck on her, clinging to her every last word. And little does she know, I’m not one to easily be gotten rid of.
“Deal.” I nod with a small smile. I hold out my phone to her. “Here. I need your number.” She looks down at the phone like it’s some foreign object she’s never used before. She surprises me and quickly grabs it and punches in her number and locks the screen before giving it back to me.
I slowly stand up, pulling out my wallet and throw some cash onto the counter.
“You’re leaving?” she asks, her brow furrowed with a ghost of a frown.
“Sorry, babe.” I shrug. “Gotta go make that paper too.” I wink. “I’ll call you and maybe we can go out some night this week or next weekend.”
She slowly nods and smiles. “Okay. I’d like that,” she says quietly.
“Goodnight,” I start and pause, leaning forward toward her and grab the small name tag that sits just above her nipple and read it, “Hadley. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” I say softly, brushing my finger over the name tag, just barely touching her breast. I hear the sharp intake of her breath and her eyes flutter shut. “You’ll be hearing from me soon,” I say and slowly turn around to walk out the door. I look back at her once before leaving and find her in the same spot, watching my every move. I smile at her and she smiles back and keeps her eyes on me as I leave the diner.
As I walk down the street in the direction of the casino, I pull out my phone, scrolling through my contacts until I reach her name.
Hadley Winters.
I should stay away from her.
She should have said no.
But she didn’t.
And now I can’t.
8
ANDER
I spend more time at this school dealing drugs than I actually do going to class. I’m set to graduate next year with a bullshit business degree as long as I keep my shit straight. Usually, Troy is the one doing this for me; I just get the weight from Javi but now we’ve both been having to hustle this shit. Javi got some other guys in to work the tables, ones he can pay less, and he started getting better and more product of just about every drug imaginable. He told me he’d still have me on the tables occasionally, but for now he needs both of us to be running this shit.
It’s been a week since the beautiful Hadley Winters fell right into my lap. I’ve wanted to call her or text her, but I’ve had so much shit going on with this new plan Javi is working. And the dope he’s been feeding me as an extra incentive keeps me pretty happy and a little forgetful. Although, it’s probably for the best, I need her out of my head.
“I’ll take the left wing if you wanna take the right,” I tell Troy, even though it’s been the pattern we’ve been following. It works out, because Abby needs coke and doesn’t want Troy to know. And Hadley shares a room with Abby; although she’s never there when I come by.
Troy reaches into the back seat of his car and pulls a small black duffel bag up front. Inside, everything is labeled and we already have scheduled times to meet up with everyone. “Have you talked to that girl?” Troy asks, distributing the different bags between the two of us.
“Nah.” I shrug. “I was supposed to call her but I haven’t yet.”
He nods. “She doesn’t seem like this would be her scene anyway.”
“It shouldn’t be,” I say, harshly. “She shouldn’t be around any of this kind of shit.”
“Yo.” Troy cuts his eyes at me. “Chill the fuck out.” He chuckles. “I guess now wouldn’t be the best time to ask you for her number.”
I jerk my head in his direction, glaring at him, wanting nothing more than to gouge out his beady brown eyes. “Stay in your fuckin’ lane, bro.” My voice grows cold. “She’s mine.”
He looks at me incredulously. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? I’m fucking with you, man. Jesus. No need to go psycho on me.”
I stare at him for another moment and shake my head, refraining from knocking that look off his face. I grab one of the backpacks from the back seat and shove all the shit that I need into it. I gotta get out of here before I lose my cool. This kid doesn’t know when to stop running his mouth and it’s only going to end badly if he doesn’t stop now. I reach for the door handle without another word, pushing it open and climbing out into the darkness.
“Ander,” Troy calls out as he climbs out his side. “Seriously man, I was just fucking around.” He stares at me nervously. I give him a curt nod and turn around, heading toward the dorms.
I post up on one of the benches by the left wing of the dorm and run through the first couple customers that I have for the night. It runs smoothly, in typical fashion, each transaction an exact replica of the one before. Most of them are regulars, so what they want is already weighed out or counted and bagged. Most of them are there for the uppers; the Adderall, the coke. Some downers are mixed in there, with Xanax being an all-time favorite. Of course, we have our stoners that only fuck with bud and the occasional oil. And then we have the low key junkies, chasing after some Oxys or dope. I don’t care what they want; I don’t want to hear their bullshit stories. I’m here for one thing and the only thing; the paper.