Page 12 of Blue

More tears filled my eyes. Blue couldn’t keep me clean, but I couldn’t let him fall with me. “I have to talk to him.”

I should be nodding off, slipping into the high of heroin, but adrenaline blazed through me. I stood and took two steps toward the door.

“No,” Kane said. “You don’t want in there.”

“I need to take care of him. One time doesn’t have to destroy his life. He hates me now. But I’m not going to let him become what I am.”

Kane released me. I stumbled across the hall. The door barely hung on the hinges as I pushed it open. The light on Cruz’s phone illuminated the small room.

Blue snapped his gaze to me. Cruz stepped in front of me and tried to block my view.

“I need Blue,” I said.

“Get out, Kiss.” Blue combed his fingers through his hair.

Something wasn’t right. Sam slumped in the tub. His eyes were closed, and his body jerked. A needle protruded from his arm.

“What happened?” I asked.

A bottle of bathroom cleaner sat on counter next to my spoon, Sam’s lighter, and open balloons of black.

Blue picked up my backpack and handed it to Cruz. “Make sure we don’t leave anything behind.”

“What happened?” I asked again as Blue forced me out of the room by crowding into me.

“You’ll need to find a new dealer,” he said.

As soon as we were in the hall, he walked away from me toward the living room. I followed. He peeled back the curtains and peered out to the street.

Blue wasn’t nodding or foggy. He wasn’t high, but I’d seen him push the needle into his arm.

“Blue.” I gripped his cut. “What happened in there?”

He shrugged me off and stared over my shoulder at Kane. “The streets are quiet. I think we’re in the clear. Cruz and I can get to our bikes. What are you going to do?”

“Fuck, dude, I don’t know. Cops aren’t going to stay away. I wish I knew for sure they weren’t looking for me. I’ll text my sister to pick me up. Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.” He pulled out his phone.

“Cruz said you’re a friend,” Blue said. “If you want to keep it that way, keep your mouth shut.”

“I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t cross Hellers.”

Cruz came into the room and gave a slight nod to Blue. “We can go.”

Kane paused in his texting. “Can you drop me off at the gas station? I don’t want Hayley pulling up to my place?”

“I can,” Blue said and peered out the window again. “We should go now while it’s still dark enough to give us some cover.”

They spoke as if I wasn’t in the room. They spoke as if they were going to leave me here. They spoke as if I hadn’t seen Blue shoot up or hadn’t seen my dealer dying in the bathtub. My guess was that he was dead now—because of me—because I had asked him to get me high.

“Blue,” I snapped.

“What?” He pulled his bike keys from his cut.

“Are you going to leave me here?”

“You can do whatever the fuck you want. You do anyway. You’ll need a new source. Your current dealer isn’t going to be able to collect on your debt. He just OD’d.”

Cruz chuckled. “I guess I won’t collect on that favor he owed me either.”

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