Page 57 of Keeping 13

“All good, Gerard.”

Johnny, who was outside the car and wrestling with his crutches, slipped a hand into his pocket and retrieved a set of keys before tossing them over the bonnet and pulling my door open. “It’s the silver one—in the middle.”

“On it.” Snagging the keys midair, Claire rushed ahead of Gibsie to unlock the door.

“Thanks,” I croaked out as I scrambled out of the car and closed the door behind me.

“Are you okay?” Johnny asked quietly, watching my every move with sharp, intelligent eyes.

“Where are your dogs?”

“Huh?”

“Bonnie and Cupcake?”

“Oh right, yeah, they’re out back in their run.” He gestured to his crutches and grimaced. “Can’t exactly fend them off at the moment.”

I shrugged, unable to form a response, and turned my attention back to Joey.

“Okay, buddy, let’s do this.” Reaching inside, Gibsie dragged Joey out of the car. Tossing him over his shoulder, Gibsie proceeded to carry my brother toward the house. “Don’t puke on my—” The words weren’t out of Gibsie’s mouth when Joey began to vomit profusely what I could only describe as a black charcoal substance. “Back.” Gibsie groaned in defeat. “Don’t puke on myback.”

“That’s a good thing,” Johnny said, clearly noticing my horrified expression. “It’s better out than in.”

“I am so sorry about this.” Shaking my head, I wrapped my arms around myself and fell into step beside him as he hobbled toward the house. “I seem to bring a constant stream of trouble into your life.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Pressing a crutch against the door to keep it open, he gestured for me to go inside. “I’m growing fond of your trouble.”

“You shouldn’t.” Sadness was blooming inside of me, the cold hard reality of my brother’s current predicament eclipsing the excitement I had felt when I saw Johnny at my door earlier. “It’s not a good thing.”

Johnny frowned but didn’t object. “Come on,” he said instead, inclining his head toward the entry hall.

I hurried inside from the rain, too worn out to worry or ask questions that I didn’t need the answers to. It didn’t matter if his parents were home or not. It didn’t matter if my insecurities made me question whether he truly wanted me here or not. The facts were my brother had taken some type of illegal drug, probably an obscene amount of illegal drugs, and was currently being carried up the staircase of Johnny’s house. Whether I was mad with him or not was quite frankly irrelevant. He needed me and I would be there.

God knows, I owed him one.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Abandoning his crutches, Johnny held on to the banister and climbed the stairs at a snail’s pace. “Joey, I mean,” he added, stopping midstep. “What happened back there?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t lie,” Johnny said quietly. “Not to me.”

Scrunching my nose up, I blurted out, “He was going down a bad path last year. Hanging around all the wrong places with the wrong people and accepting all the wrong kinds of things.”

“Last year?”

I nodded. “Before Aoife came along.”

“She steadied him up?”

Apparently not.I shrugged helplessly. “I thought so.”

“What was he on?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, and this time it was the truth. “He was definitely going out drinking with his friends, and I know he was smoking weed, but I’m not sure about the rest. Maybe yolks? Like ecstasy or some form of tablet? I heard my parents talking about it once, and I’m not sure how he would get his hands on anything else. He wouldn’t have the money.” I shrugged, feeling at a loss. “But I know he used to go off in that car during big break at school and come back for the last three classes with bloodshot eyes and a faraway look,” I heard myself explain. “I think he was trying to escape. Things weren’t great, and it was his way of coping with what was happening at…uh…at…well, you know.” Tucking my hair behind my ear, I let my shoulders sag in defeat. “It’s not like we had anybody to talk to about that kind of stuff.”

Johnny watched me carefully as I spoke, taking in every word I was speaking. “Was it a problem?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, sticking with the truth. “Joey doesn’ttalk. Not to anyone. Not even me. All I know is things were bad for him, worse than usual, and he was getting into more fights at school.”More fights at home.“He was having trouble at training. Our f-father—” My throat clenched and I had to swallow several times before I could continue. “Well, he was furious because there was talk of Joey being thrown off the team. But then Aoife came along and within a few weeks he had cleaned up his act. He wasn’t walking around with bloodshot eyes or bouncing off the walls. He wasn’t fighting as much at school. He was just…” I shook my head, trying to find the words to explain all of this. “She settled something inside of him. It was like she grounded him somehow, gave him something he clearly wasn’t getting from…” I let my words trail off.

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