Page 31 of Finding Jeremy
“Pops,” Jeremy said. “You’re still trying to plot your revenge for the hammock pictures I posted on social media, not to mention the video.”
His dad opened his mouth to say something, then rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose when Reggie asked what video.
“The one he is absolutely not going to show you,” Chaos snapped, though there was nothing he could do when Jeremy pulled out his phone, cued it up, and turned it so Reggie could see the footage they’d shot of Chaos while he’d been wrapped in the webbing of the hammock, as well as the captions and the editing they’d used to make it funnier than it already was.
“You just wait, kid,” Chaos said. “The next time you wind up dangling from the ladder of your treehouse with your jeans caught around your ankles, I’m gonna be there with a camera to capture every minute of it.”
“And wind up with your thumb blocking the lens the entire time,” Jeremy shot back.
“And that’s another point for Jeremy,” Reggie said, ducking when Chaos got hold of the Kleenex box on the table beside the computer and launched it at his head.
“Get him out of here before he sends my blood pressure through the roof,” Chaos demanded when Haven returned with the coveralls, having to step around a laughing Reggie to deposit them in the empty seat Reggie had left behind.
“Might be too little, too late,” Haven stage whispered, winking at Jeremy before he and Reggie scurried off to take care of the bikes.
“I’m getting too old for this shit,” Chaos grumbled.
“You can say that again,” Jeremy and Gray replied.
“Oh sure, sure, pick on the old man,” Chaos said, shooting them the bird again. “Gonna be nice to have the house to myself when you two head off on your camping trip, though it looks like you’ll have to take the pickup truck instead of your bike.”
“Might be for the best,” Gray said. “We can fit a hell of a lot in it and sleep in the bed if we want. Pretty sure it will fit an air mattress.”
“You wreck my suspension, you’ll be the ones fixing it,” Chaos warned before sighing and laying his head back against the pillow. “What a fuckin’ day.”
“You feelin’ alright, pops?” Jeremy asked, sitting up and eyeing his father.
“Yeah, just sick of being stuck here, pissed about my leathers and my bike, and damn near starving enough to send you to the cafeteria to find me something that won’t send my taste buds fleeing in search of condiments.”
“Want me to grab you something too?” Jeremy asked Gray as he started to slide off his lap.
“Yeah,” Gray said. “I don’t care what, as long as it’s not egg salad.”
Jeremy scrunched his nose, having always hated the smell of boiled eggs. “No worries about that.”
In hindsight, he knew he shouldn’t have lingered on the other side of the curtain, but he’d needed a moment to regain his composure and another to pull his wallet out and make sure he had enough on him since he still hadn’t gotten around to replenishing his bank account.
At first it looked like all he had was a bunch of ones, and he was about to part the curtain to ask if they could toss him a couple of bills when he spotted a ten, and two singles later, a couple of crumpled fives he’d hastily shoved in there. Perfect. He turned away, only to hear Gray’s voice, a little hushed as he spoke to Jeremy’s father.
“Realized something just before that truck came barreling around me,” Gray said.
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“I didn’t hand my chambers to Gerald that night in the alley,” Gray said. “I passed mine to Wilson, we both did.”
The only sound to follow was the beeping of the monitor they had Chaos hooked up to.
Jeremy held his breath, afraid to make a sound as the silence stretched between them. Jeremy wished he could see his old man’s face; hell, he wished that he could see Gray’s, because it sounded like one hell of a revelation, and Jeremy had a damned good idea that he knew exactly what they were talking about.
“I was supposed to hand off to Gerald,” Gray said. “But if you remember, Wilson passed Gerald the crowbar and told him he’d take care of the power. Then he grabbed the containers from us as he walked past.”
More silence, before Chaos muttered, “Shit. I forgot about that.”
“I didn’t,” Gray admitted. “I just didn’t think anything of it that night or even afterwards. Not until we were coming down off Lookout, when all I could think about was those nuts and bolts.”
“You think Gerald’s telling the truth about not being the rat?”
“I dunno, but I sure as hell wanna see the look on his face when we confront him about what you found in those compartments.”
