Page 111 of Savannah Royals
“Why?”
“I need to talk to you. And don’t you work at the hospital tomorrow? You need to be careful with that shit.”
“It’s just hash, Kat. Geez.” But he puts the joint down and collapses on the bed. “What’s going on?”
I walk over and sit next to him. “I just ran into Paul at Ray’s.”
“And?”
“Did you know he’s been moving drugs?” I watch Abe closely. He won’t lie to me. When he sighs, I know.
“Not at first,” he admits, “but yeah, I’ve known for a while. I figured you did too, after Farley’s.”
“What about Farley’s?” My head snaps to attention.
“You heard Farley ask us to get the powder out. He wasn’t comfortable with it. You heard me tell Paul.”
“I thought he was talking aboutgunpowder. Are you saying Paul had drugs stashed at Farley’s?” I’m aghast.
“Yeah.” Abe shrugs. “Not a lot, but some.”
I slap him on the forearm. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
“Why didn’t I? Why didn’tyou?”
“Because I didn’t know! Not until now.”
“You’re the only one he listens to, Kat. All that stupid king and queen shit. Don’t bullshit me and say you didn’t know. You’re a smart gal. You know one plus one doesn’t equal five.”
“All right, fair point, but Paul wouldn’t tell me what he was doing. And you didn’t tell me either.”
“You were happy to look the other way and distract yourself with Matthew.” He shakes his head. “Which only made it worse.”
“Don’t lecture me.”
He throws his hands up. “What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to tell me how to fix this, Abe!”
“Wedon’tfix this, Kat. This is broken. It’s been heading this way for a long time, slowly picking up speed. That’s why I took a job at the hospital. It’s time for an extraction plan. I’ve been working on mine for a while. I hope you have a good one up your sleeve too. You’re going to need it.”
“This is such a mess,” I moan.
Abe is silent. He glances at his joint with longing.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, just go ahead and light up if you want it that bad.”
“No, I’ll wait until you’re feeling better.”
“You’ll be waiting forever then.”
“Maybe you should take the first few puffs,” Abe says. “It’ll help.”
I laugh and fall back on the bed. “Tempting, but no. I’m meeting Matthew tonight, and I don’t want to show up half-baked.”
“Why show up half-baked when you could be fully baked?”
“Abe!”
