Page 35 of Your Fault

“You know it’s been a year and a half since I stopped dealing…” he started. Hearing the worddealingwas all I needed to imagine where this was going.

I grabbed a pair of pants draped over the sofa and put them on.

“Don’t tell me you’re back up in that shit, Lion!” I shouted.

He rubbed the back of his neck and glowered at me. “What do you want, man? I couldn’t turn down the chance to make that kind of cash… Luke’s living with me now. The dumbass wanted to do it himself, but he just got out. I wasn’t going to let him take the risk of getting snatched again…”

“Oh, so he can’t take the risk, but you can? You’re a fucking idiot. If you don’t watch out, you’ll be the one getting pinched!”

“Don’t you dare judge me!” he screamed, standing up. “You’ve got everything!”

I was trying to keep myself from kicking his ass because he was my friend and I knew he had money problems—but wasn’tthat what the fights and the races were for? Maybe they were illegal, but that wasn’t the same as slinging drugs. He could get a ten-year bid for that, or more.

“What’s the trouble, then?” I asked.

He looked all around, then pinned me with his green eyes.

“I gotta hand over a package at the Gardens tonight. It was supposed to be on the beach, just a quick handoff, but the call came through, and now I have to go to the hood.”

Damn. The Gardens was one of the hardest hoods in LA, and Lion and I were pariahs there after a major squabble. My dad had handled it for us, and we had sworn never to go back.

“Don’t even think about asking me to come along…”

“It’ll be quick. We’ll drop off the shit, and we’ll head straight back, bruh.”

Fuck! I didn’t want trouble. Not now, when I was getting my life back on track. After what had happened with Ronnie and Noah’s dad, I’d sworn I wouldn’t get into any more bullshit. I wasn’t going to drag my girlfriend into that. Ronnie and everything that happened afterward, all that was my fault. None of it would have happened if I hadn’t brought Noah into that world.

“I’m not going, Lion,” I said, making sure he knew I was serious.

He was surprised for a second, then pissed right afterward.

“It’s suicide going there alone, and you know that… At least keep an eye on the ride while I do the drop. You said we were brothers, through thick and thin, and I need you now.”

Fuuuuuuuck.

“Drop off a package, that’s it?” I asked, already knowing I would regret it.

His face lit up.

“I hand it over and we’re out, bruh, I promise,” he said, getting up. I remembered when I’d gone to live with him and had to accompany him on runs. We were way younger and moreirresponsible then. I didn’t want to fuck up again. There was too much at stake. I couldn’t go back to that world, not anymore.

“I’ll drive,” I said, grabbing my keys. I wanted to tell him to fuck off, but Lion had always been there for me when I’d needed him. I’d have liked it if he’d escaped that world, but there was nothing I could do. My father had offered him a job at the company, and Lion had turned him down. His grandfather’s garage was his life, and he wouldn’t give it up. Turning down my father’s offer meant turning down the one chance he had at a better life, without problems.

Noah was arriving home the next day, so I had plenty of time to help him out, get home, shower, and be ready to grab her from the airport.

Neither of us said a word as we got in the car and pulled out of the lot.

“Thanks for this, Nick,” Lion said, looking out the window.

“Does Jenna know you’re slinging?”

He tensed when I mentioned his girlfriend.

“No, and she’s not gonna know,” he replied cuttingly. That was a warning, no doubt about it. I wasn’t supposed to get mixed up in his business, but there he was forcing me to. Whatever.

As I headed into the Gardens, things I wished I could forget started coming up…Ronnie, his friends, the races, Noah’s kidnapping, her piece-of-shit father pointing a gun at her… All that shit had happened close to here, and I’d sworn I’d never come back.

“Take a right,” he said when we reached an intersection I knew well.

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