“I said get. Out. Now.”
I heard a sharp slapping sound and Susan cry out.
Eavesdropping was one thing. Listening to a man beat up on a woman was totally different. She wasn’t the only one with lady balls.
Taking a deep breath, I slapped the clipboard down on the counter and walked out of the back room, not being subtle at all, clicking the end of my ballpoint pen as I walked.
“Susan,” I called like I had no idea she was standing out here. The pair at the other end of the salon froze, surprised, just like I knew they would be. I prepared to act surprised too.
But I didn’t have to act.
Shock rippled through me, and it was followed very closely by thick dread. My eyes locked with the man who was arguing with—who just hit—my boss.
I knew him.
I had been warned to stay far, far away.
“Julie,” Susan said, a little relief plain in her voice. “I didn’t realize you were still here.”
I forced my eyes away from the man who made my skin crawl and summoned a fake smile for Susan. “Yep. Still here. I was doing inventory in the back.” I cleared my throat. The man’s eyes hadn’t left me. I knew he recognized me.
After all, I’m the reason he got beat up the night we met.
“I didn’t realize you had company.” My eyes slid toward the man and then away. “I can finish up tomorrow.”
“No need,” Susan said quickly. “This gentleman just wanted a haircut. I explained that we already closed for the night.”
Susan glanced at him again. “We reopen tomorrow at ten.”
He stood there for very long, tense moments. I could see him debating what he should do. Finally, he gave Susan a tight smile. “I’ll come back. Tomorrow.”
Susan’s body tightened.
Dom left. The man Blue warned me about.
He hadn’t been here for a haircut. Not at all.
How in the world could Susan know a drug dealer?
20
Blue
Proving myself by “stealing” the tow truck had gotten me closer in the crew. I spent most of the day hanging at Dom’s and smoking weed. I didn’t want to, but I saw no way of getting out of it. Turning down some of Dom’s score would be like waving a narc flag over my head.
I hated how relaxed the drug made me feel. Like it took away the sharpness of my mind and dulled my thinking. How was I supposed to stay alert and listen to all their conversations to connect the dots if I was off in a weed-induced la-la land?
Not to mention it made me hungry as shit.
As soon as the sun went down and dusk claimed the sky, Dom told the crew to hit the streets to peddle his product. We were to hit up the regulars and try to bring in new clients.
I was paired with Tony, one of the crew. He was a young kid with brown hair and eyes. He seemed a little light in the brains department, but maybe that was just because he was high.
I said I would drive, hoping I was less stoned than he was, and we took off in the direction of where one of the regular buyers lived just a few blocks away. I stayed in the car as Tony made the deal. It was a fast exchange because Tony already had all the stuff the client wanted.
After that, we made a few more stops and then went to a nearby movie theater to hang out in the parking lot, where Tony said was a good place to find potential buyers. It totally pissed me off because movie theaters were places teenagers liked to hang out.
I made a mental note of every place we went so I could tell Watson to double up on the force’s patrol in those areas.
We were sitting on the hood of the Mustang, smoking cigarettes (well, Tony was smoking; I was just pretending like I was going to light one up) when a movie let out and people began filing out the double doors of the theatre.
The last time I went to a movie was in Wilmington with Julie. My first date with her had been the best one I ever had. I missed her. I missed her laugh and her crazy hair. I wanted to feel her hips moving beneath me again and hear the hot little moans that escaped her throat when I did things—sexual things—to her body.
“Hey, kid,” Tony said, pulling me out of my daydream. He was speaking to a passing teenager who looked to be about sixteen. He was following along right on the edge of his friends, looking the way I’d been feeling recently: on the outskirts of the group, looking in.
I had to hand it to Tony. He knew the ones to prey on.
The kid glanced up and Tony motioned for him to come over. “You in the market?”
“For what?” the kid asked, staring after his friends, who didn’t even notice he stopped walking.
“For a good time,” Tony replied.
“I don’t do drugs,” the kid said.
“That’s cool,” Tony said amicably. “You just struck me as the guy who likes to stand out in the crowd.”
The kid stopped walking and turned back. “I am.”
I stared at the kid, silently telling him to walk away and not get caught up in Tony’s head games.
Tony nodded. “I figured. You seem like the life of the party, the one everyone else knows will show them a good time.”
“You got something that’ll be a good time?” the kid asked, his interest piqued.
“Yep. Me and my friend Gray here, we’re the life of the party. Aren’t we, Gray?” Tony looked at me for confirmation.
In that moment, I hated my job. And I hated myself for doing it. “You know it,” I said, holding out my fist so he could pound it, which he did.
Tony glanced at the kid’s friends, who were standing by a car and laughing. The blonde in the group slid a glance in our direction. “You ask her out yet?”
The kid’s eyes widened. “She wouldn’t go out with me.”
“Sure she would!” Tony said. “All you gotta do is ask her. She keeps looking at you.”
“She does?” he asked, looking at the girl.
Tony and I both nodded.
“I tried to ask her out once, but I got too nervous.”
“Lucky for you I got something for that.” Tony glanced around, then produced a small plastic sack of weed. “This here is called a confidence booster.”
I thought about ripping the drugs out of Tony’s hand and telling the kid to run. But I didn’t.
“Take this, give it a smoke, and you and all your friends will be so chill that you won’t even think twice about asking her out.”
The kid reached out and took the sack. “How much is it?”
“It’s free,” Tony said. “Complimentary. Anything to help a bro out.”