My blood runs cold in my veins.
Oh my god.
Oh my god, did Gino find me? Is he here right now waiting for me?
I start counting backward from seven and take a deep breath.
No, it’s not Gino.
It can’t be him.
If he did find me he would have gotten a champagne room so we couldtalk, a much more private room where he could threaten me and probably kill me because he doesn’t give a shit about the cameras.
It’s not Gino.
I’m safe.
We are still safe.
But when my eyes land on the man waiting for me, all that flies right out the window.
CHAPTERSEVEN
FIN
“What’swith you and not answering your phone anymore?”
I drag my eyes away from the screen,Jackalflashing for the hundredth time today, and focus on Bugs. “What the hell are you doing?”
He tugs a black t-shirt down over his head, realizes he’s still wearing his fucking coat, then takes it off, sheds the coat, and tries again. “I told you man, I gotta work.”
“No you didn’t.” He probably did but I was too far gone to hear him when I got here and if Bugs said it again once I sat down, well, I’ve been too fucking high to hear it. “I’d remember if you had to work since you haven’t had a job the entire time I’ve known you.”
“I got a job.” He flashes me a toothy grin and tosses a ball of cellophane at me. “This one just happens to be legal.”
I tear into the plastic wrap carefully, my big ass fingers anything but delicate. “So where are you going then? It’s too early for you to be moving product.”
“Like I said, I got a job. A real one.”
“No shit.” I pour the dope onto the mirror only half listening, way more preoccupied with my task at hand. “This that new shit you were telling me about?”
“Yep.” Bugs pulls off the holy white t-shirt and throws it on the floor then tugs the black one over his bald head again. “Free sample. You like it, I can get you as much as you want.”
I nod and start cutting it into lines. “Thanks. You still got what I asked for though, right? If I came all the way out here for a free sample I’m gonna be pissed.”
He rolls his eyes. “I ain’t stupid.”
So he says...
“You really in a hurry?” I’m not looking at him but I can tell Bugs is fidgety, anxious, and getting dressed like a moron. Probably popped a handful of Adderall before I got here.
“Yeah man, real job means I got less time to fuck around with you.”
“Better make time,” I grunt. “I’m your biggest source of income and I doubt this job will be able to pull in what I pay you.”
“You’re not wrong, my friend, but my girlfriend hooked me up with this gig and if I want to keep getting laid then I gotta make it work.”
Girlfriend?
