He also hasn’t even noticed that I’m standing here.
“Amigo…amigo… amigo…”Archer rambles at the person on the other end. “Puedes confiar en mi. Juro. Lo tengo manejado. Puedo hacerlo en menos de—”
I slam the door shut, and he silences himself.
He whips around to stare at me, and his face lights up like he’s super-duper excited to see me and completely oblivious to the fact that I’m about to wring his fucking neck.
“Juro. No tomará tanto tiempo,” he says. “Te llamaré mas tarde. Si. Si. Si.Yeah, I gotchu,si.No worries.No te preocupes.Yeah. Yeah. Okay.Te llamaré mas tarde.” He shoves the phone into the pocket of his khaki cargo shorts that look about ten years old, then throws his hands in the air with exuberance. “Bruh! How the fuck are ya? How was the fam?”
I clench my jaw. “I’m having trouble remembering because that was more thantwo weeksago.”
“Aw yeah. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.” Archer rapidly bobbles his head in a nod and chews his thumbnail while he stares at me through wide eyes and dilated pupils. “Thatwastwo weeks ago, wasn’t it?Damn. Where does the time go?”
“Where the fuck have you been?” I flip my hand at the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook my little corner of the Flatiron District. “I have had the NYPD looking foryour corpse!”
“AwColin.” He heaves a laugh and then sniffs. “You worry too much. I was fine. I just got outta town for a bit.”
I shove my fingers through my hair and grip it like I’m about to rip it out at the roots. “You mean, you went on abender. Right? You skipped work and got shit-canned, and skipped your meetings and—”
“I had stuff to do.”
My veins ignite, and I stomp across the room to fist the collar of his dingy white t-shirt. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just put you out ofbothof our misery right now,” I snarl. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the fucking police and report a break-in. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t tell them about all the blow I know you’ve got hidden inyourapartment so they can lock you up for possession.”
Archer is suddenly cowering like he’s eight years old again, and like I’m basically our piece-of-shit father about to pummel him with the closest blunt object within reach.
“Cuz.” Another sniff. “Cuz you love me. You wouldn’t do that to me.”
I stare him down, grinding my teeth so hard I’m surprised they don’t crumble into dust, my pulse thumping in my ears, and he’s right.
And I fucking hate my life.
Because it’smy faultthat he’s still like this.
No matter what I try, it’s always the wrong solution. It never works. I could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves, but I can’t sell my baby brother on getting his life together.
You also couldn’t sell Elle on becomingus, my dickish brain reminds me.
Shut the fuck up, I mentally clap back at it.
I shove Archer to sit on the couch and begin pacing the room. “I told you we were going to have an arrangement when I got back or there would be no more fucking money in your account.”
He flips his hand through the air while he continues to wildly bounce his leg. “You and your idle fuckin’ threats.” He hitches a shoulder flippantly. “I don’t need your money.”
Yeah right.
I halt my pacing and turn to him. “Ohreally? You suddenly have a massive source of income I don’t about?”
“No… I just…” Archer chews on his thumb for a second before moving on to the side of his index finger, his tiny pupils darting and flicking all over the place. “I can take care of it. I’ll just swing by the other plant on Washington. It won’t be a big deal. I’ll go by there on Monday and—”
“No,youwill go by theretomorrow morning,” I snap. “That’s the first part of the arrangement. The second part is you will go to a meeting tonight, andIwill escort you there. The third part is you are going into treatment.”
He flops backward against the sofa and straight upwhines.
“Listen to me, Archer,” I bark, my blood pressure slowly returning to normal as I recall that I actually have a really good plan this time. “I have an incentive for you. Areally fuckingbig one.”
He lifts his brows, sniffs, and blinks. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I place my hands on my hips and cock my head. “How would you like me to putone million dollarsin your account?”
