A waitress approached me to whisper something in my ear, but I couldn’t hear her over the blaring music.
I grabbed a drink from the tray in her hands and went outside.
When they held races, the place always filled up quickly. But when there weren’t any events, the outside was deserted. It really did look abandoned.
“You’re here.”
James was slouched over an arcade game, probably a ten-year-old pinball machine.
“Everything okay?”
He didn’t nod. He kept vaping, his face illuminated by the purple neon light.
“Can that thing hold your weight?”
“It certainly doesn’t hold two of me,” he snapped before slipping down to the dusty ground.
He gave me a lost look.I wanna hug him, I thought. No, I couldn’t. I crossed my legs and sat down next to him.
I wondered what Will would’ve done in this predicament. He would’ve joked around to put him in a good mood again. And Marvin? He would’ve asked him how his cousin was in bed. Dick.
I wanted to be like them, but I wasn’t. I was myself and that sucked.
I saw him lower his chin, like he was hiding his face in his jacket collar. Fuck it, I’ll hug him. I put my arm around him and squeezed him toward me.
“I’m here if you need me,” I whispered an inch away from his flushed cheek.
“You’re the only one who understands me, Jax.”
“At least I try to.”
James turned his head. His pupils were enormous, dilated, and watery. I could see myself in them. “Do you want to stick your tongue down my throat?” he joked.
“What the fuck do you mean?” I cleared my throat and backed away instantly. “What’s wrong, James?”
“Everything’s great,” he answered, biting the inside of his cheek.
“You get laid every night, what are you whining about?” I gave him a pat on the arm affectionately.
That’s something else Marvin would say. James didn’t laugh; he just shrugged.
“I could do without it. I just wanna get out of this shit. Austin’s got me by the balls.”
Just the name of that criminal made me shudder. Of course, the issue wasn’t Ethan Austin. It was his dad, the guy who controlled organized crime in Los Angeles.
“Do you still owe him a lot?”
“It’s not about the money,” he said as I took another sip of my drink.
“Come on, tell me.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to tell you, Jax?” He put his soft lips on the vape pen mouthpiece and turned it on, lighting up the dark.
“I want you to tell me what’s going on.”
He closed his eyes to savor that poison better, then looked up at the sky.
“I don’t feel like complaining. Everything’s fine,” James said.
