“I’ve got to go,” I said, stumbling backward.
“Did you get the address first?” April asked, pointing to the horrible painting.
She pulled out a pen and wrote it on a piece of paper, handing the scrap to Renee, since I wouldn’t take it. April stared at the picture on the wall for a moment. “Doesn’t really look like X’s stuff, does it?” she mused, but I didn’t really hear her.
“Whoa, Aubrey, slow down!” Renee called out.
“I’ve got to get my car. Are you cool heading back to the apartment by yourself?” I asked, not slowing down.
“Wait a second, where are you going?” Renee wheezed, trying to keep up with me.
“Maxx lied to me. I have to know what’s going on,” I said through gritted teeth. I wasn’t going to fall into a heap the way I would have done before. This time, I’d find him and I’d demand my answers.
“You can’t go alone,” Renee argued.
“You’re not coming with me. What I need to say to Maxx is between the two of us,” I bit out.
Then I stopped myself. I turned to my best friend. “I won’t be long. And I won’t be going down this road again. I’ll be fine.”
Then I was running toward my car.
chapter
thirty-five
maxx
“if you don’t want to come tonight, I’ll take the stuff back to Gash, no worries,” Marco said. He had come by my apartment just before seven. He was getting ready to head to the club and was decked out in his scary bouncer gear.
“Dude, why are you being such a pussy about me coming tonight? I don’t get it,” I said. My nerves were fucked as it was. Marco’s sudden apprehension was getting to me.
“I heard what happened to you, you know,” Marco said suddenly, grabbing a soda from the fridge and popping the top.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. The bags of pills sat on the counter. I had been staring at them for the last few hours wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.
I couldn’t let myself touch them. Because then I knew I’d be lost. I tore my eyes from the drugs and looked at my friend.
“What do you mean you know what happened to me?”
“I ran into Landon last week. He’s become a cocky little shit, hasn’t he?” Marco asked, downing the rest of his soda and tossing it into the trash. I was impressed when he actually made the shot.
“He can be. Where’d you see him?” I asked, not sure how I felt knowing Marco spoke to my brother. But they knew each other from back in the day. I guessed it wasn’t totally weird.
“He hangs out at the body shop on Fifth. My buddy Dan is a mechanic over there. Landon was helping Chandler do some detailing work. He’s got a lot of talent. Must take after his jackass brother,” Marco grumbled, though I recognized the compliment in the insult.
“Yeah, he’s pretty good,” I agreed. Marco and I didn’t make a habit of talking about shit. This entire conversation was dangling into twilight zone territory.
“So he told me you were in rehab and that you had OD’d or something.”
Well, shit.
“So you weren’t dealing with Landon stuff. You were in fucking rehab,” Marco said, scowling.
“Did he just come out and tell you that?” I asked, irritated.
“No. I asked him what he had going on that caused you to drop off the planet for a month. He didn’t know what I was talking about. Then he told me where you had really gone.”
“So I went to rehab. What’s it to you?” I asked defensively.
