The mountain grumbled curses before slamming the door behind him.
Trevor leaned his back against the wall, once more feeling his growing bruises.
Andy came closer. “He was big and scary. Don’t let him come over here again, okay?”
Trevor watched his brother, who grew creepier with every passing year and looked older than he truly was. Kim had once said that Trevor had sucked up all the pretty genes. It was a shitty thing for a mother to say,but she’d loved Andy the best she knew how.
In Trevor’s eyes, Andy was still the same little boy who came home crying because kids from school bullied him and called him a freak. Trevor had no choice but to track them down and scar them for life.
“Come on, he wasn’t that scary.”
“He hurt you.”
Trevor snorted. “Please, you know your brother is made of iron. I’m Iron Man!”
“But he was also smart.”
“Hmm, thanks.” He went to make himself a drink. They were out of money, but his parents had left enough alcohol to survive a nuclear winter. Most of it remained from the days Kim used to throw her naughty little parties. When Daniel left, those parties quickly dwindled, and Kim became a much less happy person. They had all leaned too heavily on Daniel’s presence, and the void he left behind had grown into a bleeding wound at the heart of their family.
I can’t blame him for leaving, but I can still hate him for it.
Trevor slumped on the couch and rested his legs on the table, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He was drinking more frequently these days since his steady supply of drugs had run dry. His body didn’t approve of the change—nothing beat quality coke—but this beggar couldn’t be picky.
In the old days, Kim would have smacked his legs offthe table, but she would have first lost her shit over the dirty dishes lying everywhere.
“Do you think that Daniel will help us?” Andy came to sit next to Trevor.
Isn’t that the million-dollar question.“I’m sure he’s trying, but since we’re running out of time, he better try harder.”
Unfortunately, Daniel was not a magician, forcing Trevor to strongly consider Plan B. He had already started laying the foundations for his and Andy’s alibis. He was not acting coy about it, either, assuming that Daniel would pick up on Trevor’s plan and work ever faster. He loved envisioning Daniel staying up at night, tossing and turning while time worked against him.
A distressed Daniel was a sexier Daniel.
“It was nice seeing him again,” Andy said quietly, like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed. Robert and Kim had refused to let Daniel’s name be spoken in the house, especially Robert, although he’d never gotten rid of their old family portrait in his office.
“Yeah, it was nice seeing him,” Trevor had to admit. “Oh, I spoke with boring Benji yesterday. He’s working with Daniel, and he said there may be a way to solve this shit, although he refused to tell me how.”
Andy beamed. “Great!”
“Hold on. He implied that it could take months, and we can’t wait that long.” He took a sip of whiskey, wishing that the taste was more bitter. “At least I setenough fire underneath Danny’s butt to scare him.”
“I believe in Daniel,” Andy said with confidence.
Coming from a man who still believed in Santa Claus, that didn’t say much.
“I’m going to drive to Manhattan tomorrow,” Trevor said. “Not to cause drama, just to keep an eye on Danny for a bit and get a sense of how he’s doing.” And he really needed to get out of this house.
“Can I come?”
“I’ll need to keep a low profile, and your profile is anything but low. Try to clean up while I’m gone.”
Andy made a face as he scanned the room. In all fairness, most of the junk lying around was Trevor’s, but since he was the brains of the operation, Andy would need to keep the operation somewhat sanitary.
He got up and walked toward the stairs, still feeling that kick from earlier. He would take a few of his remaining pills for the pain and to unwind. Once he got that damn money, the first thing he’d do would be to reestablish a steady flow of high-quality drugs.
Hurry up, Danny boy.
*
