Jimmy chuckled low and dark. Then he chopped up the coke with a razorblade he’d gotten out of the tin and divided it into three neat lines.
He grabbed a rolled up bill from the box and held it to Quinn. “You want a line?”
And this was it. The moment where Quinn could snort the coke, get his cousin’s trust, and maybe, just maybe make a difference in the future decisions of the MacGregor family. If he just threw away his sobriety and…he wanted to. He really fucking wanted to. He couldn’t take his eyes off the bill.
It took everything he had to lift his gaze from it to look at Jimmy.
“Come on, cuz. You really gonna do me like that? You know I just got out of rehab.”
To his surprise, Jimmy actually looked ashamed. It was a rule that you didn’t shit where you ate and doing drugs, at least a lot of them, got you a bad rep in the family. Even if you were Ian’s son.
“Yeah, okay.” Jimmy snorted two of the lines and put the third one back into the baggie with the grace of someone who was used to this shit. Quinn should know.
“It doesn’t matter what the Skulls want,” Jimmy said once the tin was closed and he’d leaned back again. “Dad won’t do business with them and neither did Robert.”
It was obvious Jimmy had more to say but held back.
“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do,” Quinn forced himself to say. “You guys are my family. I don’t want the clan, but I’ll be in town for a while, so…”
“Honey? Are you coming to bed soon?” Caroline called from the upstairs landing.
Jimmy’s grin was more of a smirk, and Quinn hid his mild disgust at the expression. Coked up and horny wasn’t something he wanted to see. Not in the mirror and not on his cousin’s face.
“Okay, I’ll go. Talk to you later man,” Quinn said and got off the couch.
Jimmy followed suit. They man-hugged, and for just a few seconds, Quinn’s attention locked into the tin on the coffee table. He shook it off and said his byes, calling out to Caroline as well. Then he tried to keep his speed steady as he walked out and to his car.
* * * *
Fifteen minutes later, he stopped driving at the crossroads to the trailer park. There was a wider part of the road there, and he parked there and got out.
Then he struggled out of the ankle holster and tossed it onto the seat before locking the car behind himself. It was getting late, again. Grimacing, he jogged over to Main Street and up the ramp to Aaron’s front door.
This time, the answer came faster.
Aaron, looking a bit mussed like he’d been in bed but not asleep, stared at him and sighed.
“Aaron, please. I….” He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t go to his trailer right then.
Suddenly a tiny black form dashed inside through Aaron’s feet, making them both jump.
“That damn cat,” Aaron grunted.
“Shadow. Apparently she’s everyone’s cat around here.”
“Yours too?” Aaron asked like it mattered somehow.
“She’s slept next to my pillow each night I’ve been here.”
Aaron backed away and let Quinn inside.
The living room looked a mess, so Quinn stood in the tiny hall between it and the kitchen, waiting for a cue from Aaron.
“Come on.” Aaron walked past him in that slightly awkward way Quinn had barely noticed the other night.
He followed Aaron to the downstairs bedroom and didn’t manage to hide his smile before Aaron looked at him.
“What?” Aaron snapped.
