He took the money and tried to slip between us to get out the door, but I grabbed the cash from his hand. “I’ll get the beers,” I said.
Sullivan’s Shop could call the cops on him if he used threats to get liquor.
The kid scowled. “I can do it.”
But I barked, “Go play.”
I’m not sure why I said that. He wasn’t five.
He flipped me his middle finger and disappeared back into the clubhouse. I turned back to watch Drew offer the cops a seat. “Stay a while.”
“Drew,” I call out, trying to peek around to see what’s in the duffel bag.
He looked up just as he was about to sit. I watch him walk over to us, and I waited until he was close and kept my voice low. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“If I tell you,” Drew said. “Then I involve you.”
“What?”
What the fuck?
I glanced at the bag on the table again. I could only assume it was drugs, and the cops got it from a confiscated bust in Chicago or something.
But he simply burst out laughing. “I’m applying to the police academy,” he told us. “Just making friends and trying to get a little favoritism going.”
“A cop?” Lance questioned.
To which Drew put his arms around both of us, tugging us in close. “Who’s going to watch your mansions while you’re taking your families skiing?”
I studied his face, the gleaming blue eyes and half smirk that always gave the impression that he was up to something, but usually it just turned out to be something fun.
He took his seat back at the table, summoning over a young girl with brown hair who wore tight jeans and a crop top. He snaked an arm around her, cupping her ass, while he jerked his chin at another, prompting her to drape her arms around the police officer.
I shot off, but Lance pulled me back. “The age of consent in Illinois is seventeen,” he told me under his breath. “He’s nottechnicallydoing anythingwrong.”
I glared at Lance.
And when she’s almost seventeen? Or he’s an actual cop who can get away with anything?Would he do worse?
Madoc would have several words for me if he’d ever caught me hanging around someone who he thought was a bad influence.
But I knew Drew. He was just testing the boundaries. Acting like an idiot. Once the novelty of all of this wore off, he’d focus on other things.
“Lucas, I did it!” Jorge shouted from the front door. “Come see!”
The young woman slid into Drew’s lap as he took off his shirt and a tattoo artist started laying out a design on his back.
I spared one more glance at the bag on the table as the cop glided his hand up the second girl’s leg.
I drifted away, back into the snow, telling myself that if it wasn’t me doing it, then it wasn’t my bad to worry about.
I told myself that for a long time.
I drive through town, back toward Quinn’s parents’ place, lost in my thoughts. I’d wanted to keep my friends, afraid Lance would choose Drew if I walked away, and I wanted to keep the place I’d found for myself, because I was too old to be Madoc’s burden. Because having a crew felt safe. Powerful, even.
I liked feeling powerful, even though every day took me further from the man my mother raised and the man my father hoped I’d be.
Turns out, I was more like Drew Reeves than I thought.
