It’s hilarious thinking back on that now.
We dreamed of living by the ocean. Catching fish to eat, selling the rest for clothes and shit.
In reality, we’d have been homeless. Haven knocked up and dragging a snotty-nosed kid behind her as she stood on the corner pretending to beg, and then handing off our kid to one of the other prostitutes as she got into some rando’s car.
The hairs on my arms stand in a rush.
Fuck. I’d probably be the one pimping her out. Because I’d be addicted to crack or meth, like Bobby. And when we got back to our tent beneath the underpass, I’d be beating on them because I had all these issues, and the drugs only amplified them, and?—
“Kai!” The crack of the gavel slamming its wooden stand jolts me out of my misery. “Are you listening?”
No wonder Ezra put him in charge. They could be fucking twins.
“No,” I say, getting a quickly hushed giggle from Austin.
I can’t help but grin. And that pisses off Jace from the way the crease between his eyebrows goes white.
“You’re off the Lee case,” Jace says.
It’s like he’s speaking in tongues. “What now?”
“Lee.” Jace’s head shoots forward. “Haven Lee?”
“What about her?” I catch the other guys staring at me from the corner of my eyes and it makes me shift in my seat.
Fuck, what did I miss?
“Drop it,” Jace says. “You and Ezra have raised too much suspicion already.”
“Thank fuck,” I say through a chuckle. “So we done here?”
“Yeah, I’m waaay too fucking amped for this shit,” Nolan says, wide-eyed, like he’s about to have an existential crisis and would prefer it happen alone in his room.
“Not yet. I was hoping more of you would step up, but I can’t say I’m surprised none of you have been to visit Ezra yet. So before you leave, I’ll be assigning everyone a time slot to visit Agony Memorial,” Jace says.
Groans abound.
Blake mutters something about leaving all this bullshit behind so he can go manage his kitchen in peace.
“Amen, brother,” I say, holding out a fist for him to bump. “Just a few more months, and I’m outta this shithole of a town for good.”
There’s an awful, awkward silence that makes my skin want to crawl off my body.
“What?” I stare at the guys, but everyone except Jace refuses to make eye contact. And he stares at me like he’s about to exorcise some demons and needs to gird his loins.
“There’s something?—“
Austin cuts in with a vicious, “God, shut it, Jace!”
Which only earns him a sharp gavel crack that feels like it goes right through my fucking skull.
Jace’s expression hardens. “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4:25,” he says, looking at everyone in turn until finally stopping on me.
“You should know the truth about your internship,” he says, somber as fuck.
My face goes cold and prickly, and it has nothing to do with cocaine this time.
“What about it?” I ask, sounding so careful, like reality is going to shatter if I speak too loudly.
