Chapter Four
Shadows play on idle hands
I lose myself, I do
But I’ve found my way to velvet sands
Ill crash right into you.
Mya
“What happened?” I ask, rushing in the booth ahead of Noah. I lift Sully’s head off the hard floor and place it in my lap. I watch as his eyes open, his hand coming to my cheek as he focuses on my holding him. “What happened, friend? You okay?” I ask, knowing he worries about pissing my brother off, I try to not show the concern of my crush falling unconscious, but that of my friend.
“Friend?” He asks, looking at me sadly. “We aren’t friends, Pet.”
“Sully…” I whisper, in hopes he realizes Cal, and well, everyone is right here watching.
Noah leans down unaware as the rest of the peanut gallery of what he just said. Thank God. “Here, try to sit up,” Noah says, and places a wet stack of paper towels on his neck. “What happened, bro?”
He looks to Noah with sorrow and I watch as Noah nods in understanding. “One day, you might think to vent it out, my dude,” he says, as he lifts him from my lap to get him standing.
“Sam, is this about Kace?” Cal asks with empathy, and I wonder who that is when Sully nods a yes.
“Who is that?” I ask the room, but it is Sully who answers with a firmness that tells me not to push.
“She is nobody.” He looks to his friends, determined they understand to shut the fuck up about this chick. I realize there is no point in me sitting here, wanting him, and trying to build something with him when he has other shit on his plate.
Sully
“What the fuck is going on with you lately?” Asa asks, as he steps in my booth with Noah and Cal.
I watch Cal who seems distracted as he watches the door his sister just ran out of. Noah gives me a knowing look and I know Raleigh has talked. “Maybe come clean, brother,” he says and looks between Cal and me.
Asa seems to get the idea as well and now all three are looking at me. “Dude, I already know you have a thing for Mya. How deep that thing has gone? I don’t want to know. Deal?” Cal states, as he takes a seat on my table.
I rub the sweat from my forehead and take the whiskey Asa hands me, even though I have rightfully become a tequila drinker these days. The whiskey calms my heart rate.
“How?” I ask, even though I know it’s pointless.
He looks at me with laughter and knowledge in his eyes. “Lex is her best friend dude, Jen is my wife. Lex sucks in talking code and Jen told me in case I went psycho.” He looks at me and the guys. “So, don’t give a fuck. Just do right by her.” The warning in the nonchalant tone didn’t go unnoticed.
“I’m trying, but she won’t let me,” I say, and stand up. Still uneasy, but better. I look for my cigarillos and make my way to the roof. The three blind mice all following me. “I’m not suicidal. Don’t need babysitters,” I say, but the annoyance in my voice is lost on them.
Once I get to the roof, I text her. Needing her to understand, or fuck, I don’t even know.
Me: You ran off?
It took only a few seconds for her to respond.
Mya: Well, I finally got the picture. You have someone and were too chicken shit to tell me you were taken. I won’t bug you again.
I read her words and I know she is asking, without asking, about Kace.
Me: Mya, the funeral we are planning is for Kace. I am as single as it gets, Going on seven years now.
I sit, staring at my phone like a goddamn lunatic until she responds.
Mya: Oh.
