Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 129881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 649(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
A junkie will do anything and hurt anyone to get his next fix (I should know). And if his dad hurt Felix…
“Jake.” CJ’s hand comes down heavy on my shoulder and squeezes.
I blink him into focus. “I need to go. I need to make sure he’s okay.”
“I figured that. I’ll drive.”
That surprises me, even though it probably shouldn’t.
I’m guessing I look as worried as I feel, and my brother is a cop and he sure as shit isn’t a dumb one—he knows what we could be walking into. Put aside the fact that Felix’s dad most likely scored drugs or booze with the cash he got from selling the phone, Felix could be seriously messed up right now, and it’s probably not a good idea for me to find him without someone more level-headed with me.
I won’t give a fuck how I retaliate.
We’re out the door and climbing into CJ’s truck, and I direct him where to go and tell him to hurry when I don’t think he’s driving fast enough and bitch about how fucking long this is taking, even though he’s going eighty in a forty and ignoring traffic lights and reminding me how slick the roads are from the rain. But I don’t care.
I’m scared out of my mind, and my brother keeps his cool.
CJ lets me yell at him, he just takes it, and I tell myself to kiss his ass when this is over and to stop thinking the worst right now, but the fifteen minutes it takes to get there feels like an eternity, and I’m an addict just like Felix.
I know what could’ve happened if his dad brought drugs back to that house.
“You need to hurry up,” I say again. “Please. Okay?”
“I’m hurrying, Jake.”
CJ finally turns onto the driveway and speeds toward the house. The dirt road is muddied.
Through the rain-soaked windshield, I notice Felix’s car is gone, and I almost tell my brother to turn around until I spot the front door wide open.
I’m out of the truck before he parks and ignoring CJ when he shouts after me.
I jump up onto the porch and slide, bursting inside the house and yelling, “Felix! Felix!” as I frantically look around. I search the kitchen and the living room and hit the stairs as my brother barges in behind me.
“Jake, wait!”
I check Felix’s old bedroom, the bathroom, and the room I stayed in two nights ago. His bedroom is trashed, but he isn’t there.
“Felix!” I shout again.
I check his bathroom, pulling back the shower curtain. The room stinks of bleach.
I rush back down the stairs and find my brother in the kitchen. He’s standing next to the table.
“He’s not upstairs,” I pant. “Is there a basement? We should check the basement.”
“Jake, you need to get out of here,” CJ says calmly.
“Why?” I follow his gaze to an opened baggie. There’s a scattering of white residue beside it. “Oh, fuck.”
I back up two steps when I want to surge forward and look closer, feel the white underneath my fingertip.
Taste and let it light me up. My nostrils flare.
“Jake, get the fuck out of here.”
“CJ…”
He locks eyes with me. “Go!”
I rush out of the house.
The rain is heavier now, and it soaks my shirt as I stomp toward the truck and fills my mouth when I tilt my head back and scream.
I’m so fucking angry at everyone and everything, and I can’t calm down.
It should be me in there. I should be the one still searching, and if CJ comes out and tells me he found Felix in the basement or someplace else I didn’t get to check, I’m going back in. I don’t care what he says.
And I’ll take every drug I can find.
I get in the truck and slam the door.
Water drips down my face as I grab my phone off the dashboard and check it again, hoping Felix reached out to me from another number. But there still aren’t any notifications.
I toss the phone onto the dash and scrub at my face.
The driver’s side door opens.
“Well?” I ask.
“There’s no one in there,” CJ says, climbing in. “Ben and Luke are on their way.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s drugs in the house.”
“They’re not Felix’s.”
CJ holds my gaze. “You don’t know that, Jake.”
“Yes, I fucking do. They’re not his.”
I don’t know how I can be so sure, but I am. This was his dad.
“Felix still could’ve taken something,” he says. “We don’t know how much was there.”
I swallow thickly, looking away. “We need to find him.”
“What about his sponsor? Does he have one?”
“Yeah. Dean something. He works with Felix at some tattoo place.” I grab my phone off the dash again and start a search. “There’s four shops in Ruxton.”
“After the guys get here, we’ll check them out.”
Fuck. Come on.
My leg begins to bounce against the seat. I’ve never felt so anxious.