Page 28 of Cruel Devil
“I know.” Which is why what he’s doing now is pissing me off. It’s like he forgot what the first year was like. The depression. The withdraws. He was so fucking sick back then he had to take a full semester off. And now he wants to risk it all for a party and a piece of ass. I shake my head. This was a mistake.
“It’s a pool party. There will be booze, but we both know booze was never my problem.”
No. It wasn’t. Aaron’s issue started as a little recreational weed until he fucked up. Got behind the wheel while high and wrapped his car around a tree, injuring his passengers—Roman, Emilio, and me. Shit got ugly after the accident and we didn’t speak for close to a year after that.
What none of us knew at the time though, was that Aaron almost went to juvie for it. He was a minor driving while under the influence and had over forty grams of weed on him when paramedics picked us up. Once released, he was charged with a class C felony. His lawyer couldn’t make it go away. Not entirely. But the DA’s office offered him a deal and with approval from a judge and his parent’s consent, they signed off on him becoming an informant for the Sun Valley P.D.
Big fucking mistake.
Roman’s dad was chief back then and made the arrangements. If Roman ever found out, there’d be hell to pay, which is why even after shit was smoothed out between us all, Aaron never mentioned it.
Shit should have been straightforward. On paper, Aaron was supposed to tip the cops off about corner dealers selling to kids at our school, but what really happened was they forced him into the deep end. They had a sixteen-year-old worming his way into the drug world and shit got messy.
I don’t know all the details of everything that went down. I know shit escalated with drugs. Weed turned into molly and that turned into coke. There was a girl he refuses to talk about. And a drug deal went south that Aaron got caught up in. He hasn’t shared the full story, but on top of the addiction he got a nice case of PTSD. When he’s having an episode things get heavy. The way he reacts, you’d think he’d been to war. I guess in a roundabout way he was.
Aaron worked on getting clean before we moved in together and I helped get him out of the CI program as soon as I learned he was in it. Fuckers didn’t want to let him go, but I made sure they realized they didn't have a choice. Sometimes it pays to be a Price. This was one of those times.
But the road to recovery is a long one, and staying clean isn’t the only thing Aaron needs to worry about. “Access to drugs isn’t what I’m worried about. I know you’re good.” The first year was rough but the last two, he’s been solid.
Aaron lets out an exasperated sigh. “I’ll be fine.”
“You jumped me when I slammed the back door earlier.”
He closes his eyes, hands fisted at his sides. “You caught me off guard.”
Yeah. I’d been doing that a lot lately. It’s why I’ve made it a point to be around as much as possible. I go to class, the field, and then straight home. I've met up with Aaron for lunch between classes all week, and when he’s felt up for it, he kicks it at the field and catches up on his schoolwork while he waits for me to finish.
It’s not ideal. We don’t do secrets in our crew. But, this … this is Aaron’s damage. It’s not my place to tell my boys. Aaron will do that when he’s good and ready, so for now, this is what works.
But part of why it works is because we avoid scenes like what Aaron is about to put himself in. Greek parties are loud. Rowdy. People get into stupid shit and no, I don’t think Aaron will slip up when it comes to drugs. He worked too fucking hard for his sobriety. But this week he’s been off and I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“There’s going to be loud music. Probably shit with a heavy bass. People are going to be shouting. People are going to rub against you when you walk by. How do you think you’ll react?” I’m not his dad. I’m not going to order him around, but he needs to see this for what it is. A bad idea.
“I’m going. You wanna babysit, be my guest, but I’m climbing the walls here, Dom.” He slams a palm to his chest. “I can’t breathe and I know I’m fucked up in the head right now, but this is what I’ve come up with and I’m seeing it through.”
I grab my phone and slide it into my back pocket. “Let’s go, then.”
Aaron’s shoulders relax and we head out. He tells me on the way that the party we’re headed to is at Kappa Mu. Kasey’s sorority house.Shit.
We haven’t talked since the classroom. I’m a dick. She knows that already. This isn’t some new revelation. But I took shit too far that day. And if Aaron finds out what I did to his baby sister, what I still think about doing to her, I’m fucked.
Chapter Thirteen
“Isee you’re having fun,” Quinn says, a smirk on her face as she moves to stand up beside me. “Any chance your hottie has a brother?”
I follow her eyes and see that she’s ogling Deacon. “Not that I know of, but he’s not my hottie. We just happen to have English together this semester so, you should go for it.”
Her eyes bug out and she whips toward me. “Seriously? You wouldn’t mind?”
I laugh. “Nope. He’s all yours. Deacon isn’t really my type.”
She looks at me like I just spoke a foreign language. “Have you seen the guy?” she asks. “That fine specimen of a man right there is everyone’s type.”
“He’s good-looking, I’ll give you that. But—”
“But? There are no buts.” She places the back of her hand against my forehead. Then my cheeks. “Are you feeling okay? No fever, but I’m worried about you. Maybe you should lie down. All this sun is getting to you.”
I smack her hand away. “I’m fine,” I tell her with an exasperated breath. “I just don’t do players. He’s nice, but he’s on the football team and he’s a Greek. Pass.”
