Page 53 of Dark Endures

The boys start sweating.

Perfect. “I’ll let you know.”

Havoc nods and leaves the room.

“Jordan, are you okay?” I wait silently for an answer.

It takes a long time for Jordan to pull himself together. “Yeah,” he kinda croaks.

Now for the important question. “Do you want to be a drug dealer?”

“Don’t answer that.” Jordan’s brother, Levi, slaps his arm. “It’s a trap.”

“Maddox isn’t like that.” Jordan pushes him away. “No. But I don’t have a choice.”

That’s where he’s wrong. “You always have a choice.”

Jordan shakes his head. “Not when it’s that or die.”

Boys and their drama.

My shoes clack on the cement floor as I walk across to the metal table that’s bolted to the floor.

That must come in handy.

“In case you’ve forgotten, nothing will happen to you on The Street. We won’t let it. If you were afraid, all you had to do was say something to one of us. We won’t let anyone hurt you.”There have been plenty of people who have tried to over the years. Not many of them survived to tell the story.

“It’s not me.”

“Jordan shut up.” His brother practically jumps out of his seat.

“They found us. Don’t you get that? Maddox can find out anything. He can protect us.”

“He might protect you, but he sure isn’t going to protect me. So, if you wanna see me dead on the side of the road somewhere, keep talking.”

The brother is in deep for his age. “Who’s threatening you?”

“None of your business.” Levi tries to put up a solid front.

Time for some hard truths. “Is this really how you want to live your life? Worse, is it how you want your little brother to? Because I’ve seen way too many kids die protecting their siblings.” And every one of their faces will haunt me.

“Doesn’t matter what I want anymore.”

Levi’s given up. “Yes, it does. Do you want your brother to follow you down this path?”

“No.” His hand shakes, whether from withdrawals or fear, I’m not sure. “But I don’t want to die. And if I don’t pay back Crawley, he’s going to kill me.”

Well, well, well, it seems Crawley needs to die. “How much do you owe him?” Like I’m going to pay a drug dealer that targets kids.

“Twenty G’s”

Crawley definitely needs to meet my vipers. “Do you have an address or phone number for him?”

“No.” He looks at Jordan. “Is this guy seriously going to pay off twenty G’s for some street kid he doesn’t know? What’s in it for him?” Furious eyes turn to me.

“Nothing. They just help people.” Jordan tries to defend me.

Levi laughs. “What did I teach you? Ain’t nothin’ in this world free. That man wants something from you. And if it ain’t money, he wants you. My brother isn’t for sale. People like you should die.”

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