Page 85 of Reckless At Raleigh High
I’d laugh if I could, but it hurts too much. Besides, it’s not really funny. Itistypical, though. Of course Silver and I weren’t going to be able to make it through a dance at Raleigh High without the world blowing up in our faces.
I explain what happened as best I can, shrugging through the parts when Agent Lowell showed up and shot Jake, and Cam listens without saying a word. When I’ve filled in the details I have to hand, he sighs, kneading the back of his neck with his fingers.
“Why did you go out there with him in the first place?” he asks quietly. “You had to know—”
“I figured I could take him. And I just wanted it to be over. Silver had been through enough,” I tell him. That’s the only real explanation I can give him. It was time for the situation to be dealt with properly, and I really had thought it would turn out differently.
“Aren’t you sick and tired already of looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing so many bruises? All of the time, Alex. You look like a goddamn punching bag,” Cam says morosely. “Dr. Romera said it’s a miracle they didn’t break your jaw.”
“Yeah, well, it kinda feels like they did, so…” I open my mouth as wide as I can, stretching out my jaw, and it hurts like a motherfucker. I should just leave it be, but I can’t help myself. Propped up against what feels like a cloud’s worth of pillows in a rather sexy hospital gown, I know that the body-wide numbness I’m feeling right now is a short reprieve. They gave me the good pain meds when they wheeled me in here, but it won’t be long before they wear off, and I won’t be taking any more. I’d rather be sharp in my head and suffering than fuzzy and fucked up like I am now. “As for the bruises, there won’t be any more. I promise. I’ll be healed up and out of here in a couple of days, and that’ll be it. No more fighting. No more conflict. No more drama. I’ve decided, I’m gonna bust my ass and get a spot at Dartmouth. It’s what she wants, and I’m gonna give it to her.”
This makes him laugh. “Wow, you must be super fucking high if you’re talking about college.”
“Soooohigh,” I confirm.
Cam looks at his daughter, passed out in a set of scrubs Dr. Romera gave her, and wipes his hand over his face. “I can’t say I approve of you going after Jake on your own like that, but it makes sense. She’s been through so much. I probably would have done the same thing.”
“Of course you would. You love her.” A rush of tingling euphoria crests in my chest as another wave of the meds washes over me. For a moment, I feel really fucking good, like I just dumped a whole heap of MDMA down my throat. “Have the cops shown up?” I ask. It’s inevitable. I’ve been waiting for them to roll in hereen masseand start with their questioning. It’s standard protocol to interview people, naturally, but someonediedtonight. There’ll be an investigation without a shadow of a doubt. I’ll be interrogated and harassed until they somehow make Jake’s death my fault. And I can hardly defend myself by saying I went out there to shake hands and bury the hatchet with the dude. Iwasgonna fucking kill him.
“Don’t worry about the cops,” Cam says. “Apparently, this whole nightmare’s gonna be handled by the DEA directly.”
Jesus. I don’t know if that’s better or a million times worse. Nothing’s really making much sense right now. “Can you do me a favor, man?” I ask, my voice hoarse.
“So long as it doesn’t involve breaking you out of this place, then sure. You need to stay here overnight at least. You took a pretty bad beating.”
I’ve had way, way worse. How fucked up is that? I just smile brokenly at Silver’s dad, though. “Get her outta here, will you? I’m so sick and tired of her being pulled back to this place. It’s fucking depressing. And she wouldn’t say it, but it makes her anxious.”
Cam nods, studying the girl asleep on the chair. Cameron and I have very little in common, but the fact that we’d both do anything Silver makes us more alike than either of us would care to admit. “Yeah. I reckon I can do that,” he says.
She doesn’t even wake up when he lifts her into his arms and carries her out of the hospital room.
* * *
It’s somewhere in between very late and very early when my next visitor arrives. He enters the room at around four thirty in the morning, carrying a Styrofoam cup and a brown paper bag full of fast food. Lowell’s hair is all messed up, and there are dark shadows under his eyes but he’s alert—sharp, in a wired, hyper focused way that happens to people when they drink too much coffee. Or take way too much speed.
I’ve been waiting for him.
He doesn’t say anything until he sits himself on the chair by the bed, pulls a burger out of the paper bag, removes the lid from the Styrofoam cup, dumps a sugar into the acerbic-smelling black liquid inside, stirs it, and has himself officially situated.
“I had this sister,” he says. “I always used to look up to her. She was a lot older than me. Our parents thought she walked on fucking water. No matter what shit was going on at home or whatever, Dee was always in charge and in control. She never lost her cool.” He takes a big sip from his coffee, raising his eyebrows when he realizes it’s too hot. He swallows regardless. “Our dad was a fighter pilot. And then he joined the police force when he came out of the air force. Natural progression, everyone said. He was a hard guy to live with, but Dee knew exactly how to handle him. She got away with murder. Me, on the other hand? I was a major disappointment. Never good enough. I couldn’t put a single foot wrong. Denise was accepted into the DEA and she was his fucking hero, serving her country. I joined the DEA, and I was a lazy, worthless piece of shit who couldn—”
“Hate to interrupt.” I shift uncomfortably in the bed, wincing. “But I’m a little messed up at the moment. Any chance we could save the family history for another time? Y’know…go grab lunch and really get into it. Bring out the photo albums. Everything kind of hurts at the moment, and I’m struggling to care about the Lowell family dynamic, fascinating thought it sounds.”
The agent shoves the burger into his mouth and takes a monster bite. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he mumbles around his food. “I’ll paraphrase. Dee was a bitch. She got too caught up in the job and went off the rails. Your friend Zeth there—”
“We’re not friends.”
“God, can you just shut up and listen for five seconds? Zeth was her white whale. You read Moby Dick, right?”
I raise my eyebrows.
Detective Lowell takes this as an affirmative and continues. “She could never pin that motherfucker down, and it drove her mad. She broke protocol. Completely lost it. I won’t bother with the details, but the Weavings? They were my white whale. The whole fucking family.”
Huh. I wasn’t expecting that. Ever since he showed up in Raleigh, the DEA agent’s been by Jacob’s side. He’s been on him like white on rice. Jake was so sure that Lowell was in his back pocket from the way he was talking before he pointed that gun at me. Not to mention the way Lowell went after Silver, trying to make out like she concocted the whole rape plan and made up the entire attack that happened at Leon’s.
“So you went rogue to catch your white whale, too?” I surmise.
Lowell bites. Chews. Swallows. “There are a lot of rules when you work for an organization like the DEA. They can be a little restrictive. I’m good at…”—he shrugs— “…bendingthose rules from time to time, if it means I get the job done in the end. The higher ups wouldn’t like it, but hey. What they don’t know can’t hurt ’em, right?” He finishes his burger in four bites and immediately takes out another one. “Didn’t like having to treat your girl like crap there, dude, but it was a necessary evil at the time. You feel me?”
