Jessica’s legs give out, and he hefts her up to his chest.
“We were just having a little fun. Don’t sweat it.” J.P. reaches to Jessica, but Drake knocks his hand away.
“Don’t fucking touch her, man.”
My mind spins with sick irony. Drake’s not ideal, but he’s better than this piece of shit.
Jessica was my girlfriend, but I knew Drake always had a thing for her. The second I wasn’t looking, he made his move. It sucked at first. I really thought we’d end up together, but I was wrong. Drake has never been faithful to Jess, and now that this J.P. guy is moving in on his girl, he’s decided to stake his claim? Fucking ridiculous.
What’s most disturbing about all this is the fact that Jess is clearly out of her mind either on booze or drugs or a combo of the two and neither of these guys has the right to lay a finger on her body when she’s this fucked up.
I step closer. “Drake. Give me your keys. I’m taking Jessica home.”
“No way. I’ve got her—”
“Now.”
J.P. steps up, his jaw hard. “Well look who we have here? College boy.”
“Always knew you were a fuckup, J.P. Never took you for a rapist.”
He shrugs, his lips curling back over his teeth. “I was just takin’ a piss. Not my fault she followed me in, beggin’ for my dick.”
Drake tries to lunge. “You motherfu—”
I hold my hand up to keep Drake back, noticing briefly that Jessica is completely slumped over in his arms. “Take her to the car, Drake. I’ll be right there. Don’t drive, understand?”
My brother’s eyes are buggin’ out of his head, clearly the high from all the coke he snorted in full force and intensified by adrenaline.
“Drake!” His eyes come to mine. “Now. Get her to the car.”
He shifts his gaze between J.P. and me, not moving.
Jessica sucks in a breath and coughs then vomits all over Drake’s leg.
He blinks down. “Shit.”
Her back arches with a dry heave.
“Take her outside, D.”
This time he doesn’t stall and guides her down the hallway to the front door. “Hang in there, baby. You’re okay.”
How he can be so damn sweet to her now and such an asshole at other times, I’ll never understand.
I turn my attention back to J.P. “We need to talk.”
“I’m listening.”
“What will it take to get my brother out of his dad’s business?”
His face registers nothing, and I wonder if he didn’t hear me, but when he throws his head back in booming laughter, I realize he most certainly did.
“I’m serious, J.P.”
“Oh, I know you’re serious.” He sniffs and wipes at his eye. “But there’s no fucking way Drake gets to walk away. Not after the shit he pulled.”
“He replaced that. He should be square.”
“He’s not.”
“You just fucked his girlfriend.” Sickness stirs my gut, managing to just piss me off more. “What more do you want?”
He scratches his jaw, which is covered in a week old beard. “Simple. They want what he promised them: his life.”
“His life? You can’t be fucking serious?”
“As a damn heart attack,” he growls.
“He’s twenty-one. You can’t expect him to run drugs for you guys until he’s an old man.”
“Who’re you kidding? No one in this business ever lives that long.”
“So that’s it? He takes orders until he’s dead.”
He shrugs. “It was his choice.”
“How much will it take to buy him back from you?”
He casts a glance over my shoulder and gives someone just beyond me a head nod. “I’ll be right there.” His eyes come back to mine, and he grins before pushing past me. “He’s not for sale.”
I grip his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. His narrowed eyes go to my hand and then to me.
“Everything has a price, J.P.”
The tension between us pulls tight, and I ball my fist prepared for his attack, but he doesn’t hit.
“Drake knows what it takes to get out. Blood for blood,” he says.
And with that, he delivers a blow more painful than any punch. In order for Drake to be free, someone needs to get hurt. Fuck, what will they do to him?
“You guys okay back there?” I dart my eyes to the rearview mirror to see Jess passed out against Drake’s chest, his arms holding her to him.
We pulled over twice so she could throw up, and each time I was surprised to see how gentle Drake was with her. He held her up with one hand, had her hair off her face with the other, and whispered soothing words to her while she tossed up God knows what.
“I fuckin’ hope so. I don’t think she has much left in her.” There’s unease in his voice.
“You get her to talk at all?”