“I thought you were mad at me.”
“I am.”
“Then, why are you holding me?”
“Because I’m also so fucking proud to call you my girlfriend.”
He kept his arms around me as I rolled over to face him.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re a hard-ass, Lexi, and I fucking love it. I don’t like that you got in a fight over me, but at the same time, I think it’s so fucking hot that you’d do that for me.”
“You seem surprised that I’d fight for you. What did you expect me to do? Let her drag you away, so you could bang her?”
Joel grinned. “You have such a way with words. No, I didn’t expect you to sit quietly, but I also didn’t expect you to break her nose.”
“She had it coming.”
“She did. I have to admit that it was a major turn-on to see you like that.”
“On top of a girl?”
He laughed. “No. Don’t get me wrong, it would be hot to see you with a girl but that’s not what I meant. It’s hot to see you get out of control like that.”
He surprised me sometimes. I’d expected him to say that he was pissed at me. Instead, he was telling me that I’d given him a hard-on.
“You tend to bring my crazy out.”
“I’m glad.” He kissed me gently as he rolled me onto my back. “But I now have a problem only you can fix.”
“And what is your problem exactly?”
“I’m still hard.”
He pressed his lower body against me, showing me just how hard he was.
“I think I can help you with your problem.”
I hated mornings with a fiery passion. I had no idea who had decided that the entire world needed to wake up at ass o’clock, but that person needed to be nut-punched. Needless to say, I wasn’t the nicest person in the world if woken up before noon.
Joel knew that, and he let me sleep in the next morning. When I finally managed to haul my grumpy self out of bed, it was well after noon. I changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top before stumbling into the bathroom to brush my teeth and tie my hair back. I could hear Joel moving around in the kitchen as I walked down the hallway.
He glanced up when I appeared. “Afternoon, sleepyhead.”
“Ugh. Give me food,” I said as I sat down at the kitchen table.
He grinned as he set a bowl of cereal down in front of me. “You’re lucky I love you so much, or I wouldn’t put up with your grumpy ass when you wake up.”
“Shut up. I’m not grumpy.”
“Whatever. Hurry up and eat, so we can head out.”
I started shoveling cereal into my mouth. We did need to hurry.
Joel had a schedule of where he needed to be at certain times, so people could meet up with him. If he weren’t there when he was supposed to be, we would have some seriously unhappy customers. He was never at the same place at the same time for obvious reasons. He always sent out a message to a few of his friends the night before, telling them where he would be, and they would spread the word to everyone he sold to.
I finished my cereal and washed out my bowl in the sink. Joel was already walking out the door, and I scrambled to keep up with him. We took his old Honda instead of his bike. The car was a lot less flashy, and we didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention.
Joel turned up the radio as we made our way to the bad side of town. He lived in a neighborhood that was right between the good side of town and the bad side, so within minutes, we reached our first stop.
I waited in the car as Joel got out and walked over to a group of teenagers. To someone who had no idea what was going on, the scene looked normal. They were just a bunch of guys and a few girls hanging out on picnic benches at the local park, but I knew better. I grabbed the gun that Joel kept under my seat and flipped the safety off just in case I needed it.
I watched all of them closely as they spoke with Joel. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as I watched the deal go down. If one of them tried to hurt him, I’d see it before they had a chance to do anything. Joel had taught me how to use a gun a few months ago when I started helping him. I hadn’t used it yet, but I wasn’t afraid to if he needed my help. Joel always came first. The deal was done in just a few minutes, and Joel walked back to the car.
He noticed the gun in my lap and frowned. “Why do you have that?”
“Because I wanted to be ready if you needed me. There were a bunch of them. Your back was to me, so I’d see someone sneak up behind you before you did.”
His frown deepened as he took the gun from me and slipped it back under the seat. “I taught you how to use that to protect yourself, not me. I can handle myself. If something goes down, I don’t want you to get involved. You’re better than that, Lexi.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to just sit around if something goes down. We’re in this together. As long as I’m with you, I will protect you. I don’t care what that means for me later on.”
He seemed truly bothered by my words. I couldn’t believe that he would expect me to sit idly by if he needed me.
I loved him, and I’d do anything to protect him. Was he perfect? Definitely not. But then again, who was? No one in this world was perfect. We all had our faults. I hated what Joel did, but I’d come to accept it. I loved him for who he was, and I wasn’t about to try to change him.
The ride was quiet as we headed to our next stop. Both of us were lost in our own thoughts. I waited in the car again as Joel took care of another deal. Only three guys were here, and I knew all of them, so I let myself relax. Joel finished up with them and headed back to the car.
He glanced at the clock once he got in. “Damn it, I’m running behind.” He looked over at me. “Okay if I drop you off to do the next one for me? If it’s the usual clients, I mean. They’re all teenagers.”
I shrugged. “Fine by me.”
Doing deals didn’t bother me as long as I wasn’t surrounded by a ton of buyers. I had a badass reputation, and everyone around here knew it. That meant that most of the teenagers my age didn’t mess around with me.
“I’ll drop you off and go to the next one. I’ll haul ass, so I’ll hopefully be back by the time you’re finished.”
“Okay.”
We pulled up to an elementary school. My stomach dropped. I hated doing deals at schools. It just felt wrong to me, but the playground here was big enough that it worked for us.
Joel kissed me and handed me the weed just before I stepped out of the car. I walked across the road and down the hill to where the playground was. I glanced back just as Joel pulled away, leaving me on my own.
Three teenage boys were hanging out by the chain-link fence on the opposite side of the playground. With the exception of us and a few younger kids and their parents, the place was deserted. I watched the boys closely as I approached. They were sophomores at my high school. I’d seen them hanging around a few times, but I didn’t know their names.
They all looked up when I stopped in front of them.
The tallest stepped forward and smirked at me. “Joel too important for us now, so he had to send his little girlfriend to do his dirty work?”
The cocky little shit had already pissed me off. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. I shrugged. “I guess so. If you don’t like me, I’ll leave, and you can go home empty-handed. It doesn’t matter to me either way.”
His eyes narrowed at my threat. “Calm your tits. I’m just messing with you.”
“I have other places to be. Tell me what you want.”
“I want an eighth, and Joey does, too.” He glanced over his shoulder to one of the other boys.
“Fifty each.” He raised an eyebrow at me, “It’s good shit. Take it or leave it, I don’t care. You know how much it costs. Don’t think that you’ll be able to take advantage of me because Joel isn’t here.”
I stepped closer to him and held out my hand. He pulled cash from his pocket and shoved it roughly into my hand. I
slipped it in my pocket and grabbed two bags of weed out of my purse. I shook his hand as I passed them to him.
“Good doing business with you.”
“You, too,” he said, his tone full of sarcasm.
I ignored him as I turned and started walking back toward the road. I hated annoying little assholes like him. Their cocky attitude got under my skin like nothing else. If they weren’t Joel’s customers, I would have told their leader to go take a flying leap.
I wasn’t paying attention as I walked. I was too annoyed with the guy to notice anything going on around me. I glanced up and stopped dead when I saw a car idling just a few feet away from me. My heart leaped into my throat when I saw my mom sitting behind the wheel.
How did she find me? Did she just see what happened only thirty feet away from her car?
She stepped out of her car and marched toward me, looking angrier than I’d ever seen her. I held my breath when she stopped in front of me.
“Get in the car right now, Alexandria.”
“I—”
“Now!” she shouted, pulling me from my stupor.
“No! What the hell did I do now?”
Her nostrils flared. “Are you serious? I might not be young anymore, but I know what I just saw. You were selling those boys drugs! I’m not stupid.”
I pretended to be shocked. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a drug dealer! I thought you knew me better than that!”
“Don’t act innocent, Alexandria. You haven’t been innocent for a very long time.”
“I’m not acting! I have no idea what you’re talking about! How did you even find me?”
“Stop lying!” she screamed “I saw Joel’s car while I was out looking for you, so I followed him. I saw everything. How could you do this to your father and me? What you’re doing is illegal, and you could go to jail!”
“You’re crazy! I didn’t sell those guys drugs.”
“Then, why are you here?”
“I…” I needed to think fast. “Joey texted me to see if I could loan him twenty bucks. Joel had a few errands to run, so I had him drop me off here because this is where Joey said he’d be.”
She laughed. “You’re unbelievable. Get in the car right now, Alexandria. I’m not messing around!”
“No!” I wasn’t about to get in that car. Once I did, it would be all over. She’d never let me out of the house again.
“Get in the car.”
“I’m not leaving with you.”
Her face twisted into an ugly snarl. “Get in the car, or I swear to God, I’ll call the cops on you right now.” She paused to let that sink in. “And I’m betting Joel is the one who got you into this. I’ll turn him in, too.”
I felt like she’d just punched me in the stomach. She was using my one weakness against me.
“You have no proof. It’s your word against mine.”
“I’m betting that you have drugs on you right now and so does Joel. That’s all the proof they’ll need.”
A car pulled up several yards away from us. I glanced over to see Joel watching us with a worried expression on his face.
I turned back to my mother and gave her the cruelest smile I could muster up. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
I ran. I ran as fast as I could. I was by Joel’s car in a matter of seconds. I jumped in and screamed at him to go. He floored it, leaving my mother in our dust.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked.
“She saw me selling to those boys. We’ve got to hide everything. She’s going to call the cops on us.”
Joel let out a string of curses that shocked even me. “This is so fucked-up!”
Neither of us said another word as he drove back to his house. As soon as the car stopped, we were both out of the car and running into his house. I knew where he kept everything hidden—under a loose floorboard in his bedroom. I ran to it and pried it up. I grabbed the bag he kept everything in from under the floorboard and threw it to him. He turned to leave with it, but then he stopped dead in his tracks. My mother was standing in the bedroom doorway.
“Fuck!” I growled. How the hell did she catch up to us so quickly?
“Give me the bag,” she said calmly as she looked over at Joel.
He shook his head. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t let you have it.”
“You’ve destroyed my daughter’s life. Destroyed it. I don’t even recognize the person she’s become since she met you.” My mother’s voice was deathly quiet. “I haven’t called the cops yet, but I will. Either give me the bag or give me my daughter. It’s your choice.”
Joel would be out thousands of dollars if he handed the drugs over to her. And he’d go to jail. I couldn’t let him lose everything because of me.
He hung his head in defeat as he walked over to my mother.
“Wait! I’ll go with you. Just leave him alone.”
Joel looked back at me. “Lexi…”
“No. I won’t let her destroy you over me.” I stood and walked to my mother. “Do what you want to me, but leave him alone.”
“You will not see this boy ever again—ever. If you do, I will have the cops beating on his door before you can even blink.” She turned to Joel. “If you even try to contact her, it’s over. Stay the hell away from my daughter.”
I said nothing. There was no point in arguing with her right now. I had to get her out of his house. I followed as she turned to leave. When she tripped on one of my bras that Joel had ripped off of me at some point, I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.
She glanced down and sucked in a breath. “Why am I not surprised? Get in the car right now!”
My hands shook as I followed her. I glanced over my shoulder to look at Joel one last time. I’d never seen him look so angry or so helpless.
I mouthed, I love you, when he looked up at me.
I had no idea when I would see him again, but I knew without a doubt that I would. She couldn’t keep us away from each other for long.
The car ride home was completely silent. I kept waiting for her to start screaming at me, but she never did. I wished that she would just get it over with and let me have it. I knew what Joel and I had done was wrong, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel bad for it. I had been helping Joel. I didn’t care what my mom thought about me.
My mom pulled her car into the garage and shut it off. The only sound was the garage door as it closed. I folded my hands in my lap as I waited for her to speak. I knew her rant was coming, and I needed to prepare myself for it.
Instead, she shocked me by opening her door and getting out.
“Where are you going?” I called after her.
She glanced back at me, and my stomach dropped as I saw her eyes filling with tears.
Damn it. I hated making her cry. Seeing that was ten times worse than her screaming at me.
“Go to your room, Alexandria. Stay there until I tell you otherwise.”
I expected her to wait and make sure that I actually listened to her, but she didn’t. Instead, she simply turned and walked into the house. I got out and silently made my way into the house and up to my room.
I closed my door and then lay down on my bed. I couldn’t process what had just happened with my mom’s reaction. First, she’d screamed at me, and then she’d flipped some kind of internal switch and shut down completely.
I wouldn’t stay away from Joel. I couldn’t. I had to make her see that he wasn’t at fault here. It had been my decision to help him. He shouldn’t have to suffer because of it. He was everything to me, and I wouldn’t stop seeing him just because she’d demanded it.
An idea came to me, and my mind started spinning. Joel and I could run away together. I would be eighteen in just a few months. As long as I stayed hidden until then, there would be nothing she could do once I was a legal adult.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and sent Joel a text. I was afraid to call in case my mother was close-by.
&n
bsp; Me: I want to run away.
Joel: That sounds like heaven right about now. I’m so sorry for what I did. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be in so much trouble.
Me: It wasn’t your fault. I should have paid attention to my surroundings. I’m serious about running away though. We could.
Joel: Where would we go, Lexi? You’re not eighteen yet, and I really don’t feel like being arrested for kidnapping on top of everything else your mom could turn us in for.
Me: They’d never find us. And once I turn eighteen, there’s nothing she can do about it.
Joel: No. I won’t do that to you. You can’t give up everything for me.
Me: Just think about it?
Joel: Not going to happen.
Me: Fine. Whatever. But she can’t keep me away from you forever. I’ll find a way to see you again.
Joel: I know you will, babe. I love you.
Me: I love you, too. I’m sure she’s going to take my phone away soon, so don’t text me anymore. I’d better go.
I deleted every single text message on my phone and stuffed it in my pocket. I didn’t need her snooping through my phone and seeing something she didn’t need to.
I spent the next few hours staring at my ceiling as I waited for her to come to my room. This wasn’t like her at all. Usually, she would let me have it as soon as we made it home. Maybe this was a new form of punishment—making me cower in fear from anticipation alone. Normally, I didn’t care when she handed out my punishment, but things were so much worse than usual.
Fear grabbed my heart as a thought hit me like a wrecking ball. What if she is keeping me up here while she calls the cops and has Joel arrested? I jumped from my bed, and I all but ran to the door. I wouldn’t let her do that to Joel.
Just as I reached the door, it swung open. My mother and father were standing there, staring at me. This was bad. Dad worked a lot, so he was never around to yell at me. If he was home, something major was about to happen.
Breaking Alexandria Page 3