Chapter Five
Luc
I say it like a joke, but it's a genuine concern of mine, and his reaction and reply will mean a lot to me and determine whether I can actually use his offer as often as he's said.
Trick chuckles, "I think it's pretty unlikely that I'm going to get fed up with you, man, we've been friends since we were toddlers, but if it makes you feel better, I promise that I'll tell you if you piss me off, just like I have always told you if you piss me off."
Something settles inside me as I realize that he means what he's said, and I grin as I say, "Yeah, you make a good point."
I don't think he realizes just how much that meant to me.
"I always do," he jokes.
"Are we heading straight to school?"
Trick shakes his head, "No, we're going to get everyone. We're just doing it the other way around."
"Fair enough," I reply.
Trick
I tried to reply to his question in a way that would let him know how ridiculous the question was without taking away how important it was to him that I answer, and it was important to him. I'm not entirely sure why, but I picked up on it almost immediately, and I knew that I needed to answer it honestly and not in a sarcastic way. I'm almost certain that there's more going on with him than what he's let on, things that his father has said to him that have had more of an impact than perhaps he's even willing to admit to himself.
But he'll talk when he's ready, and if he's ever ready to tell me about it, I'll be here to listen.
We push all the serious talk away as we pull up outside Rafe's place; he's already waiting outside like usual since I messaged and let him and Riot know that I'd be picking them up before I got Jensen and Cash. Of course, they immediately asked what was wrong with Luc and if he was okay. I filled them in with the information that I had, but all of them were just as worried as I was.
None of us like Luc's situation, but all of us realize that there isn't really anything that we can do about it; we effectively have our hands tied.
"Everything okay?" Rafe signs as soon as he gets in the car.
"I'm all good," Luc replies, knowing that the question was aimed at him and not me.
Rafe doesn't sign anything but does raise his eyebrow at Luc, which makes me smirk. He has a unique way of getting his point across without signing anything and pretty much only using facial expressions.
Luc smiles, "Honestly, I'm good. Nothing happened apart from I got some more information on my father that we can hopefully use to take him down at a later date. I think Trick got far less sleep than I did."
Rafe smirks at that, but his smile quickly fades as we pull up outside of Riot's place. I don't think much of it until Riot gets in the truck; he greets us all normally, doing the same as Rafe did and checking in on me, but then, instead of sliding up next to Rafe as he would typically do, he stays on the opposite side of the truck, and both of them stare out of the windows and don't utter a word to each other. I share a look with Luc, raising my eyebrows in question, he shakes his head, clearly knowing as much as I do about why they're being cold with each other.
I'd ask them, but there really isn't any point; they'll deny that there's anything going on because that's what they always do. They'll also be talking to each other again by lunch, so it's best to just leave them to it when they get in this mood.
Cash and Jensen are together, waiting outside of Jensen's place. Riot gets out so they can get in the back, and as soon as Jensen's seated and we've set off, I watch as he looks between Rafe and Riot, still sitting as far away from each other as they possibly can; he's going to say something.
"A little bit frosty in here this morning," he announces, leaning forward and pointedly staring between them both.
I smirk, trust Jensen to call it how he sees it. Riot and Rafe glance at him and then at each other.
"It's all good," Riot says.
Jensen snickers, "Sure it is. I'm going to let it drop because I'm already bored, but sort it out."
I can't help it, I laugh, my laughter triggering the others. Jensen has such a blunt way of phrasing things; he doesn't tiptoe around any of us, and honestly, it's probably something that they both need to hear right now, despite what I was thinking earlier.
"Sorry, man," Rafe signs, but there's a twinkle of amusement in his eyes and a smirk on his face that matches Riot's.
By the time we get to school, they're back to normal.
Jensen
S omething is going on; it's only lunchtime, but the whole school has been practically buzzing all day. I place my tray on our usual table, where all the guys are already seated.
"Anyone know what's going on?" I ask, around a mouthful of food.
They all shake their heads, and Riot replies, "No idea. I think someone is in the hospital, but I'm not entirely sure."
"Did you guys hear?" Trev asks as he comes up to the table and takes a seat.
He may be out of our more dubious antics, but he's still very much our friend and keeps his ear to the ground in case we need to know anything. He's also healed up nicely and is now only walking with a slight limp.
"We were just wondering what was going on?" Trick replies.
Cash holds up his phone, "I was just sending you a text to see if you've heard anything."
Trev smirks, "Of course, I know what's going on."
"Care to share?" I ask, with a smile, as he doesn't immediately tell us.
"Yeah, yeah, I was just enjoying the moment," Trev replies, his smile becoming serious as he continues, "one of the freshmen overdosed last night. She's in the hospital, and they don't know if she's going to make it."
"For fuck sake," Trick curses.
"That's the second one in three months. What the hell is going on?" Cash adds.
"We've never had problems with kids overdosing before, maybe once a year, if that," Luc frowns.
"There's a new product in town, and that's what they're taking," Trev replies.
I share a look with the guys; this stuff is killing kids; we need to get to the bottom of this and get the product out of our town. The dealer too. It's something that we're more than capable of dealing with.
"Do you know if Tomlinson is having the same issues, or is it just our town?" I ask Trev.
We need to know so that we can either warn them, accuse them, or involve them. Tensions are especially high with them at the moment, so the less interaction we have with them, the better.
"They've lost three kids in the same time frame." Trev tells us and then adds before any of us can ask, "You haven't heard about it because all of the kids were from influential families, and none of them wanted it to be common knowledge that drugs were the cause of death."
"Fucking rich dicks," Luc curses.
"Do you know if they're doing anything about it?" Cash asks, "Have they looked into it? Do they know where it's coming from? Anything?"
Trev shakes his head, "Sorry guys, I don't know. They started pulling their weight after the Ryan thing, but I have no idea if they're back to being as in control and as involved as they used to be."
"No worries, man. Thanks for filling us in," Riot says, while Rafe nods in agreement.
In these situations, Rafe likes to remain observant and doesn't bother signing or anything like that; by almost fading into the background of the conversations, he tends to pick up on things that we haven't. I don't think that's going to happen in this case since we're talking to Trev, but it always fascinates me what he's picked up when we're talking to Tomlinson or the cops. In both instances, it's usually something along the lines of they weren't telling us the whole truth.
"You going to take care of it?" Trev asks seriously, worry in his expression. Kids dying from some new drug is a massive worry.
We all share a look, not that we need to. We know that we're going to sort this out because that's what we do. We make sure that the town and the kids are safe.