Chapter Eight

Jensen

I share a look with Cash, she obviously has a lot to say and we're running out of time.

"Why don't we head outside? The hallways are going to fill with kids any minute now, and then you can tell us properly what happened without being rushed and potentially forgetting something important," Cash suggests.

She looks nervous as she replies, "Won't I get in trouble for skipping class?"

I shake my head and smile, "No, one of us will drop you back to your class; the teacher won't question you at all."

"Sweet," she replies, "okay, lead the way."

We quickly make our way out of the building, and Cash leads to the parking lot. I figure it is probably because he thinks that she would feel more comfortable here rather than in the woods or on the playing field, which are both far away from the school, this way if there was a need for it, which there isn't, but if there was, she could run back to the school quickly and easily.

From the lessening tension in her shoulders, he picked the right place.

"Alright, first things first, do you know what they're calling the drug?" I ask.

"Candy," she replies immediately.

"Seriously?" I ask, "They're aiming it at high school kids then; I mean, they've got to be with a name like that; it makes it seem a lot more innocent than it actually is."

Cash

I nod in agreement, "Yeah, it looks like it. Where did you get it from?"

"There was a guy, he was a couple of years older than us, probably around your age, he offered it to us. I think he was from Tomlinson."

"Are you sure?" I ask sharply, that changes this whole situation.

She nods, "Yeah, I'm fairly certain. I've seen him hang out at the café place in town with a few guys I know for certain are from Tomlinson."

"Do you have a name?"

She shakes her head, "No, he didn't give us a name."

"What about what he looked like?"

She frowns and shrugs again, "I'm sorry but he pretty much just looked like a typical stoner, long hair, dark eyes, skinny."

"That's probably described half the guys at Tomlinson and at least four that are a part of Billy's inner circle," Jensen mutters.

"Sorry, I wish I could help more," Rachel adds.

"Would you recognize him if we showed him to you?" I ask, trying to come up with a plan that would help us identify the guy but not put her at risk. If he's willing to peddle a deadly drug, then he'll have no issues making her disappear, most likely from a drug overdose.

That's what I'd do, as fucked up as that is.

"Erm, probably, but I don't think it would be exactly safe for me to do that," she replies, her mind clearly going to where mine has and recognizing that she would be in danger in that situation.

"If we can figure a way for you to identify the person and not get seen or anyone know that you were the one who identified them would you do it?" Jensen asks. I'm unsure if it's because he already has a plan or if he's just hoping that me or one of the other guys will have a way to make it work.

She thinks about it for a moment before hesitantly nodding, "Yeah, so long as you can promise me that I'm not going to be in any danger and he won't know who told you who he is, then I can do that."

"Thank you," I tell her honestly; if she can identify the guy, then it will make our lives a hell of a lot easier, and we can get this drug out of our school a lot quicker. "We'll figure something out and come and find you when we've got a plan."

"Text me instead. I don't want my friends to know that I've spoken to you," she says, as she quickly scribbles her number in a notebook she's carrying and rips it free, handing it over to me.

"Got it," I reply. "Let us know if you hear anything about Aurora and if you hear that the guy is going to be at any parties."

"Will do; I'm avoiding parties for the foreseeable future, though. I think what happened to Aurora has effectively put me off for a very long time, maybe I'll try again in college."

I smile, I'd think she was joking, but from the haunted look in her eyes, I get the feeling that there's a large part of her that is deadly serious, and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if she really didn't go to another party until college. Seeing a friend in pain, potentially life-threatening pain, is not something that you get over quickly, even if they make a full recovery.

The image of Riot's blood-soaked room flashes through my mind, and I have to swallow back the bile. I'll never forget that, and I'll never forget hearing one of the EMTs say that if we hadn't got to him when we did, he probably wouldn't have made it. I have to push the memory away because it fills me with an intense burning rage, and if it weren't for the fact that his parents are in prison, I probably would be because of what I'd like to do to them.

My boy next door mask must have slipped slightly at the turn in my thoughts though because Jensen nudges me, and gives me a warning look. Just like that, my mask snaps back into place.

"That's understandable," I tell her, "thanks for telling us what you know. We'll walk you back to lessons."

"No problem," she replies, "and actually, I think I'm going to go to the hospital and see if Aurora is okay. I haven't heard anything yet, and I'm getting worried. We've been friends since we were in diapers, and our moms are friends, and she hasn't heard anything either."

"Do you need a lift?" I ask.

She shakes her head, "No, I've literally just messaged my mom. She should be coming in a minute to take me."

"Okay, well, let us know if we can do anything," Jensen offers.

She nods and then walks away, heading toward the road. We watch for a moment as a car with a woman who looks just like her but older pulls up, and she gets in.

"Fuck," Jensen practically growls as soon as they're out of sight, as he drops all pretense.

"Yeah, this is a major fucking problem," I reply as I pull my phone out of my pocket and send a group message to the guys, asking them to meet us by the truck.

"Do you reckon Billy knows?" Jensen asks, as he checks his phone and realizes his notification was from me, "Smart thinking, we need to get this shit handled quickly."

"That's what I was thinking and if you'd asked me a year ago I would've said he most likely knows and is dealing with it," I reply honestly but continue, "now though, with how they were behaving with the whole Ryan situation and shit, I honestly don't know. They could know and be encouraging it, I mean it's not like they're getting any money from the Pit anymore, or they could have absolutely no idea."

"That reminds me, I need to check a few things in our accounts and make sure everything is as secure as it's supposed to be. I've got a few more promising investments that I'd like to run past you guys to see what you think before I go ahead and move some of our money into them," Jensen replies.

I smile and don't look at him since I know my next words will embarrass him; I say, "You know, sometimes I forget just how fucking smart you are. I wouldn't understand how to do any of that, and you make it look so easy."

Jensen predictably shrugs like it's no big deal that because of his understanding of how the system works and wise investment choices, he's set us up for life; if we didn't want to, we wouldn't have to work again, and it's all because of him. When we first started earning crazy money at the Pit, I wanted to blow it all as soon as I got my cut; it's only because I respect and trust Jensen that I didn't, and I listened to him and let him handle it instead, and I am so fucking glad that I did.

"I've still got all of Atlas's accounts and shit. I put some of what I earned from our very last Pit fight into it. When he gets back in contact again I'll give him all the details for it so that he can access the money. If I'd known that he was going to need to disappear, I would've given it to him before he left." Jensen surprises me by saying.