The girl imitates him, looking over her shoulders at the two hired men of ours in The Red Room t-shirts and black jeans before she nods. “You guys have the best sweets.”
“Sweets?” I ask, and she grins at me like she knows a secret she can’t wait to tell me.
“It’s what the streets are calling it now,” she says and bites down on her lower lip, letting her body sway. Jase and I pull out our chairs across from her, the legs scraping across the floor. Sweets. Plural. Because that fucker Romano has his version out. I keep the small hint of friendliness firmly in place. But I’m nothing but pissed at the reminder
“Sweet Lullaby, you mean?” Jase asks, lifting an eyebrow. And again, she nods.
“You’re buying a lot of this stuff,” Jase tells her although it comes out a question. Her nails scratch down her arms as she glances all around us. She’s jittery and the chair legs beneath her keep rasping on the floor.
“I just need it, okay?” Her words are rushed. The air changes around her instantly.
Noting her hollow cheeks, dead eyes, and pale lips, the humor, and vibe that she’s down to have a good time have vanished.
“Is it really what you need?” Jase asks and leans forward to stare into her eyes. “’Cause we’ve got some other stuff you might want?”
She’s in need of a hit. That’s for damn sure and if I had to guess her drug of choice is heroin. Maybe coke.
“I just need to grab it and get back,” she answers, but her voice is breathy and uncertain. I wait a moment, glancing at Jase as we both hear her swallow over the muted sound of the music playing in the club.
“I think we have some coming, sorry about the wait, miss…?”
“Jenny. Jenny Parks,” she answers him and then reaches into her purse for her phone. The two men behind us make a move for their guns, and the little blonde doesn’t even notice.
“Fuck, it’s already past nine,” she says and her face crumples with a mix of anxiety and fear.
As she slips her thumb into her mouth to chew on her nail, Jase asks her, “Hey, is there anything I can get you while you wait?”
“Anything to calm you down a little? Another drink or something stronger?” I add.
Her breath comes out harder. “Yeah, maybe,” she replies as her eyes dart from me to Jase. “I just wanted to come in and get the stuff. It’ll be here soon?” she asks again, looking down at the phone to check the time. “Like, how soon.”
“It could be a bit,” Jase says and shrugs, looking at Mick and she watches him shrug too. “We’ve got other stuff while you wait,” he offers but she’s already shaking her head, still biting that thumbnail.
She speaks over the finger in her mouth. “I need the sweets first.”
The problem with a junkie is that they have a one-track mind. They want the drug. And it’s obvious that she gets hers when she delivers our drug to the real buyer.
Jase shrugs again. “An hour, maybe?” He glances at me and I nod my head.
“Fuck,” she mutters and cradles her face in her hands.
“You want us to drop it off somewhere else?” Jase asks, and she peeks up through her lashes. We’re getting the address of where this product is going. Either from her telling us or from us following her. Whatever the fuck we have to do.
“I have to get back. I’m sorry,” she rushes her words as she slides her phone off the table and into her purse.
“We can get you something to take the edge off while it comes in and we can talk a little?” Jared suggests to her from where he’s standing guard by the steel doors. She seems to get it then. The reality of what’s going on hits her like a ton of bricks and she’s shit at hiding it.
“It’s just… it’s my brother. You know? He needs it, and he doesn’t like me to be late.“
“Your brother?” Jase questions and I glance at Mick, standing behind the seated blonde, who shakes his head once. Little Jenny doesn’t have a brother.
“Yeah, and he doesn’t like people to come around, you know?” Again, her words are rushed and she looks at the men behind her then at us.
“I can just come back another time,” she mumbles. Her breathing is sporadic as she pulls her purse to her chest.
She takes a second to stand up, but Mick’s hand on her shoulder makes her pause.
A second drops between us all, heavy with the consequences of what’s to come.
She’s buying for someone else and lying to cover it up. Someone who keeps her doped up and someone who scares her enough to give her the strength to resist her next hit from us.