Released (Caged 3)

Could do it for the money instead of the smack…

No.

Fuck no.

Just one needle.

I pulled myself up using the door as leverage and then stumbled down the street. I told myself I wasn’t headed anywhere in particular, but looming ahead of me was a group of whores sharing needles and blowing guys as they pulled up in their cars.

Only a couple blocks away.

Gunfire startled me, and I looked to the opposite side of the street where two guys were running out of the alley. They jumped into the back of a rusted-out Monte Carlo, which then sped off down the middle of the road, nearly taking out one of the hookers in the process.

She flipped it off and screamed a few choice words at them as she stood in the middle of the street.

“Hey, man?” An elderly guy with tightly curled white hair on the top of his head stumbled from the edge of the building. “You got a light?”

“Uh…yeah…” I managed to mumble. I pulled my lighter out of my pocket and handed it to the guy.

“Got any cigarettes?”

Nice.

I handed him one, which he lit with a shaking hand before thanking me and dropping back to the ground near the edge of the building where the rain wasn’t quite as heavy. He crawled a few feet to a large cardboard box with a concave roof so he could smoke without the rain putting out the cigarette.

My attention went back to the junkies near the corner. They were all standing in the rain, shooting up and looking about as miserable as they could be. Except that I knew they didn’t feel miserable. They felt fucking fantastic.

She wants you clean.

“She doesn’t want anything from me,” I muttered. “I’ve got nothing to give her. Better off this way.”

My throat seized, and I had to stop for a moment and lean against the wall. I turned my head toward the sky, and rain poured over me, soaking me completely.

Doubling over, I wrapped my arms around my stomach and squeezed my eyes shut. After a minute or so, I managed to start breathing right again, but my head was still swimming from hyperventilating. Inside my head, small, insistent voices battled with each other.

I need Tria.

She doesn’t want you.

“I don’t deserve her,” I whispered. “Not like this. She shouldn’t have to be with someone like this, not when she’s…she’s…”

Heated wetness filled my eyes and streamed down my cheeks.

“She’s having my baby.”

Biting down on the insides of my cheeks was the only way I managed to keep from screaming out loud—not that anyone around here would have noticed or cared. I stumbled across the street and into the alley, nearly tripping over a man lying near the edge. Glancing down, I saw his eyes wide open and staring blankly at the sky. I shuddered a little and moved to the other side of the alley before going any farther.

It had been years since I had been around this part of town, but I mostly remembered where things were. There wasn’t much, honestly—a liquor store, which was really a front for an illegal gambling joint, and a cheap tobacco place with at least one busted out window. There was one other relic near the edge of the street, and as I moved closer to it, I hoped and prayed it was still functional. Surprisingly enough, when I pushed back the folding doorway of the phone booth, there was still a working telephone inside of it.

Shuffling around in my pockets, I managed to come up with enough change for a local call. I could barely hold the coins steady enough to drop them down the slot, but I managed to jam all the familiar numbers in sequence. I took a long, deep breath, and then put the handset to my ear.

“Hello?” a familiar voice spoke easily into the phone. There was some noise in the background, and I figured he was in the car.

“Um…hey, Michael,” I said.

“Liam?” He was definitely surprised.

“Yeah, it’s me.”