"Look alive, buttercup," Cameron said as he came up to the kitchen table the next morning. "You eating this? It's cold."
I shook my head and Cameron took my plate, clearing the table. I was eating breakfast with Ben, Travis, and Cameron. They'd long finished their food but I was kept finding myself distracted and staring at my plate or pushing my eggs around with my toast. I blamed it on the exhilaration from having spray painted the town the day before because that's practically all I could thing about in bed last night. Finn and Annabeth had recently shown up but they were out of the house when we were all eating so Finn had just grabbed some toast.
Perhaps it was the tiredness that caused my delayed reaction, or the fact that I was so used to Travis calling me names but it wasn't until Cameron came back to the table that I realized what he'd said, tossing it over and over again in my head trying to figure out where I'd heard that before.
"Buttercup?" I paused and tapped my fingers to the table as I thought, staring down at my fingers. "Where have I heard that? That sounds like you got it from..."
"It's from a movie about a blonde princess," Annabeth said with no hesitation.
"Yes!" I snapped my fingers and pointed at Annabeth, excitement at the realization clear on my face but she just stared blankly at me before looking away. "The Princess Bride."
How did she know I was thinking about that reference and not something else? She didn't even seem to guess it, she knew she was going to be right. Has she seen that movie? Has Cameron? The thought of them watching those types of movies was hard to picture but I still looked between the two, imagining them with a bag of popcorn and The Princess Bride playing, or Pride and Prejudice, or....
"He didn't get that from a princess movie," Travis supplied. "He probably pulled it out of his ass, same place he gets all the other shit he says."
Cameron went to whack Travis for that comment but Travis ducked and punched Cameron's side to get him out of his range. I don't think it hurt him, but he backed out of Travis' space anyway.
"Hang on," I raised my hand even though no one was talking as my mind went to another movie. "Have you seen Titanic?"
"The boat movie?" Finn asked.
"It's not just a boat movie," I said. It was a love story.
"Does it not have a boat in it?" Finn raised an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes because yes he was right but it was a lot more than just a boat movie and wasn't the point that I was trying to make here.
Annabeth took that moment to help me out. "He's seen it," she supplied.
Cameron glowered.
"Why?" Travis asked.
"Jack, the guy in it, says something like 'if you jump, I jump'."
"That's not what I say," Cameron said defensively.
"Right, I realize that," I said, holding up my hands to try to get him to chill out because it's not like I had a weapon pulled on him. "It's 'if I say jump, you jump. If I say duck, you duck'. Don't they have something like that in...Wait, I'm remembering the line wrong." I waved my hand away, dismissing it.
Hannah walked into the room and got a glass a water, hesitating for a moment as if to see if the conversation was safe or if she needed to disappear out of the room again. When I first met her, I didn't really think she was serious when she said she didn't want any info on the gang activities.
"Now I'm interested, what was the line?" Ben asked, glancing at Cameron who looked like he was trying to simmer his rage.
Okay, it was two movies. He needed to calm down.
Hesitantly, I continued. "The guy in the movie I was thinking of says something like, "if I'm a bird, you're a bird." Not a duck like I was thinking."
"That's two entirely different types of uses of the word duck," Cameron said, relaxing.
"He's seen The Notebook," Hannah said like it was no big deal when she realized what movie I meant and I wondered how much she'd overheard. She noticed Cameron's glare on her instantly, "What?"
"That's not necessary," he said.
I heard the others trying to contain their laughter, Ben and Travis specifically doing a bad job of it.
"Why did you see The Notebook?" Ben asked.
"No reason," Cameron said.
"When?" Travis barked out but Cameron ignored him.
"You can tell us, you know," Ben said gently. "If you were doing that stuff with her," he pointed to Hannah.
Cameron just stared at him like he was oblivious to what Ben was trying to convey. My mind tried to wrap itself around what was the truth and what was fiction between the Hannah and Cameron story.
Ben held his hands out in front of him like he was holding a platter as he said, "You're dating Hannah, we know."
Cameron looked between Hannah and Ben slowly before speaking, each word sounding calculated, like he ran it through a simulator beforehand. "She was my girlfriend. Now she's not."
Travis gave a fist pump to the air. "Knew it."
Finn started laughing and shook his head. Annabeth just watched from her seat at the table with her had on her cheek, like she was bored.
An angry groan came from Hannah before she set her glass down on the counter with such force that some sloshed out of the edge and onto the counter. She didn't make any moves to clean it up, too busy setting fire to Cameron. "You're such a stickler for words, I swear. I'm going to shove this ring so far up your ass, when the sun hits your eyes you're going to look like a disco ball."
Cameron's shoulders straightened and he cleared his throat. He looked smaller. Like if Hannah said jump, he would right then and there as he stared back at her and that was the only time I could ever remember Cameron looking anything short of impenetrable.
She took her glass, not bothering to clean up the counter and marched out of the room. Cameron watched her go for a second before he looked at Finn and Annabeth and raised an eyebrow.
"Well?" he asked.
Was he asking for a review of the situation from them or advice? Or was he waiting on word back on whether or not Finn popped the question? I looked at Annabeth's finger which was empty so that couldn't be it.
"Here," Annabeth answered, plunking a roll of red duct tape on the table. "Carlos said they gave him this."
I stared at it.
Travis went to reach for it but Cameron knocked his hand away.
"Get your grubby hands off," he scolded.
"Grubby?" Travis asked, offended. "Watch my grubby hands do this." He proceeded to give Cameron the middle finger.
Cameron popped him on the back of the head.
"What part of a concussion do you guys not understand?" Travis asked, splaying his fingers wide as he slowly pressed his palms to the table.
"Give it a break already. Have I bitched once about my leg?" Cameron asked him with a straight face.
Travis rolled his eyes with exaggeration, making sure Cameron saw. "That's not my problem."
Cameron pursed his lips and turned away from Travis. He shook his head softly, like he was using restraint to hold in whatever he wanted to do or say.
Ben extended his arms into the middle of the table, grabbing everyone's attention. "Are we not going to acknowledge Cameron takes leadership advice from romance movies?"
"Someone smack him," Cameron said, too far away from Ben.
Finn shoved Ben nearly out of his seat. "Let the man enjoy his chick flicks."
"Finn!" Cameron's eyes were on fire again.
I buried my head in my hands on the table as laughter took over my body.
It took a few minutes for Cameron to get everything back under control and once he did, he set the red tape back on the table. We were all sitting at the table, except for Finn, who stood behind Ben and Travis in case they started to tease Cameron again. It was the only way to get them to stop laughing.
"The suppliers don't know all of us so they want all of the Caseys to wear a color on them so they can tell who's a Casey and who's a Dacosta when they come to Melkin to take care of the "Dacosta problem". They'd be going after everyone not wearing something red like that on them somewhere while we're out looking for Scully."
"They gave this to you?" Ben asked. He ripped off a piece of tape from the roll, as if studying it.
Travis grabbed it out of Ben's hands and stuck it over his face but didn't push down hard on it. He slouched down in his chair, like hew as finally relaxed.
"That's ridiculous," Finn said, ripping the piece off. Standing above him, he slapped the red tape onto Travis' forehead, making sure it was really stuck and secured on. I didn't want to be around when Travis had to take it off.
"There you go," Finn cooed, "Don't say I never did anything for you, kiddo."
I looked at Travis trying to see the red tape on his forehead as he picked at the corner just the tiniest bit. They were worried that my jacket was going to be a problem when I got it because it stood out so much and the only reason that I felt okay with that was because I didn't want to hide and I knew Travis could see me easier. And now the suppliers wanted us all to wear bright colored tape? Everyone would stand out. There was a difference between an entire gang and one person.
"That seems weird," I admitted.
"What does?" Annabeth asked, but she was studying me.
I pointed to the tape on Travis' forehead. "The meeting with the suppliers was all about you not being able to trust them. That's why we had a radio on me and why you didn't go alone and why you had to go in the first place, because you don't trust them to just let you out of the deal, right? So, how do you know it won't make Caseys easier to find?"
"We'll be wearing flags for them to pinpoint, pretty much," Ben agreed.
Cameron nodded and squeezed my shoulder. "That's why we're not going to."
"Oh," I said, feeling the unsaid praise as he released my shoulder.
"I think it's a trap and with the cops most likely on their way, I don't want to risk it. Lacey, whether or not you want to wear your red jacket is up to you but when they realized none of the Caseys are walking around with red hats or marks on them, they'll realize we aren't doing it and most likely not look twice at your jacket. It's up to you, though."
"If anyone tells you guys to put something on, tell them to go to hell," Annabeth said.
I eyed the red duct tape, it seeming much more dangerous now than it did when she set it down.
Cameron left the room and Annabeth stood up.
"We're going out on the streets together soon, Barbie," Annabeth told me, "I just need to get ready."
I nodded, not sure if I should be worried or excited at the chance to get out again with Annabeth.
Travis groaned, leaning over himself as he struggled with the tape. I wondered if he heard any of what we'd been talking about. Ben reached over, grabbing Travis' head with one hand to steady him and the end of the duct tape with his other. With one swift tug, he ripped the tape off and Travis let out a surprised shriek. Ben got up to throw the tape away.
The Dacostas had my mind going again, back to the kid at the hospital, Andrew.
I looked to Ben as he came back over to the table. "Hey, Do you think you can help me with something before we head out?"
He studied me for a moment. "Depends."
"Did you hear about the kid the Dacostas attacked and sent to the hospital? I mentioned it to Travis, I don't know if he told you."
"He told me," Ben assured.
"I gave him my old work number in case he ever needed anything. I was thinking about him recently and I don't know...I guess I was just wondering if you could check if he called?" I asked, biting my lip and bracing for him to laugh and say no.
The two boys seemed to have a silent conversation between the two of them for a moment.
"Yeah, come on," Ben finally said and I thought I was hearing things because that sounded like a yes.
Not about to question it, I followed Ben to his room with Travis right behind me. Once we were in Ben's room, he dug through a drawer before grabbing my old phone. He hooked it up to his computer.
"What's his name?" Ben asked.
"Andrew."
I watched as he went through records like it was nothing.
"That reminds me," I began, "how much did you two check into me while I was gone?"
"Huh?" Travis asked from his seat on Ben's bed.
"Hack or cyberstalk or whatever," I clarified, if he was going to play dumb about it.
Ben put a hand innocently to his chest. "Me? Do that?"
I narrowed my eyes. "I know you. That doesn't work on me, Acker."
Maybe it would work on strangers. On Josh. On literally anyone who didn't spend more than a day with him. But Travis knew things about me that he would have no way of knowing and the only explanation I had was Benjamin Acker.
Travis laughed, "We made sure you were alive. After. That's all."
Ben swiveled in his chair to give Travis a pointed look.
"How thoughtful," I said even though I was pretty sure he was lying about that being all they did.
"You know us," Travis smiled and shrugged, trying his best to look innocent.
"I should cancel my apartment lease. That's something you can help me figure out how to do without causing issues," I said casually as I watched the computer work.
Travis scoffed and tossing something in his hand that he'd grabbed from Ben's nightstand but I couldn't see what it was. "Why do you need to cancel? They'll cancel your lease when you stop paying."
For some reason, having that on my record seemed worse than anything I probably had here.
I shrugged.
Ben pointed at the screen. "Bingo. This number left a voicemail and is registered to a Andrew Torres."
He pressed another button and selected the voicemail from his computer screen. The sound filled the room.
"Hey Lacey. It's Drew. Andrew. From the hospital. Well...okay. I just wanted to thank you."
Anxiety overwhelmed me instantly and the need to make sure he was alive and well.
"Can I call him back?" I grabbed Ben's arm urgently. I looked over to Travis to see a soft smile on his face.
Ben shrugged me off with a chuckle. He hooked up another phone to the computer and pressed a few buttons on the keyboard. Then the phone started dialing out on speaker phone.
"Hello?" A cautious voice asked, one that I instantly recognized as the scared kid in the hospital bed.
"Andrew?" I asked and had to tell myself to tone it down before I frightened him.
"Maybe," he stated, trying to sound tough. "Who's asking?"
I looked at Ben and Travis. "Can I say my name?" I whispered.
They looked at each outer for a moment, most likely having another silent conversation I wasn't tuned into.
"No one can trace it. Just be careful," Ben warned.
"It's Lacey. I got your message," I said louder, for him to hear.
"Wow, your response time is terrible," Andrew responded.
My mouth dropped. "I've been a little busy," I defended.
The kid laughed. "I'm kidding. This isn't the number you gave me.
"No, that was my work phone. I..." Hesitation snagged my voice away as I thought of how I never really worked for the agency, not really. "I no longer work for them."
He sighed. "Good. They were mean."
"Are you okay, Andrew?"
"Drew," he corrected. "I'm good. Thank you for talking to me, telling your bosses to be quiet."
"Any time. You need to stay out of trouble," I warned.
"I know," he groaned but then started talking hushed like he was letting me in on a secret, "I came into town to try to impress him and I didn't even get to see him before those guys ambushed me. I tried to fight them because I thought he'd see what I could do or I'd get a black eye at most. What a rip off."
Ben both leaned in a little closer at that. Travis got off the bed and came up behind me to hear better.
"Who?" I asked.
"My uncle. He lives in Melkin. I've always wanted to be just like him. He's so cool."
I shook my head and dread filled me. I was half tempted to cross my fingers for it not to be bad news. "Who's your uncle, Drew?"
"Uh...why?"
"Did those guys know him?" I rattled off. "Did you know those guys that attacked you?"
What if his uncle was a Dacosta and that's why they went after him? How terrible was that? A new hatred that I didn't even know I could reach carved its way into my heart at the idea of the Dacostas injuring and sending their own family out to send a message to me.
"No. I told them at first that he was my uncle and he was going to kick their ass...butts," Drew corrected, "Don't tell my Gran I said that. But the guys didn't care."
Travis was practically on top of me as this point as he listened. Did that mean his uncle wasn't a Dacosta? Or just that the Dacostas didn't care that much? Finn said Sterling used to shoot his own men.
"Who is your uncle? Maybe I know him or my friends here do. I promise no one will hurt you," I said with honesty because I didn't want anyone else to hurt him but I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't hurt whoever his uncle was if he did this.
"Jaime Costello."
"Jay?" Ben asked before he realized he was talking.
My eyes bulged and I stood up from my hunched over position, instantly smacking my head on Travis' chest. "Jay as in Jay? Our Jay?"
Ben nodded as Travis rubbed the spot on my head where I'd crashed into him. Jay's name was Jaime? The giant of a man that picked me up like I weighed nothing after knocking out the guy choking me out went was named Jaime? And he was related to this kid?
"Yeah, that's what he goes by," Drew confirmed cautiously, "Who is that, Lacey?"
The fact that Jay wasn't his actual name and he worked with someone who went by "Q" on his team was even better now.
"Sorry," I told him, "Just my friend who helped me set up the phone so I could call you safely. Jay is a friend of ours. He actually helped me a lot," I assured him, trying not to sound like I was freaking out at who this kid was.
Drew seemed to like that. "Told you he was cool."
"Does Jay know you were here?" I asked, because Jay had been in Melkin after I left the hospital, running from Dylan. He walked around casually not like his nephew was beaten to a pulp. It didn't seem like a Jay thing to do nothing about it, but then gain, I couldn't see anger on him often. Even after he went in and out of the hotel room to beat guys up for money, he was calm and collected.
Did he handle this on his own?
"Nah," Drew said. "My Gran got me from the hospital and took me back home."
Travis was texting furiously on his phone before he practically skidded out of the room.
"Where is that? Not in Melkin?"
"Bout an hour away, probably never heard of it. Not much here," he sighed like a kid that had exhausted every mode of entertainment from his town. Like a kid that had skipped town to Melkin and unknowingly walked into gang territory looking to impress his "cool" uncle for some excitement.
"I'm glad you're okay. You should stay out of Melkin though." I told him.
He groaned, "Believe me, my Gran tells me every day."
"Wait," I held out my hand even though he couldn't tell because this wasn't adding up. I wasn't the best criminal like the rest of the gang but I was good at a few things. I had memorized everything my bosses had on my friends before I came to Melkin so I knew what I could say or not say, what would be giving away too much. I remembered as much as I could on Sterling Dacosta so I could find him when I got here. I learned the city streets quickly, which could be difficult when every street had dilapidated buildings on it, but so I could navigate them in the night when I crept away from the hotel. When I was leading a double life with my bosses, I had to remember everything everyone said, everything everyone thought I knew, everything I said to make sure nothing overlapped and gave people reason to question what I was saying. And I remembered exactly what Drew told us at the hospital.
"This isn't the story you told the cops when we were visiting you," I told him, with my gut once again feeling unsure.
Ben was suddenly poised at the keyboard, presumably ready to disconnect the call.
"Well, no," Drew said like it was obvious. "I'm not a snitch."
"You told them you came from a friend's house. What did you have to lose lying to them? To us?" I rattled off.
Drew hesitated. "You were cops, I wasn't going to bring Jay's name into it. He was in jail already when he was younger, he doesn't like cops and I figured you'd go talk to him or call him and he'd rip me a new one."
I massaged my temple, trying to work out Drew covering for Jay. It seemed innocent enough and whether or not he knew if Jay was in a gang, that was Jay's business. I didn't care if Drew lied to Dylan and Josh when we were there, as long as we weren't getting screwed over talking to the teenager now.
"Smart kid," Ben said.
"Thanks." Drew's pride practically be heard shining through the phone.
"I gotta go," I groaned. I gave him my new number I had with the Casey gang and told him again, to call if he ever needed anything.
When we hung up, Ben stared at me with wide eyes.
"You learn something new every day," he said.
"I'm ready to stop learning," I confessed.
He laughed, throwing his head back, "Me too."
Travis came back in hooking a finger behind him at where he just came from, "I told the others and texted Jay to keep better tabs on his things."
"Like you did?" I challenged.
Travis rolled his head around on his shoulders like he was stretching out his neck, "Okay Fine. I looked up a few things about you. Sometimes. Can you blame me?"
My stomach swirled with happiness at the knowledge that he hadn't forgotten about me while I was gone and my heart hammered against my chest like it was protesting against my chest, begging to be closer to him.
"No, I can't," I confessed, a satisfied grin on my face because I'd jumped at any Melkin news over the last three years, only to find out the news was practically nonexistent.
"Speaking of things, I want to call and check on my mom," Travis said and pushed Ben out of the way.
Before I could offer to leave the room, Travis had the phone dialing out again.
"Hey, hold on," the voice from his step-brother came over the phone. The same one that I'd met up with in a room for months with going over exercises with to get over trauma.
There was a short pause and Travis started playing with my fingertips as I stood next to him at Ben's desk. I watched as Ben started putting back all of his belongings that Travis had recently touched and left on the bed.
After the short pause, his step-brother, Nate, spoke up again, "Okay, what's up?"
Travis grinned at me, "Lacey is here."
"Damn. How did your incompetent ass manage that?" he asked.
"Hey, Nate," I spoke up.
"Oh. You can hear me. Hey. He's not that bad." Nate tried to cover up and wingman for Travis.
Travis rolled his eyes and dove into asking about what was going on with his mom and Nate's family back home. At some point, Ben left the room and I kept quiet during Travis' exchange with Nate, instead just content to watch his face light up with the conversation. His mom was great and that alone got Travis' grin to new levels but I don't think he realized it.
After that, Nate and I talked for a bit and caught up. He was having issues with his PTSD and panic attacks, which was what a lot of our therapy sessions dealt with. Travis suggested to punch someone. I tried to dissuade that idea and wondered if that was how Travis dealt with his own nerves. He was always so sure footed. Nothing seemed to rattle him, unless he was having a nightmare.
When we got off the phone, Travis was studying me as I grinned wildly at him.
"What?" he asked.
I shook my head.
"Tell me."
"Nothing. That was just nice." Normal.
He shrugged and since we were alone, he stood up and put his hands on either side of my cheeks. His lips found mine shortly after and I felt a surge start in my chest and spread throughout the rest of my body as I grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to me. My heart beat wildly but it was happy with the lack of distance between us.
After we parted, he rested his forehead on mine and I was thankful for all the years in ballet as I stood on my toes and didn't lose my balance because it brought me closer to his beautiful eyes.
"What will you be doing today?" I whispered.
"Looking down from above, seeing if I can spot him," his voice was soft and I felt his breath against my face.
My hands were holding onto him and his were still holding my cheeks.
"Be safe today with Annabeth," he told me. "Make sure she doesn't shoot you."
I laughed in his face and lowered myself down to my heels. "She likes me."
Travis gave me a doubtful look as he ran his arm along the length of mine until he found my hand.
As always, I felt the need to tell him to be safe as well. But I kept that to myself because he was still Travis and if I told him to be safe, it was a like a challenge for him to see how many unsafe things he could get away with without dying. So instead, I gave him another quick kiss and refused to tempt his rebellious nature.
Pulling my hand, he led me out of Ben's room and we joined the others, where it looked like Annabeth was half ready. She didn't have her jacket or shoes on and was on the phone, pacing in the living room with Cameron and Hannah standing off to the side. Hannah was pointing to various parts of her body with the injuries Drew had and Cameron was relaying it to Annabeth. With how low Hannah was speaking, I couldn't even hear her from where we stopped in the room and could only tell she was talking about injuries based on what Cameron was saying and where she pointed. Plus, I'd seen Drew to match the injuries with the picture of him I had in my head. With how secretive Hannah was about her existence here, I doubted she wanted her voice to be overheard on the phone. Annabeth was repeating everything to the person.
"Broken rib...bruising...His eyebrow had stitches...Broke his arm...I'll kill you myself if you do that," she told whoever was on the phone. She hung up and looked at us when we came in, "Jay's going to check on his family so that's good."
Her threatening Jay put me back on the fence about whether or not I was excited about going out with her. But it was good. I would be crushed if I found out something like that happened under my nose without me knowing.
"He leaving now?" Finn asked.
"Yeah. He was getting in his car now," she said.
"He'll be there in five hours with the way he drives," I grumbled because Jay drove like a ninety year old with an expired license.
The group laughed but I was the most shocked at Annabeth's laughter.
"When's he coming back?" Ben asked.
Annabeth shrugged. "Don't know if he will."
"We'll be out of here soon, anyway," Finn provided optimistically.
I mulled over that for a moment. The thought that Jay was going to check on his nephew and by the time he was finished with that, we might have already gotten our hands on Scully and left town. We'd be free to do whatever we wanted.
"Get your stuff, Barbie. We're going."
Travis squeezed my hand to hold me in place and pointed his other hand at Annabeth, who raised her hands defensively.
"I know, I know," she shouldered past him, "You're giving her to me in one piece, you'll get her back in one."
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