Rock Hard: A Stepbrother Romance Page 0,65
motioned to another mirror covered in coke.
“Nah. I’m good.”
“Come on, Mister Climber. Have a little hit. Or maybe a beer?”
I glanced down and noticed a cooler. I grabbed it and pulled out a drink, cracking it open. I didn’t want to get fucked up with the mobsters around and figured beer was the lesser of the two options.
“You don’t do coke?”
“Not often.” I sipped my drink.
Jay leaned forward and snorted a line with a rolled up hundred. Thom gave me an apologetic look, though I had no clue why. Jay threw his head back, his eyes a little wild and excited as the drugs hit his bloodstream.
“Fuck yes, that shit is good,” he said.
Thom laughed nervously. “Yeah, it’s really good shit.”
“Mister Climber, you’re missing out.”
Thom took the hundred and snorted his own line. I took another long drink.
“What are you doing here anyway, Jay?”
He cocked his head. “Why do you ask that?”
I shrugged. “Seems like this isn’t your kind of scene.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I have many scenes.”
“You go to local parties out in the woods often?”
He laughed. “No, maybe I don’t. But tonight I’m doing business.”
My pulse quickened. I wanted to press but I didn’t want to seem too eager. “I hope Thom isn’t trying to rip you guys off,” I said jokingly.
“Oh, if he tried that we’d tear off his balls and shove them down his throat.” Jay’s expression didn’t change, and I assumed he wasn’t kidding.
“I’d never do that, Jay,” Thom said quickly.
I grinned at him and finished my beer. “By the way, Thom, speaking of business, I got those amps you wanted.”
He looked confused for a second and then nodded slowly. “Okay, cool.”
“They’re out in my truck if you want to take a look.”
“Amps?” Jay asked. “What’s this shit?”
“For my guitar,” Thom said. “My other one’s fucking busted.”
“You play guitar? Like rock music?”
Thom nodded. “Sure. I got a little band.”
Jay laughed loudly. “You have your guitar here? You can play for us.”
Thom shook his head. “No guitar. Sorry, Jay.”
“Ah shit. You have to play for me sometime. Play your rock music.” He laughed loudly.
Thom stood up. “We’ll be back in a few.”
“Be fast. We have more terms to negotiate.”
Thom nodded and followed me back out of the trailer. As soon as we were out of earshot, he turned on me.
“What the fuck was that, Climber? Joking about me ripping him off?”
“You deserved it, asshole. What the fuck is he doing here?”
“Jesus, he just showed up. I had no clue they were coming.”
“Bullshit.”
“I swear. He just showed up and started negotiating terms or some shit. Really, I think he’s just fucked up and bored.”
“This is pretty shitty, Thom. The guy we’re planning on trying to fuck over just appears at this party?”
“I know, man. I swear, I’m not trying to pull anything. I’m as in this thing as you are now.”
I clenched my fists and turned away.
“Fine. Let’s talk at my truck.” I stalked off and he followed me. I figured we needed a little privacy for whatever he had to say, and it didn’t hurt to keep up appearances.
I leaned against the bumper and crossed my arms as Thom looked around sheepishly.
“So, where’s the amp?” he asked.
“Are you fucking kidding?”
“What? You said you had an amp to sell me.”
“I only said that to get you out of the trailer. Jesus fuck, Thom.”
“Okay, man, sorry. What am I supposed to tell Jay if he asks about the amp?”
I stared at him. I knew he was an idiot but holy shit was he pushing it. “Tell him you didn’t want it.”
“Okay, yeah. Good call.”
“Am I going to have to fucking strangle you or are you going to tell me why you made me come out here?”
Thom nodded and twitched slightly. He was obviously a little high, which probably explained his extra stupidity.
“Right, yeah, so. I heard some shit today about the mob.”
“Tell me.”
“So you met those guys up north, right?” I nodded and he continued. “Apparently the guys up there aren’t happy with how things are being run down here. There’s some kind of war going on.”
I raised an eyebrow. “An internal struggle?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Why?”
“Hard to say. I heard something about money. Not getting enough of it, I guess.”
“Tell me more. Who’s involved?”
“I don’t know, man. Jay is definitely involved somehow. Who’d you meet up north?”
“Guy named Rigley.”
“Rigley! Shit, I knew it was a weird name. Yeah, he’s important up there.”
“Why is he meeting with me, then?”
“Hard to say.”
I leaned back against the truck and crossed my arms,