She shakes her head and I want to cover my eyes. “Nope. He’s staying here and going to State.”
Perry slams his cup to the ground and starts to move toward an unsuspecting Sloan standing by the fire. Jeremy leans his head down to Serena and kisses her hard once.
“You’re a troublemaker,” he says, spinning her around. He gives her a shove toward her friends. “Come find me later,” he calls to her with a wink.
Serena flashes a coy smile and Jeremy looks to us and shrugs. “I guess I better stop him.”
Jeremy jogs to catch Perry before he makes it very far, pulling him back a step. He throws his arm around his shoulder. “Easy there, guy. You need to chill. We’re celebrating remember?” Perry tries to shrug him off and Jeremy laughs. “Come on, forget about it for one night I’m begging you. I want to have some fun.”
Perry stops fighting against him, but his jaw remains tense. “This is bullshit.”
Jeremy nods. “Yes, it is.” He holds a finger up. “But, we’re not going to get into it right now, and do you know why?”
The angry look on Perry’s face doesn’t fade. “Why?” he grits out.
Jeremy grins wide, releasing him. “Because it’s a party.” He grabs the girl next to him and spins her around. “And you’re supposed to be having fun.”
I cover my face with my hands. “Oh, no. Please tell me you’re not going to dance, Jer.”
Jeremy stops twirling the girl and she almost stumbles to the ground. He catches her before shooting me an incredulous look. “Are you saying I can’t dance?”
I nod. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
The grin on his face gets larger, but he doesn’t say anything. He moves through the crowd to where the music is playing. He motions to a guy controlling the volume to crank it up and proceeds to dance around like an idiot in the middle of the crowd. Walker immediately is almost doubled-over in laughter, nearly knocking me from my seat in between his legs.
“Don’t encourage him,” I say between laughs of my own.
Perry comes back to our side with an amused expression. “Okay,” he says motioning to my brother. “That idiot is actually making me feel better.”
My smile turns to a frown when Jeremy decides to dance on the large rock at the edge of the cliff. I jump down from the tailgate and hold my hands up around my mouth. “Hey, get off there!” I call to him.
Jeremy gives me a look like I’m crazy, ignoring my pleas. “Relax, Tess. I know what I’m doing.”
His face shifts to fear when the edge of the rock cracks and he stumbles slightly. He lets out a nervous laugh, catching his balance. “Whoa. That was lucky,” he says with a smirk.
Before any of us can sigh in relief, the rock cracks again and I don’t see him anymore. The next few moments happen in a blur as my brain goes quickly from confusion to panic. I open my mouth and release a scream that I’m sure could be heard all the way in town.
I try to get to him, but my body feels so heavy. No matter how hard I fight, I can’t move forward. Then I figure out the reason—Walker is holding me back. My eyes frantically go back to the rock. Perry’s lying flat on his stomach, half his body over the edge. Complete chaos is swirling around me and all I can think about is getting to the rock. I need to get to Jeremy.
Someone yells to call 911, but everyone is afraid to move. There’s no way you can survive a fall from here, but that’s crazy right? There’s no way Jeremy could be dead.
Tears are streaming down my cheeks when Perry look back at me with horror in his eyes. He doesn’t have to say anything. I already know. I start pounding my fists into anything I can get my hands on but it doesn’t calm me.
It goes so long I can’t even see anymore. My vision is blurred and I feel dizzy. When I open my eyes again, it’s not Walker who is holding me anymore—it’s Perry. He grips me so tight I can hardly breathe. I’m not sure I could anyway. Nothing feels right. This has to be a dream. It’s all just a bad dream and I’m going to wake up and everything is going to be the way it used to be.
But I never do.
20
Sugar And Spice And Everything Is Fucked
Perry- Then
It’s been two months since Jeremy’s death and none of us are surviving well. The only thing keeping us together right now is the fact that we remain a team. Walker, Tess, and I have spent nearly every day together since the accident. It’s times like these when you really value whatever time you have left. If we can learn anything from what happened, it’s that you never know when your number’s up.
That being said, it’s been hard to carry on with business as usual with Tess always in observance. Although strongly against it, I’ve taken some of the traffic through my dad’s car dealership. Clients would schedule bullshit appointments or meet me out back—which is shady as fuck. We need a new plan.
Tess is still getting ready, so Walker and I are out in front of the garage throwing the ball around until she’s done. It’s the perfect time to discuss what our next move is.
“Okay,” I say, setting up for a three-point shot. “My dad’s business is out. If we go down, I’m not taking him with me.” I give the ball a forceful throw and it swishes through the hoop.
Walker runs to retrieve it. He jogs back and dribbles it in front of me. “I agree, and I have something to add.”
I start shaking my head before he even begins speaking. “Nope, we’re not getting into that again.”
Walker gives me a look before turning to take a shot. He misses and it bounce off the backboard. “Come on, Perry. You know as well as I do we’re getting shorted.” He fetches the ball again and then checks it into my chest. “This could be good for us.”
I bounce the ball into the grass and take a step toward him, lowering my voice. “I don’t think we should fuck with Robby. Everybody gets a cut, that’s how this works.”
“We deserve a bigger one. We’re taking most of the risk.”
A couple months ago, Walker got it into his head that we should go above Robby and straight to the source. We didn’t always know who that was, but after getting some inside information, we do now. Cutting out Robby means he no longer controls how much we sell or what we get paid to do it. It does not change the parameters of the arrangement. We still have our territory and he has his, but we’d be more on equal playing fields. Or so Walker thinks.
Jeremy shot the idea down immediately. When we first got into this, it was for fun. I’m sure a couple of high school kids could have thought of more appropriate activities for fun other than being drug dealers, but what’s done is done. The point he was trying to make was that we shouldn’t get deeper into this than we already are, and I totally agreed. Walker has a different perspective. He believes this is our ticket to financial freedom. Since none of us went to college, his plan is to bank up as much money as possible in the quickest amount of time.
I glance back to the house for a moment. The light in Tess’s bedroom is still on. Turning back to Walker, I take a breath. “Jeremy didn’t want this.”