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“Mommy?”

“Shh,” she said, attention only partly on Beth “How about we play the quiet ga, and let’s see who can stay quietest for longest Okay?”

“Okay That sounds fun I’onna beat you”

One of the men fished what looked like a meth pipe fro since Copper told her there’d been an uptick innow”

Beth fell silent, only the occasional squeak co

Confident her daughter was taken care of for theset Was the taller …

Oh shit

He earing a Handlers cut Oh, my God Shell’s stomach rolled, and her knees nearly buckled As the identity of the larger man became clear

Rusty

She didn’t dare breathe, as though that would soaped at the scene before her The men passed the pipe back and forth then the se out of his backpack Rusty inspected it, nodded, then handed over an envelope before stowing the package in a bag on his own back The men spoke for a minute before the smaller one counted the money

Holy shit, that was a tall stack of bills Any chance they were singles? Probably not Where the hell did Rusty get that kind of cash?

Her stomach clenched

Oh no No, no, no He wouldn’t dare…She alhts He sure as hell would Rusty was exactly the type of s Although with that size package, he was probably selling as well as using

She should not be witnessing this exchange

“Cohter “We gotta go now”

“What?” Beth whined, face cruo!” Her voice rose with the hysteria children got as they teetered on the edge of a full-on tantruive in to that kind of behavior But now? Priority nuo If you leave with hter with the Hope dia

“Okay!” Beth yelledShell flinch

Shell risked a glance over Rusty was stalking straight toward the up the inches