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But the black combat boots, that’s what really made me smile

A dark green backpack hung low on her back Her vibrant purple hair cascaded down her face, reaching her waist, like she hadn’t cut it since the last tio

“What are you doing—”

“Was that the door?” Mike asked, walking out of the bathroo me with a torapped around his waist

“Hey” He nodded toward her “We ht?”

I glanced back at her and she nodded, her gaze settled onatin construction yht be a bit of both by the way her cheeks turned slightly red

“Austin, you rude fuck, let her in She’s your new best friend”

She bit her lip, not in a seductive way, but in a nervous one

I stepped aside, opening the door wider to let her by She walked in and ht to her ass, as suspected the shorts barely covered her cheeks My attention went right to the black tattooed bows on the backs of her upper thighs Each one attached to a seas, into her boots They were the only tattoos she had on her legs

God, she’s beautiful

It looked like she earing thigh highs and it was sexy as all hell on her

My cock twitched, an instant fucking hard on

I walked to the other side of the roo to hide the fact that I was sporting wood like a goddaer

“Just throw your shit on the table and we can decide what to buy I’ the bathroom door behind him

I glanced fro bricks

“I ordered us some food and shit Answer the door”

“You’re not here to deliver food, are you?” I whispered loud enough for her to hear, even though I already knew the answer

She shook her head no “I’m your new best friend, remember?”

She walked over to the beat-up coffee table in front ofit on the floor beside her She opened the top zipper, reaching in and pulled out several bags, throwing them on the table in front of me

My eyes wandered to all the bags on the shitty table I couldn’t look away fro face I could feel her looking at , anything

I couldn’t

I felt liketricks onfor her to say, “Just kidding” Like she wasn’t supposed to be the person who showed up at the door ready to numb my pain

So when I heard her take a deep breath, my eyes shifted to her beautiful face Her serious, solemn expression mirrored mine, and then she confirmed all my illusions and stated,

“I’ dealer”

Briggs

And just like that…

The look he had forabout The one that no one else had ever shown me…

Was gone

Mike opened the bathrooht Before I could dwell on the fact that I was his supplier and he was now my new client

“Sweet!” he said, sitting beside Austin on the raggedy couch, eyeing the drugs spread out on the table, like a kid in a candy store

The only response I was familiar with in the room

“Austin, what pills do you want?” Mike asked him

Silence

“I’ll take an eighth of weed Two of those bad boys” He pointed to the Ecstasy “And like ten of the Percocets”

Austin just sat there blankly staring at ain, pulling out sos to fill Mike’s order

“What’s the da out a wad of money from his pocket

“Four hundred even,” I sioodies for money

“On that note” Mike stood, throwing so you again, doll I’lad I kept your card I’ll be in touch”

I nodded, unable to forhts

“Austin, I’ll see you later” With that he turned and left

Leaving us in the silence that was deafening in the room

Austin grabbed the cigarettes off the table in front of hi his jeans for a lighter I reached into ht thearette

He took a drag and blew the smoke out toward his left, the furthest away froarettes, but soht then and there that Austin could read people as well as I could

That wasn’t an innate skill

That was survival

“So,” I announced, breaking the uncomfortable silence that echoed all around us “What’s your poison?”

He narrowed his eyes atto the Percocets with the cigarette in his hand

“How many?”

“All of them”

My eyebrows raised andin his scars Just as I predicted the night I met him, there were several scattered around his chest, and back

In thatbadly to ask him what had happened to him, to reach out and ease his pain

Instead I just grabbed the bag, handing it to him

He reached into his wallet and for so in the room

The place was a shithole Most people rented this room by the hour It’s where whores turned tricks and junkies OD’d

Austin wasn’t one of those people I knew that, I was sure of it

Why was he staying here?

As I took in s, I noticed there was a dirty, tattered up duffle bag leaning up against the cru wallpaper in the corner of the room The boots placed beside them looked like they had seen better days The soles were ripping underneath them, and the shoelaces didn’t match

There were clothes scattered throughout the roo over the air vent like he’d just washed the were thin, old, and had stains

He wasn’t one of those people at all

Austin was just broke

“How hts

I looked deep into his vibrant blue eyes It was then that I noticed it was like looking in a reflection of my own truths

“It’s your lucky day”

He frowned, pursing his lips, confused

“We’re best friends now, re to break the tension between us

The truths all around us

His

Mine

Ours

“There’s a shitload of pills here, Briggs”

Hearing hiain It had the same effect on me at the door when he first said it

I shrugged, s

Silently hoping he would catch my expression in the air and place it near his heart, like he did e first met

He didn’t

I shook off the senti them away in my backpack

“At least let arette on the corner of his lips to grab the weed Mike left behind He started rolling up a joint

“I don’t get high offdealer 101”

He grinned, glancing over at m

e withto his task at hand

“But… u out”

We locked eyes

“I mean if you’re not—”

“I’d like that,” he interrupted, nodding toward the seat next to him

I sat down His fresh, clean scent assaultedelse I couldn’t quite place

Austin