“Is there a reason you’re standing there gawking like an imbecile?” a guy asked me, with raised eyebrows. “Or is that just your natural look?”
The guy was broad-shouldered, well-built and tall, probably around six-one or six-two. He looked a little shorter than I was and that gave me a small measure of satisfaction as I ignored his jibe.
“I’m going to be volunteering here for the next few months,” I informed him.
“Oh, so you’re the criminal?”
My jaw tightened but I didn’t respond to that either. “My name is Devlin.”
“Do you mind if I call you Criminal?”
I frowned. “I do actually.”
“Cokehead then?”
I knew he was having fun at my expense and on another day, I might have actually found it funny. But as it stood my spirits were running low and my mood wasn’t getting any better.
“I never actually sold coke,” I told him, unsure why I was making the correction in the first place. “Just pot.”
“Excellent… Pothead sounds funnier anyway.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’d prefer you stick with Devlin.”
“How boring,” he replied.
“Would you mind telling me what I need to do around here?” I asked. “And if not, maybe you could point me in the direction of someone who can.”
Then he walked towards me, but it wasn’t a threatening kind of walk. He was just sizing me up, trying to figure out what to make of me. He looked a little curious, maybe even interested.
“You don’t look like the dealers I’ve ever met in the past.”
“Met a great deal of them, have you?” I asked, with a small smirk.
“Sure,” he nodded. “Turning them in is fun.”
A couple more guys walked up to us, and all of them seemed to know exactly who I was. I knew immediately that they didn’t think much of me and they had decided that before I had even shown up. Before I knew it, I was standing there like some weird monkey at the zoo while everyone took it in turns to either insult or make jokes about me. It was hazing at its finest, but considering I didn’t really have a leg to stand on, I was forced to stand there and take it.
“What the fuck are you guys doing?” a voice asked. Then a moment later another fireman broke through
the thin circle towards me. He had light blue eyes and thin blond hair that was bordering on being brown.
“We were just introducing ourselves to the druggie.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s a dealer, not a druggie,” someone corrected him.
“Is there a difference these days?”
“You guys are idiots. Get lost… I’ll take it from here.”
The crowd dispersed immediately with light laughter trickling through the boys. “Sorry about that… they may seem like jerks, but it’s only because they are jerks sometimes.”
I smiled at that one and held out my hand to him. “I’m Devlin.”
“Danvers,” he replied. “I know. Chief told me to give you a list of things to do while you’re with us. I’m Seth by the way.”
“Seth,” I nodded.
“I’ll talk to them and make sure they leave you alone,” Seth assured me. “That’ll make your life a lot easier.”