“How can you say that? I watch you meet with drug dealers, I watched Jarett fight them off you—”
“I never asked him to interfere.”
But I did. I don’t say that. “He was trying to protect you.”
She shakes her head, her expression hardening. “I was fine.”
“Tell me this: do you do drugs?”
“I don’t, Gigi.” Another glance my way.
But her gaze doesn’t linger, and I can’t tell if she’s telling the truth.
“What about your friends? Your boys. Do they know?”
“Know what? Nothing’s happened.” Her mouth settles into a thin line. “Will you let this go?”
“For now.” I sigh and let my head drop back, let the hum of the car engine and the rock music playing low on the radio calm me. It’s been a long week, lots of classes and quizzes and worry. “Will your boys be at the party tonight?”
A shrug. “I don’t know.”
I blink. “What?” The four of them have always been inseparable. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. They’re not my boys. We’re just friends. They do their thing, I do mine.”
“You guys fought?”
“No. We’re good.”
But you’ve always done everything together, I want to say. You’ve been attached at the hip since forever. All four of you.
What else happened? What isn’t she telling me?
Is this why she’s doing drugs? Because she’s sad? I mean, here’s the thing. No matter how hard I try, no matter what she says, I saw her with those guys, with that girl in that back alley. I saw the small plastic bags. So I’m not sure I can believe her.
I think she’s lying to me.
About more than just this.
And I’m going to find out the truth.
We park on a side street and walk down a long alley, our heels clicking way too loud in the eerie quiet. I keep gla
ncing over my shoulder, expecting to be assaulted.
Not cool.
I open my mouth to tell Sydney that I’m calling an Uber to go back home, when she stops and raps her fist on a big metal door.
“Where are we?” I hiss at her, still glancing around me uneasily. “What is this place?”
“It’s a night club. Java Bar.”
I’ve rarely been to this side of town, and never to this nightclub. “And why are we here?”
“A friend invited me.”
The bouncer, a huge gorilla, looks us over, his lip curling, and a look I don’t like entering his beady eyes.