“Yeah, of course,” I reply, hearing a splash. Taking a quick look, I spot a blur swimming below the pool’s surface. “That her?”
“Oh yeah. I’d have been fucked if you hadn’t delivered. Hey, Alicia!” he shouts. “Pizza’s here! Reed, there’s spare trunks inside. Can you stay a while?”
“Sweet, man. Yeah, work’s done for the day.”
Lance laughs as Alicia bounces over, toweling off her long, black hair. I can see why Lance went to all the trouble: she’s smoking hot, especially in that size-too-small black bikini. If Lance didn’t have dibs, I’d be throwing her over my knee and spanking that ass so hard it’d wake the whole neighborhood.
“This your guy?” she asks.
“Reed, Alicia. Alicia, Reed. Dude, show us what you got.”
I barely have the misshapen manila envelope out of the pizza box before Lance grabs it and tears it open, spilling out a small plastic baggie. He picks it up and inspects it like he knows one white powder from any other.
“You really came through, man,” he says. “I didn’t think you could do it.”
I shrug like it was no big deal. Frankie gave me a lecture about leaping from selling weed to cocaine, but I promised it would be a one-time thing.
Reed hands the bag to Alicia. “Will this work?”
“Yeah, but where’s yours?” she says.
Lance and I laugh, but she doesn’t.
“I’m good,” I say. “I don’t use my own shit, you know?”
Alicia rolls her eyes. “Whatever.” She grabs the envelope from Reed and lays it on the table, then pours the coke out onto it. “Lance, get my purse.”
Grinning, Lance fetches it. She gets out a credit card and starts pushing the powder into long lines. The hairs on my arms rise. I’ve never seen coke used, other than on TV, and it’s a bit surreal. Once she finishes, Alicia wastes no time, bringing her face down to the envelope and snorting a line.
“Fuck yeah,” she says. “That’s primo shit, Lance.”
“Nice,” he grunts, taking the envelope. He leans in and snorts a line, then rears back, gasping. “Holy shit.” He practically falls back into his seat, shaking his head. “Wow, that’s fucking crazy.”
Alicia laughs. “You’re such a noob. You said you’ve done this before, fucking liar.”
Lance grins but doesn’t say anything. He lies back in the chaise lounge, taking long, deep breaths.
“You good, man?” I ask with a laugh. I’ve seen him get high a million times, but this is clearly different.
“Yeah,” he replies at last. “This shit is crazy.”
“That’s the spirit,” Alicia says, bending over to snort another line.
Lance turns to her, his lips straightening. “How much of that are you doing?”
“Uh, all of it. Trust me, if that’s really your first time, you’re fine.”
“You don’t want to save any for later?” he asks, eyeing the lines.
Alicia shrugs. “You’ll get more.”
“Damn right,” Lance says, taking Alicia’s hand. “I’m gonna get a lot.”
I turn away. Frankie’s gonna sayI told you so, but I’ll worry about that later.
“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?” Alicia snaps as Lance grabs at her ass. “One more, then I’ll be ready.”
Lance lets her go, lifting his hands in the air in surrender. “All right, all right, do your thing. Reed, give us some privacy.”