Chapter Text
Rue was passed out on the couch by the time Lexi had arrived back to their shared apartment, didn’t notice her return for another two days after that. Now that Lexi was back in the grubby apartment, she began to notice the water stains on the ceiling and the burns in the carpet. It might have been cleaner if they slept outside. Sometimes she thought she could hear insect legs scuffling around behind the drywall. It was hard to admit that Lexi missed his quiet noise. The way he kept everything so meticulous and never forgot to stock the fridge, even if he was a beast.
Lexi wondered about the locked room and what it meant to Fezco. Now that the smoke had cleared it was obvious that someone was supposed to be there. Someone had left an empty hole in his life the way Cassie’s death had in hers. If her mother hadn’t sold the house, Lexi wondered if there would be a similar shrine to her sister locked away like a time capsule.
Eventually Rue woke from her drug induced coma and wrapped Lexi into a warm hug. They caught up about the missing time between them. Rue had tried to sell some, made about $5,000 then met up with Elliot who convinced her to help themselves to the rest. Lexi didn’t mention the locked room or the shared dinners with her captor. It was easier to focus on the night he threw her out and vent about the psycho dealer who had threatened them both.
By the weekend they decided to celebrate Lexi’s escape and went out to their usual club for a night of dancing.
It wasn’t Lexi’s scene, a place leftover from the days when Rue had tried to impress Jules with her enthusiasm for glitter makeup and EDM. Even though Jules hadn’t lived in East Highland for years, occasionally Lexi and Rue would revisit the place for a chance to jump around with the multicolored lights and thumping bass vibrating through the floorboards.
A guy with dark curly hair wearing a wifebeater winked at Lexi and walked over to buy her a beer. He wore a set of dog tags around his neck, the metal sometimes catching the light and pulling her focus down to the shiny object. Lexi wondered if they were real.
His name was Bruce (same as his dad) and he bragged that he could get her any drugs she wanted. Lexi replied that a beer should be good enough with a laugh. After a few more drinks and a couple dances on the dancefloor, he continued to tell her about his connections. His mother and father were expanding the family business. In a couple days they would be the biggest dealers in the area and she should know who she was dancing with.
“What happens in a few days?”
“We’ve reached an issue with the number one guy. Time for him to retire if you know what I mean.”
“What’s his name?”
“Don’t worry about it sweetheart. Let me buy you another drink.”
Her stomach retched as she rushed to the bathroom, pushing aside other girls standing in line to barely make it to the sink. Through labored gasps she panicked, somehow she knew the stranger meant Fezco. Why did she care ? She was little more than a hostage to him, nothing close to a friend or family. Still she felt a queasiness when she thought of the lonely man being led down the path to his own demise.
Without saying goodbye to Rue, she called for a ride on her phone and headed back to the bad side of East Highland. Unable to remember the number of the apartment, she stumbled around in the dark until she found the familiar curtains and banged on the door.
“Lexi? What the hell are you doing?”
“You shouldn’t have yelled at me like that! I never did anything to you.”
“You right, come in before you wake up the whole building.”
His calm tone only fueled the fire. The entire ride over she prepared what she wanted to tell him, determined to have her moment to say what she should have before he threw her out of the house. She’d been expecting more of an argument about it to be honest.
“Don’t be all nice all of a sudden! You don’t even like me.”
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”
“No you shouldn’t have!”
“Is that all you came here to say?”
“You’re so infuriating! I’m here for weeks and you barely even speak to me and now all of a sudden you can talk.”
“Ain’t much of a talker,” he sighed.
Fezco stretched out over the armrest while Lexi fought with the heels that pinched her feet and finally threw them off. She curled her legs underneath her and faced him from the other side of the couch.
“You’ll answer me if I ask you questions?”
“A’ight, shoot.”
“Why do you hate me?”
“I don’t hate you. Shit, I fed you and left you alone. What else were you expecting?”
“You know Rue is never going to pay you back.”
“I know…”
“Why keep me here if you already knew?”
“Thought it might scare her. Maybe care more about someone else since she don’t give a shit ‘bout herself.”
It made sense in a way. Could have worked back in high school before she was too far gone. Rue didn’t care much about anything anymore. With the easier topics out there, Lexi ventured to the one she really wanted to know.
“Who’s room is it? Your son?”
“Brother,” he admitted.
Her heart sank. A teenager frozen in time, never getting the chance to move out or become an adult. The way he’d gone into a rage when she mentioned Gia seemed more understandable now that she knew the truth. He knew the pain of waiting for someone to come home that never would.
“My sister,” she whispered. Shaking the tears from her eyes. “Nothing seems right without her.”
His cool blue eyes bore holes into her as he nodded in understanding. “What was she like?”
“Perfect. Beautiful. Everything I could never be.”
“You are.”
“What?”
“Beautiful, I mean. If you was wonderin’.”
Lexi smiled and let out a laugh that sounded like a cough. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment. What was your brother like?”
“Tough. Tougher than me.”
“I find that hard to imagine.”
“I’ma pushover compared to him. He was my business partner, best friend, everything. When I can’t figure out how to make a deal work I wish he was here to let me know.”
“What would he tell you?”
“Stop bein’ a bitch, make money.”
He smiled the first real smile she had ever seen from him, almost laughed too at the memory. His shoulders sunk back into the couch and he looked years younger. Lexi imagined what he would have been like if they had met before everything went so wrong. Two teenagers sitting on a couch, grinning at each other like lovestruck idiots.
“I wish I could have met him,” Lexi smiled. Her dark lashes fluttered closed as she leaned her head back against the couch.
“Me too,” he whispered. When she opened her eyes again, he stared back at her a glassy blue.
“You can’t go wherever you’re supposed to go tomorrow,” she blurted out.
“Am I supposed to know what that means?” his brow furrowed.
“I met some guy at the club. He said he was gonna kill the top dealer in town. Then I came here.”
His shoulders stiffened as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. He shook his head as the neutral expression returned to his face.
“I’ll handle it.”
“You can’t leave me too!”
“Baby, ” he cooed, “Ain’t going nowhere.”
Lexi nodded and stared off at the opposite wall, trying to will her tears away. Her emotions had been on a roller coaster all night and she was tired of acting so weak. All she wanted to do was sleep and recover for a week.
“It’s late,” she started, “I should-”
“Stay. You should stay.”