BLACK TAR → madwheeler

zero.

   "Everyone was the same," Max kept going, speaking to Xan in a shaky but sure tone. "Same prices, same amounts too. Mike didn't let anyone get away with anything." She said this sentence with a hint of pride in her voice for her best friend.

   She swallowed before continuing, "Someone we sold too must have guessed. They must have heard us say your name or something. But I'm sure we didn't. We're sorry again."

   Mike was tense. He licked his lips, looking at Xan for his reaction. The eighteen-year-old first looked at Max, and then Mike. Finally, he turned back to the redhead.

   "You've only been here for two months, Maxine," He said, shrugging ever so slightly. "It's your first mistake, and we've all been there."

   He ran a hand through his medium spiked blonde hair, his stance slouched as he surveyed the both of them. "So you're free to go. Pick up your oxys, go home, and show back up tomorrow."

   Max's body relaxed into the couch, practically collapsing in relief. "Thank fuck. Thank you."

   Xan jerked his head into a nod, and Max got to her feet, her weight leaving the couch. It wasn't until her body was no longer beside his own that Mike realized she had been trembling.

   As he too got to his feet, Xan's eyes snapped on his. "Sit down, Wheeler. I didn't say both of you."

   Max froze, hesitating to turn halfway from the door to look at him. Xan looked over at her, raising an eyebrow.

   "Just got some partner things to discuss," Xan said to her. "You'll see him later."

   Max dared not hesitate in the room any longer. Her gaze locked on Mike's, and before he could communicate anything to her, she had disappeared out into the hallway, the wooden door shutting loudly behind her.

   There was a loud silence. Xan's eyes focused on Mike's, who finally dropped the barrier of professionalism that he had kept while Max had been in the room. He sat back on the couch, lazily looking at the boy in front of him and trying to ignore the craving for heroin in his gut.

   "What's the issue, Xans?" He used the nickname lightheartedly, shaking his dark hair out of his red-ridden eyes. "Someone not pay up? Troy and I can-"

   "Who snitched and gave my name to the headmaster?" Xan cut across him.

   Another silence. Mike ordered his muscles to stay still, and he met his ally's eyes. "Look, I don't know who else they questioned. Max was in there for about five minutes and they let her go, probably cause she has a good girl type look."

  Quit rambling, idiot. He continued hastily, "And then I went, and they were in on me because. . . you know my grades aren't that good and I never go to class so it took longer. But I just named some random people from different classes. Brandon Esters is annoying and Carl Zien was one of the people who. . . who told us that if we dealt with Kaden he'd pay us in seventh."

   He shook his head. "But Kaden didn't pay us in seventh. Was no Kaden. Carl and his friends just took the oxys and were bitches about it. He had already left so I sent him a message telling him none of them are getting shit else from any of us ever again. So they won't be an issue anymore, but it could have been him."

   Xan had had his arms folded for the entire time Mike talked, his fingers resting on the black tar chunk of a ring he kept on his right hand. Now that Mike was finished, he raised his head, acknowledging his words.

   "I know Carl's a pussy," He stated. "That's why I've never dealt with him."

   Mike laughed, ignoring the way Xan's face darkened. "Come on, Xan, you and I both know that you sold percs to Jackson-"

   "Carl and his shit friends didn't give me away to Headmaster Arden," Xan said sharply, his eyes shining brightly with returned anger. "And neither did anyone else. Do you know who he did say was questioned in my friend group, and spit out my name?"

   Mike's right vein gave an involuntary twitch in his arm. "Who?"

   "You."

   Mike stared at him, laughing slightly. "Me? I wouldn't have-"

   "But you did," Xan tilted his head, the muscles on his neck taunt with strained anger. "You wanted to save you neck, and make sure that another bad record wasn't added to your transcript. So that you could save your precious Max from getting drug-tested and all that other shit. And so you could throw me under, because you couldn't risk anyone finding you out again, you fucking piece of shit."

   Before Mike could reply to the slander of insults that made his blood boil, Xan's strides had made it to the couch. In two seconds flat, he had curled his fingers into a fist and punched Mike directly in the face, causing the teenager to hear a crack and let out a gasp of pain.

   His hands fell to his nose as an aching pounding began in his head, and he felt himself lose his balance and fall to the wooden floor. Before he could get to his feet, Xan his kicked him directly in the ribcage, making Mike finally let a cry of anguish escape through his teeth.

   Xan knelt down and grabbed the boy by the hair, wrenching it up to so that he would meet his eyes. Blood dripped down from his nose into Mike's mouth, and Xan moved so that his eyes were inches from his own.

   "The next time you give up anyone from this group, especially me," He further tilted Mike's head back to drive home his point, and Mike's lip curled in bitter anger. "I will bring her back in here, and let her watch."

   The horror at his words ran up Mike's spine, but before he could spit back a reply, Xan had released his head. The side of his face hit the wooden slats of the house, and he saw briefly saw stars appear in front of his vision, spitting blood from his mouth.

   He heard Xan's footsteps head towards the door, before they stopped. His voice sounded again, a note of a smile in his tone as he sneered, "After you're done bleeding, you're free to go get those needles, junkie."

   He paused again. "Oh yeah, and you may wanna go back to wearing sweatshirts. I can see the puncture marks again."

   The insults was the last thing that rang in Mike's brain, before his vision faded to grey. The shitty thing was, he thought as he weakly held back the vomit was starting to begin in his throat, Xan was right.

⋆࿐໋₊ ♡·˚ ₊  author's note!

hello, so obviously it has been awhile since i have released anything involving books or writing. weirdly, this month i decided to change that. black tar is a plot that i've been desperately wanting to come to life for awhile, but i could never really figure out the time or inspiration to do it. with season four of stranger things coming out soon and my inspiration slowly coming back to me, i figured now was as good a time as any. obviously this book is going to be very dark, so read at your own risk. i hope you grow to love max and mike as much as i do from reading this book, and if you ever need help with addiction yourself, please do not hesitate to ask.

as always thank you for all the continued support on my past madwheeler books, i would not be writing this without you guys ^_^ !｡:✦・ﾟ

🎱🗝📰

━━━ TW: addiction, heroin use, violence, etc
━━━ WC: 1941
━━━ DP: 11.11.21