"It Just Hurts"|| z.m

[72]

72- Riley

Riley played with the chipped nail polish on her fingers. She was sitting in the far end of the room, watching from a difference. They'd been stuck here for a few days now. After they managed to escape from the police, they met up again with Robbie. The guy led them all the way here, an abandoned building that was getting teared down on Sunday. A few dealers had been interested in what Robbie could offer, and being one of them, Robbie wanted to do business. He'd been given a part of the money, and Riley didn't understand why they had to stay here. She and Tom would have been out of the country by now.

Tom walked over to her, smoking another joint. The smoke was just another one in the large room. "You okay?" he asked, looking tense.

Riley nodded. A few of the guys had tried to do a pass on her, but it wasn't like they didn't know he was her brother. If they wanted money at all, they'd have to stand back.

Her mind drifted to Butch, he hadn't been given his share. Some said the police took him, but others claimed he had ditched them. Riley sighed. She knew Butch. He would never ditch without the money. And he would do it in her and Tom's faces.

"Ready for one last night?" Tom whispered.

Riley gave him a short nod. They'd be leaving this place tomorrow. Tom had a feeling the others were just keeping them here for no reason. And Riley wasn't going to admit it out loud, but the others creeper her out. There must have been about 15 guys around here, even more coming and going. Robbie seemed to be perfectly at place, joking and laughing with his mates. But she felt totally left out. She wasn't the only girl here, of course. There were three other girls whom she didn't know the names of. They were here with their boyfriends and couldn't have been friendlier than they were. Which wasn't saying much since their boyfriend's seemed to shoot dirty looks her and Tom's way.

Riley looked around. It was so suffocating in this room. Nobody really cared about smoking outside. The apartment just consisted of a large living room and two small bedrooms along with one kitchen, which was conjoined with the living room. The couches were old leather and they smelled like something had died in there. The paint on the walls was chipped and the table was littered with beer bottles and and weed.

"Miller texted back yesterday," Tom said quietly. He was about to say something more when Robbie came over to them.

"You enjoying yourselves?" he questioned with a smirk, half-full glass in his hand.

Riley mustered a smile. "Yeah, though I'm tired."

"You could go sleep in one of the rooms," he suggested. Riley's skin crawled at the thought of sleeping while everyone else was awake. "I'll hold out."

Robbie nodded and left them to their own.

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Riley rubbed her eyes as she sat up, looking around. She ahd been nodding off for the past ten or so minutes, too afraid to sleep, but too tired to stay awake. She heard people yelling and as her eyes adjusted to the lights, she saw a fight was going on. The coffee table was covered with stacks of bills, a few packages of brown and white powder sitting beside it. Riley frowned as she stared at the fight that was breaking out between Tom and this other guy who came a few days ago to sell heroine. Tom was grabbing him by his t-shirt, the anger clear on his face.

The sleep gone, she stood up just as Robbie walked into the room.

"Woah, woah, what's going on here?" He raised an eyebrow at the two.

Tom begrudgingly let the guy go, stuffing his money back in one of the bags. "Hey, hey, why so fast?" Robbie said, walking towards him.

Tom looked up and growled, looking like he was about to choke Robbie to death anytime. Riley frowned, inching forward. He would be ruining their lay low plan til tomorrow if he kept on going. Tom needed to calm down.