alicia shot one of the metal rafters "get in your car and get out of here! or i will kill you!"
ivy peeked her head around the corner, nick and troy doing the same
"we saw your car" she said sweetly
alicia's eyebrows furrowed together as she put everything together. she then smiled to herself "sit down."
nick sat down first, sitting on one of the two chairs in the garage. ivy and troy sat next to each other on a desk, sitting so close that their shoulders were pressed together. nick had gotten used to it by now.
alicia came back with four little cans, handing them with a fork to the three. she then sat down in the chair across from nick and peeled hers open.
for a moment, they all quietly ate whatever she had given them. it wasn't good at all, it honestly tasted like dog food. in fact, it probably was. but it was something to eat, so they just sucked it up and took a bite at a time.
"alicia, this is crazy" nick said as he looked around the mechanics garage
"i've seen crazy. this is kind of nice." she replied before raising her dog food "this is disgusting, though."
"you have no idea what it's like being out here."
"you seemed to manage alright"
"there's safety in numbers, alicia. you know that"
she shook her head "i don't know that. i almost died yesterday, surrounded by people." alicia stared at him "nick, is this you talking or is it mom?"
ivy set her can down beside her on the table, making troy give her a questioning look. she quickly stuck out her tongue and made a disgusted face, which made troy smile a little.
"she's gonna lose her shit, i come back without you."
"i know what you're trying to do" alicia said and looked down "it's been riding you ever since you got to the ranch. you're trying to atone...don't. i forgive you. you don't owe me. you don't owe mom. and you might feel like that, but you don't. you deserve to carve what you can out of this life."
"how's your leg?" troy asked as ivy watched nick and alicia say their goodbyes
"better" she said, moving from the passenger seat to the back seats "it doesn't hurt anymore"
"and your wrists?"
she frowned a little bit. she hadn't looked at them in a while, but she guessed that they were healing.
"i'm good, troy" ivy said sweetly and looked at him from between the front seats
he pursed his lips and nodded, pressing a kiss to her head as nick made his way to the truck.
"why don't you lay down in the back and get some sleep? i'll wake you when we get there."
she agreed and moved to the back, nick pulling himself into the front seat. she laid down across the seats just as troy started down the road.
at first, it was a bit hard for her to shut her eyes. the rocking of the truck kept her awake and she had practically hardwired herself to live off of no sleep. but soon the sound of troy and nick's quiet talking and hum of the engine lulled her to sleep. she didn't even hear when their conversation turned to her.
"ivy a child of violence, too?"
troy shrugged a bit "maybe. she never talked about her parents much."
"not even to you?" nick asked
"think she'd rather forget about them."
nick nodded and looked back at her. she was fast asleep, and she looked like the most peaceful thing he'd seen in a while. it was like the world was back to normal and she was going to bed on a school night.
"how'd you meet her, anyway?"
"jake saw her. she passed out in the dirt a few yards from the gate."
nick looked back at troy "and then what? she woke up and you called her your girlfriend?"
he chuckled and shook his head, fixing the rear view mirror so he could keep an eye on her "she didn't wanna do anything alone, so she followed me around. i thought she'd take to jakey, but she only wanted me."
nick looked at him incredulously. he went along with it anyway, as there was no reason for troy to lie.
"well, good job." he said. troy looked over at him. "you take good care of her."
he nodded shortly and looked back at the road as nick added
"before we went to the helicopter, she told me she wouldn't survive if you died. said she didn't know what would happen, but she knew she'd be dead. you know that?"
troy nodded again, but he didn't immediately say something. the found the words he wanted to use before saying anything.
"she told me all that a long while ago. that's why i always keep her close. i can't let anything happen to her - she needs me." he licked his lips "no one has ever depended on me that much"
nick's eyes narrowed at him. he had to admit, even though troy had mislead her once or twice, he did a damn good job at keeping her alive. he couldn't even imagine having to take care of someone like troy did ivy.
"how'd you get it out of her? how'd you get her to tell you that?"
a big smile then formed on troy's face and he glanced at nick "one bourbon soda"
the woman working at the outpost cafeteria set down a plate in front of troy, along with what ivy guessed to be soda.
"what is this?" he asked
"quesadilla y sesos"
"no, i - i know what quesadilla is. i'm asking what's sesos?"
the woman rolled her eyes and tapped the side of her head, saying something neither of them understood before walking away. she was stopped by nick, who said something to her in spanish before sitting down next to ivy and troy.
"oh, no no, i don't - i don't drink!" troy called after the woman, but she didn't turn
"what do you mean you don't drink?" nick asked
"i mean i don't drink"
nick chuckled and shook his head as he looked at ivy "what about you?"
she smiled and shrugged "i've drank once."
"well, i've got a head start, so you guys have some catching up to do" he said before slapping down some pills on the table
"really?" troy asked him
the woman set down three shot glasses filled with a clear liquid. ivy was smart enough to know that it wasn't water, but she still had no idea what it was.
"donde esta...uppers?" nick asked the woman
"you're looking for el matadero." she told him, but he didn't seem to follow, so she clarified in english "the slaughterhouse. you have to ask for el matarife"
nick thanked her with a charming smile and she walked away. he grabbed one of the white pills despite troy and ivy's protests
"you owe me."
ivy looked at nick, then at troy, and then back at nick
"fine." she said "i'll take those shots, but i'm not swallowing pills." she grabbed one of the shot glasses and slid the pills in front of troy
"all you." she said before downing the clear liquid, both of the boys watching in amusement. she slammed the glass down and her face screwed up into a grimace as she coughed
both of them laughed at her, and she could only open her eyes to a squint as she tried to recover from the shot. it made her throat burn, and she swore she could feel the path it had made down to her stomach.
"holy shit, what the fuck is that?"
"tequila, my little friend" nick said with a shit eating grin as he handed her troy's
she drank the other one as quick as the first, having the same reaction as before.
"your turn, big guy" ivy nearly wheezed as she patted troy's shoulder
troy looked between the two's expectant eyes, giving in with a sigh. he made a show of grabbing one of the pills before popping it in his mouth and washing it down with the soda.
ivy followed nick and troy into the slaughterhouse, immediately hating the humidity of the room. it felt like people were sticking to her. still, she made sure not to fall behind.
"buenas noches" nick said to the man at the bar
the man's eyes shot up and a smile formed on his face almost instantly.
"welcome to el matadero, my fellow americans. how can i be of assistance?"
"well, i was told you're the man with the things" he said
the man's smile went away, and then it came back. it was like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be friendly or scary.
"you were told correct. what sort of things are you looking for?"
"all the things"
the man nodded and grabbed a tray from u see the counter, showing the three all the drugs he had on hand.
"we have heroína, morfina, cocaína, anfetamina, codeína..."
the only one who noticed ivy's curious eyes was the man at the bar. he smiled to her, and she backed up a little bit.
nick shook his head "can't go down, we need to go up."
the man looked at nick with a suddenly angry expression "do you really want to go up?"
he stared at nick for a moment before a big smile dawned on his face. he put the tray back below the counter and replaced it with three shot glasses, then grabbing a big jar from one of the shelves behind him.
he set it down behind the shot glasses "this is locus coeruleus"
ivy looked wide eyed at the jar. it was filled with blue liquid with nothing else in it but a few chunks of something at the bottom.
"what is that?" she asked innocently
"it's the nucleus from the brain stem." the man said as he fished one out and placed it into a shot glass "pure adrenaline. as up as up gets. enough to wake the dead."
ivy then pulled away and shook her head "yeah, this is where i tap out."
nick turned to her looking almost hurt "what?"
"sorry, nick. not my thing." she said. nick went to say something, but she quickly held up her pointer finger "and i will not let you peer pressure me into it."
nick sighed "fine."
"where are you gonna go?" troy asked her, the crease between his eyebrows showing extreme worry
"i'm just gonna go to bed. i'll be alright." she said sweetly. she pecked his lips and then patted them on the shoulder "have fun, be safe."
troy walked with his arm around ivy's shoulders as he told her all about his adventure with nick last night. he seemed to enjoy it a lot. so much, in fact, that they decided to stay a few days.
"i'll be back" nick said to them before he walked to madison, who was loading up to go to the dam
"ivy, if nick won't peer pressure you then i will"
she laughed at him "then who's gonna babysit you?"
"no one! that's the best part!" he said with a big smile "once it hits you, it's like no rules matter anymore. it'll be great, i promise you."
she teasingly rolled her eyes "fine. but if shit hits the fan, i'm blaming it all on you and i will kick your ass."
troy laughed and stared down at her with the fondest look in his eyes. ivy thought that maybe he was still high, since she'd never seen him in such an amazing mood before.
"god, i love you" he said and placed a big smooch on her lips, his hands squishing her cheeks.
ivy smiled.
"i love you too."