Under the Bridge (21 page)

He turned his shaved head from the girl’s neck, saw me, and smiled. “Hey, bro, what brings you to this domain?”

“Get up. Now.”

The girl looked up at me with glazed eyes, then smiled, pulling Indy back to her. He giggled into her neck, then gave me an “I dare you” look. I reached down, grabbing his arm and yanking him up. “I said get up, man.” I looked around, picked up his shirt next to the mattress, and threw it at him as he pulled his pants up.

Once buckled, he picked up his shirt, a grimace on his face. “Dude, just get the fuck out of here. Leave me alone.”

“No.”

He shook his head and plopped down on the mattress. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Just then, one of the guys in the room spoke. He couldn’t stop moving his hands, the meth stringing him out like a live wire. “You heard him, chief. Get out.”

I ignored him, even as the rage in me built. “Put your shirt on, Indy.”

The guy piped up again. “Hey, man, nobody tells anybody what to do around here. It’s all cool.”

I turned on him. I clenched my teeth. “You want your face caved in,
chief
?” I waited a moment, staring him down, and when he opened his mouth again, I jacked him in the face. He sprawled back, then lay still, moaning. Nobody moved. Nobody said a word. The candles flickered. Then I turned back to Indy, yanked him up, and dragged him out. He didn’t fight me.

I pulled him through the crowd on the main floor and to the steel door, pushing it open. The two guys and the chanting acidhead were still there, and as I dragged him down the hall, I stopped, remembering the rules of the place. No fighting. I faced Indy. His eyes were hazy and his shoulders slumped as he stood there, a disgruntled and pissed-off little-boy look on his stoned face. I shoved him against the wall hard, his back thudding against it. His face twisted up in surprise and pain. “Hey, man! What was that for?”

I looked at him for a second, then threw a hard right,
clocking him on the cheekbone. He yelled and went down in a heap, and the two guys at the end of the hall yelled, too. Indy clutched his face. I dropped my board and knelt next to him, getting ready to nail him again as he squirmed, when the huge guy came through the door and ran down the hall.

Big hands reached down and yanked me up; then he threw me against the wall. I kept my feet and faced him, ready. Indy scurried to the side, still holding his face. I nodded to the big guy. “Do it, man. I’ll tear you fucking apart.”

He sized me up. “I told you no fighting or you’re out. Forever.”

I readied myself for his fists on my face. It’d be a good fight, but I had no doubt he’d get the best of me. “Maybe it’s a good rule.” I pointed at Indy. “That’s my brother. Beat the shit out of him if you ever see him again.”

He glanced at Indy, then back at me, understanding in his hard eyes. He nodded. “Get out or I take you out in pieces.” He looked at Indy on the floor. “You too, asshole. Ever come back and I’ll break your neck.”

I grabbed Indy and pulled him up, and we walked out. Indy didn’t say a word until we got to the end of the alley. He cupped a hand over his swollen cheek, spitting blood. “You’re a dick.”

“So are you.”

“There’s other places to party.”

“So what. I’ll come there, too.”

“What, are you, like, my guardian fucking angel? I don’t need help.”

“Who was the girl?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“You don’t even know her name? Are you that high?”

“Whatever, dude. You’d take it if you could get it. And no, I’m not blasted. Just perfect, if you ask me.”

“I wouldn’t take it from some addict in a room full of scumbags. Ever hear of AIDS?”

“So what.”

I grabbed his shoulder and flung him against a brick building. “So what? Why don’t you care about anything? You’ve got a chance, and now you’re screwing everything up. Why?”

He looked at me, his face cracking. “Why not? WHY NOT!” He shoved me. “I don’t have another chance, Tate, because I’ve never had one in the first place! Don’t you ever think I tried?” He squeezed his head between his hands, rubbing his temples. “Jesus, Tate! It just doesn’t click! I CAN’T do it the way they want! Everything gets messed up in my head, and I screw up. School, homework, tests, Dad. All of it.”

“Why?”

He laughed, half yelling. “Well, shit, if I knew why, I wouldn’t have a problem, would I?”

“You could have a chance, Indy,” I said. Then I told him about “Stealing Home,” school, and the writing contest.

He shook his head, his mouth an ugly smear. “None of that matters.” Tears welled in his eyes, and he looked down. “Just go. Leave me alone.”

“No.”

He shook his head again. “I know what you did to Will. He’s after you now.”

“So what?”

“So it’s my fault!” he screamed. “I know that! And I know everything else is my fault, but you’ve got to stay away, Tate. Just stay away.”

I shoved him again. “I am so tired of you feeling sorry for yourself! You make me sick, dude, because you have all the choices now! You can come home, go to school, write whatever you want! Dad’s not even pissed anymore! You should see them, man! They’re just scared. Plain and simple scared for you! So don’t be such a prick.”

He looked at me. “It’s not like that.”

“What’s not like that?”

His eyes searched mine, fear in them. Pleading. That little brother I’d always known was in those eyes. “I can’t get out.” He gushed, “I told Will I was splitting. After I got my stuff from the house and you talked to me, I told him I was done.” He held back tears. “They’ll come after me.”

I refused to believe this was happening. “They won’t come after you, Indy. Will is just trying to scare you.”

He stopped, staring at me with wide eyes. “No, Tate. He’s not just trying to scare me. You were right about him. He’s crazy.”

I looked at him, and there was something in his expression that chilled me to the bone. “What happened to Lucius?”

He looked away.

I sighed. “Jesus, Indy. What do you know?”

He sniffed. “There was nothing I could do. Not like I could stop it.”

Slivers of ice stabbed through me. “Oh God.” I took a breath. “You’re the one in the video?”

He nodded. “Will told me we were going to scare him off. That’s it. Next thing I know, he’s bashing his brains in. I couldn’t do anything.”

“You could have gone to the police! That’s what!” I groaned, looking up at the night sky. Any idea I had of getting Indy home based on the writing contest was out the window. That was beans compared to this. “Are you that fucking stupid? Jesus, Indy. You’re an accessory to murder now.”

He shook his head, defeated. “I can’t go to the police.”

“Why?”

“My fingerprints are on the bat.”

“What?”

He nodded. “He wore gloves. Afterward, he pulled a gun out, shoved it in my face, and told me to take the bat. My fingerprints are on it now. Then he told me it was insurance that I was in with them.” He looked at me. “I’m in, man, and I can’t get out. His uncle has the bat, and if I turn Will in, his uncle will turn over the bat. I’m done.”

I clenched my teeth, thinking about the detective. “You’ve got to come home. We’ve got to tell Mom and Dad.”

“Then what? They kill me or I get charged with murder? Or worse yet, Mom and Dad get hurt? Will is psycho.”

“So you’re going to get high all the time to deal with it.”

He nodded. “If I stay wasted, nothing matters. Better yet, I should just fucking kill myself.”

I looked at him, remembering Gregory in “Stealing Home.” “Don’t say that.”

He shook his head. “I should. Everything would be better if I was gone. Mom. Dad. You.”

“No.”

“Then what? Nothing works, man.”

“Then you meet me tomorrow night.”

He looked at me. “For what?”

“We’ll figure this out.” I thought about Ms. Potter. “There’s a right way to do this, but we just have to find it.”

He swallowed. “Okay. Where?”

I told him.

“Why there?” he said.

“Just meet me. At midnight.”

He hesitated. “Fine.”

I took his shoulders in my hands. “Make me a promise?”

“What?”

“Don’t hurt yourself. You promise?”

His chin quivered just the slightest. “Yeah. I promise.”

With school out for a curriculum day, I stayed inside, thinking about meeting Indy at midnight. Dad was gone before I got up, and Mom was busy in the salon out back all day, so I had the house to myself
.

Dad usually got home at five-thirty, and I didn’t have it in me to talk to him. So at five, I left, leaving a note for Mom that I wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Badger sat behind the counter at the Hole in the Wall, eating Tootsie Rolls. He smiled, his mouth full. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

He swallowed the gooey brown lump in his mouth, smacking his lips. “How’s little skater fellow Mitch?”

I picked up a bong, studying it. “Fine.”

“Have you harmed another human being lately?”

“Yeah.”

He chuckled. “Here I try to make a joke, and you make it not a joke.”

I put the bong back. “You know about the Invitational coming up at the arena?”

He narrowed his eyes. “You mean the Pro Skater Invitational in two weeks to be held at the arena, where local sponsored skaters compete on national television?”

“Yeah, that would be it.”

He grabbed a rubber band and pulled his hair back in a ponytail. “I detect an agenda here.”

“We need a sponsor.”

“Whoa. What happened to the sacred philosophy of not succumbing to the corporate mentality?”

I shrugged. “I think we could win.”

“What does that have to do with not succumbing to the corporate mentality?”

I stepped forward, sitting on the stool in front of the counter. “Things change, Badge.”

He nodded. “Often they do. Aristotle once noted that principles stand no chance against a good sale at Walmart.”

I smiled. “Come on, man. Think about it. We’d have Hole in the Wall shirts and everything. National exposure for you. The entry fee is six hundred bucks, and I have three hundred in my savings account.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

I shrugged again. “Listen, Badge, if I could go pro, what’s wrong with it? I’d be doing what I love doing, and making money at it.”

He cocked an eye at me. “You slut.”

“You know if anybody could beat out your hated
competitor shop, it would be us. Besides, the kid who broke Mitch’s board is their top skater.”

He smirked. “I’m starting to feel like I’m being manipulated.”

I rolled my eyes. “We’d have a shot at it, Badge. You know it. I’d even pay you back the other three hundred when I got it.”

“Let me think about it.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

A moment passed. He stared at me. “What are you doing?”

“Letting you think about it.”

“Usually, that means you leave and let me think about it.”

I shrugged. “I’ve got time.”

He rolled his eyes. “You want this, huh?”

“Yeah. I really don’t have anything to lose at this point, you know? Things are bad everywhere else. I just want to try and do something good.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “This sounds like more than a skate competition.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Okay, then. You have a sponsor.”

I smiled. “Cool.”

Mom sat in her chair under the lamp, reading one of her novels. She looked up when I shut the door behind me. I set my board by the door. “Hi.”

She smiled. “Hi. I was starting to worry.”

“I left a note.”

“I know, but with everything going on, I’m just nervous.” She looked at me, and a heavy pall surrounded her. “Did you see Indy?”

“Yeah. I told him what you and Dad said.”

She looked up, the halo of light from the lamp casting her in a soft glow. She looked tired. “What did he say?”

I contemplated telling her what he’d said about Will, but I couldn’t. If the police were involved right now, he’d be in even more danger. That didn’t make me feel any better about not telling her, though. “He’s thinking about it. We’re meeting tonight.”