“Welcome for what? I’m still here. What you said obviously didn’t work,” she scoffed.
“You!” I pointed a finger at her and took a step in her direction. A few women’s eyebrows rose, and one even mumbled something about a catfight waiting to happen. I took a breath, trying to calm down. “You tricked me into coming back with you, and you were doing this.”
“It’s not a big deal. I’ll get out in a few months. You need to get a lawyer to get you out sooner. Jesus, you won’t last in here.”
“Oh, this is a competition now? Who’s the bigger and badder sister? You’re so immature, Izzy. This isn’t what life should look like.” I sounded like my parents, but I didn’t care.
She stared at me, her dark eyes hard. “I’m sorry I’m not good enough for you.”
“This isn’t ‘good enough’ for anybody. You smuggled drugs!”
“It was a one-time thing.” She glanced around and then took my arm to hurry me into her cell across the way. “I’m done doing that stuff. I just got to get this one deal done. It’s a long story, okay?”
“You said you’d cleaned yourself up,” I whispered and shut my eyes in pain. She’d promised us all years ago. I thought she was doing better. Sure, she still hung out with people that weren’t the greatest crowd, but who was I to judge?
“You don’t understand. I’m clean. It’s just—”
“You call this clean? You realize we all hurt when you do this, right? You realize Mom about died when she had to send you to juvie. You couldn’t stand, Izzy! You passed out on the damn sidewalk in broad daylight.”
“That was years ago,” she said quietly and looked away.
“And here we are today, smuggling drugs. Smuggling drugs, Izzy! You mean to tell me you’re doing that clean?” I scoffed. “I vouched for you with the family. Mom even said she didn’t want you to visit me here. You know that?”
“Well, Mom will never trust me.”
“Rightfully so, I guess.”
I saw the pain shine in her eyes, but then she covered it up with a couple blinks.
“I shouldn’t have trusted you. I shouldn’t have thought, ‘Hey, we’re sisters, we’ve been through it, and we got over it.’ Screw that. You’re an addict, and you’ve ruined this chance I got here. How am I going to fucking explain this to my boss? I’m going to be fired and …”
The idea of it all was completely and utterly ridiculous, completely out of this world. I was in a jail cell, not even sure when I was going to be free again.
I leaned against a white brick wall for support and glanced around me. What if Mom and Dad couldn’t get us out? We technically were guilty. I took another breath. No air came in.
Another.
No air.
I grabbed the metal railing of the bed to try to steady myself.
My sister jumped in front of me. “Breathe, Delilah. Breathe. In like this.” She formed an O with her lips and sucked in, eyes wide on me like I should do the same.
I did.
Over and over again, we took one very big breath in and let it out as my heart and mind raced over every scenario. “I can’t believe this.”
“It’s okay,” Izzy murmured. “I have calls to make. Everything is going to be fine. Believe me. It’s all going to be fine. Just go grab your pillow and stuff. Bring it to my cell. You can trade with my cellmate. She won’t care.”
I nodded and tried to will myself to move.
The tremor in my chin showed Izzy all she needed to know. “Okay, you know what? You stay here. Close the door behind me. I’ll go get your stuff. What number are you?”
“Will that be what I’m reduced to here?”
“No. We’re not going to be here long, okay? I just have to call Mom and Dad.”
“Izzy, our bail hasn’t been set. Our parents don’t have money to fight this in court. You realize we could be here for years.”
Yeah, she laughed like that would be insane.
4
Go to Puerto Rico
Dante
“So, we got a problem,” Izzy grumbled, and her voice came out strained.
“No shit. You’re calling me from jail.” I chuckled and scratched my head, looking over another contract the government had sent that day.
“Right.” I heard rustling and knew Izzy was probably trying to make sure no one was listening. “So, I can’t go into detail, but …” She cleared her throat. That was never good. Izzy and I had worked together long enough for me to know that when she hesitated, something was definitely off. “Delilah may be here with me.”