Chapter Three

Rafe

My head is pounding only a little less today, but since the bitchy nurse next door stole my aspirin, I'm getting by on 500mg of Tylenol.

After sleeping half the day away, I head to the tattoo shop to check in on Logan and Murph. Since we've been popping more and more dealers lately, I've been feeling the responsibility to check on Logan more. Murph is keeping an eye on him too, but now that Logan has Sierra, I don't feel so worried about him getting hooked again.

When I get to the shop, Murph is leaning against the counter, his beefy inked up arms against the glass. He doesn't greet me as much as give me a scowl.

"What the fuck happened to you?" he asks with a grimace.

"Good morning to you too."

The buzzing in the shop feels like knives being pressed into my ears. Logan and Savannah are both working at their stations, and they both pause to greet me. Savannah's round stomach hangs between her legs while she bends forward to finish the colorful owl on the client's arm. You almost wouldn’t notice it unless she turned sideways. She smiles at me, but I know I make her nervous. Savannah is still self-conscious about how everything went down between her and Murph, but I'm not holding anything against her.

We all have fucked up pasts.

Speaking of...I nod Murph toward the backroom. When he meets me between the boxes of supplies and the worn out coffee maker, he grimaces at my face again. I know how bad it looks. My left eye is still swollen pretty bad, and it's hardly being hidden by the ballcap I have pulled down. I look like Brad Pitt in every scene of Fight Club...but worse.

"You need to stick to guys your own size," he says as he busies himself with unloading a box of supplies.

"How's Logan?" I ask, ignoring his advice.

"Better than ever. You need to relax. I told you I'd keep an eye on him."

I know he said that but we lost Logan's brother to an overdose, and he was using right under our noses without any of us knowing. I'm not going to bring it up though. I trust Murph, and he and Sierra are close enough that I know she'd talk to him if she was worried.

She's just another one of the girls that I know is more nervous around me than comfortable.

But she's good for Logan, so I'm not complaining.

"Hey, you remember when I went to Newport? Our senior year."

"Of high school?" Murph asks, pausing to think.

"Yeah. I got placed with that couple after the Hanson family kicked me out."

"I remember," he answers going back to what he's doing. His expression is harder now, and I know the memory isn't the best. The three of us were best friends back then. Theo, Murph, and me. Three foster kids with fucked up pasts...and pretty shitty presents too. Theo's little brother, Logan, and Murph's little foster brother, Ryder, were our little tagalongs, but it always came down to us.