“You’ll have to do a full one-eighty, sober all the way up and you still only get chump change. Total scam.”

I snatch the joint, suck it hard and let the smoke out through my nose. “What the hell are tigers going to do with five million dollars anyway?” I say, expecting her to smile, but she doesn’t. She’s not joking anymore. Maybe she never was.

“Getting clean for that isn’t even worth the effort,” she says, taking the joint back.

We’re quiet awhile. We’re both thinking about him.

I groan. “You don’t have any extra powder on you? This shit is weak.”

Mei shrugs. “My delivery’s late.”

“Fuck,” I say, squeezing my eyes shut, craving that sweet floral smell, that burn up my nose before the numbness rolls over my tongue and drips down my throat. That nothing, nowhere feeling. Drowning me. Protecting me.

I open my eyes, the roar from downstairs reduced to a low hum. “Do you think we could actually get away with it?” I ask, serious now.

Jared goes still on the couch. “Hey, this is still a joke, right?”

My face doesn’t change.

He looks from me to Mei, but she ignores him too.

“Probably not if you gut him.” Her voice is flat and grim. “You could Shakespeare his ass, though.”

My nod is slow as I toss that around in my head. “Poison.”

My little genius takes another draw and, without skipping a beat, she says, “I know a guy who will definitely know a guy who could get us something to put him to sleep in a few minutes.”

She sounds so practical. So sure. I have no doubt she’d be able to get whatever I’d need to kill my father. She can get her hands on anything. Her dealer delivers her blow to her apartment like it’s takeout.

Jared studies Mei, then his gaze settles on me. “You guys are scaring me.”

I gape at him. “Dude, your dad’s bank is done. Come on. We’ll split my inheritance three ways, even.”

He looks away, still not convinced.

I’m not worried, though. I know I can trust him. We’ve been through too much together for me to not trust him. We met at homecoming freshman year. He was shit-faced and still pretending to be straight. He told me my Taylor Swift–heavy playlist was weak, then introduced me to K-pop and we’ve been inseparable ever since. He’s seen me naked—everybody’s seen me naked—and I’ve seen his dick. It was like seeing your brother’s dick. I know all his secrets, what hurts him the most. He will tell no one.

Jared blows out a sigh, and to my surprise, reaches over and takes the joint from Mei’s hand, finishing it off with an enormous hit. It makes him choke.