“Don’t worry, I know condoms aren’t one hundred percent, and⁠—”

“I’d strongly advise you don’t finish that sentence,” I warned, working to keep my cool and not go full-on dad mode about sex and safety when he’d known me for all of five minutes. It’s my fault.

“I only met her brother and the rest of Jamie’s friends last month. She was worried her brother wouldn’t like me. I didn’t know they were part of a gang until then.” He smartly changed the subject away from sex, and I was grateful.

“When? How?”

“We were all chilling at a club for her brother’s birthday.”

“A club? You have a fake ID?”

“So. Who doesn’t?”

His nonchalance was aggravating, and the sharp, stabbing pain in my chest grew with every word he spoke.

“You’ll be handing that ID over to me today.” I curled my hand tight around my phone, using it to try and ground me, to keep me from verbally unleashing on him the way my old man did back when he found out I’d done the same at his age. Payback, all right. “How often were you sneaking out while your mom thought you were in bed?”

“I hope you’re not suggesting you’d have done a better job than her at keeping an eye on me. Don’t you blame her if that’s what⁠—”

“I’m not accusing her of anything. In fact, I’m relieved to see you have some sense and are defending your mother and taking ownership for your poor choices.” That was something, at least.

He stared at me quietly, and I’d take the lack of a flippant or nonchalant response as a win.

“Just keep talking,” I said after a frustrated sigh. “I need to know how deep you are in this mess.”

He puffed out his cheeks before letting the breath sail free. “Jamie made it clear I wouldn’t be able to continue seeing Lennon if I didn’t help him occasionally.”

“So, he calls the shots about her life, not her uncle?”

“Pretttttty much. Lennon says everyone lives off Dylan’s dime, but Dylan’s clueless about what Jamie is up to. I haven’t met Dylan, either. He’s always traveling for work.”

Right, Dylan’s independently wealthy. But was he really not part of their crew? Maybe not. Daniel only mentioned Jamie when we’d interrogated him.

“I don’t know much, I swear.”

That wasn’t necessarily bad, but I was concerned that he still knew just enough to endanger him. “No clue who Jamie answers to, then?” I had to take a stab and ask.

“Sounds like you know more about Jamie than I do.” He grimaced. “So no, I don’t know. I didn’t even know there was a ‘someone’ Jamie answered to,” he added with air quotes. “There. Satisfied?”