Sweet Fall

Coke.

Fuckin’ cocaine.

Coke on campus… Fuck! Coach had been right.

“Austin, there you are, man. I was thinking you weren’t gonna show.”

I flew forward, ready to tear my eldest brother a new ass**le, when I caught someone walking out from the shadows.

My heart skipped a motherfucking beat.

No.

No… no… no… no, no, no, no, no, no!

Levi.

“Hey, Austin!” Levi said, waving, and my stomach rolled to the point I felt sick. My baby brother came strutting forward, jeans and T-shirt too big for his teenage body and all the pockets weighed down with perfectly measured packets of snow. He was fairer than me and Axel, who, quite frankly, could pass for my twin. Levi was our baby brother… the damned innocent one. The one who still had a chance stay clear of the wrong side of the law.

I knew he was working with the crew, of course. We all did as kids, but it was doing things like being a lookout back at the trailer park or counting out cash and collecting packages, but no f**ker had mentioned he’d started dealing.

I flicked my chin in greeting and, pulling him to my chest, met Axel’s eyes over his shoulder. Axel’s face dropped and he turned away. He knew I was pissed, but, knowing Axel, he didn’t give a shit.

“Done good tonight, bro. Nearly got enough for Mamma’s next treatment,” Levi said, pride lacing his voice as he pulled back to look at me.

Closing my eyes, I took a long, deep breath.

“Austin?” Levi questioned, and I felt his eyes focused on me. “You good?”

Opening my eyes, I pulled him close by gripping his two-sizes-too-big shirt. “When did you start dealing with the crew?” I hissed out, and Levi took a huge f**kin’ gulp, the blood draining from his face.

Levi’s gray eyes darted back to Axel, who was walking toward another group of guys heading in our direction. Great. More frat boys looking for a fix, a fix from my f**kin’ doppelganger… at my school!

Yanking Levi back, I placed us behind the protection of a tree, way outta sight. I couldn’t be seen dealing or even be associated with dealers, or my scholarship would be revoked on the spot. The dean was already suspicious. Hell, he never even wanted me in his school. It was Coach’s persistence and Rome Prince’s demands that had him caving in. He’d never wanted the boy with the rap sheet from the trailer park on the wrong side of the tracks.

This shit would play right into his hands.

Checking that we were hidden, I shook Levi, who was busy staring at the ground, by the collar. “Levi! When the hell did you get recruited to deal coke?” I hissed.

“‘Bout a month ago,” he admitted reluctantly.

“A month,” I stated in disbelief.

A goddamn f**kin’ month.

He nodded, and I gripped his head in my hands. “Fuck, Levi. Why? I told you never to go down that road. Do easy shit for the crew, that’s fine. But not this! You’re a born wide receiver like me, but you gotta get your grades, focus on school to get in here at UA. The crew, Lev, the motherfuckin’ crew! Gio won’t ever let you leave. Ain’t no way we’re both getting out!”

Levi pulled back and rested his back against the tree, arms folded over his chest in defiance, a scowl firmly on his face. “Mamma’s getting worse, Aust. Medicare ain’t cutting it no more. We wanna keep her pain free, we need to pay for it. She needs a frame all the time now too. She hasn’t left the trailer in weeks. Can’t walk without shaking and falling to a heap on the floor.”

Levi’s eyes filled with tears, and my throat clogged up tight at the sight. The kid was fourteen. four-fuckin’-teen. He shouldn’t be concerning himself with paying for medical bills, selling drugs, or taking care of Mamma.

“And why the f**k has this been hidden from me?” I asked through gritted teeth, my jaw aching from the pressure.

Levi dropped his head. “Mamma never wanted you to know. Said you had enough to worry about. And I knew you wouldn’t approve of me being in with the Heighters.”

And hell if that didn’t make me feel like shit.

“Look, Aust, we gotta make bank somehow. Axel ain’t making enough on his own no more, not now there’s a turf war with the Kings. He’s out all the damn time, trying to make more green. You’re here, trying to make the draft… That only leaves me. I gotta step up, take care of business, be the man of the house. I’m good. The brothers in the crew look out for me, especially Gio. They’re my famiglia, my brothers.”

Christ, if his words didn’t cut right through me. Fuckin’ Gio looks out for no one but himself.