BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1) by Philip Duncan (book recommendations for young adults txt) 📕

Decklan’s silence as agreement, so he started the car and drove back to the house.

CHAPTER 10

It was late in the afternoon now and the sun was starting to set. They both realized they haven’t had anything to eat all day. This had become Decklan’s new normal; he hadn't had much of an appetite since that dreadful night.

“I don’t have much food here, but I am sure I can find you something if you are hungry,” Decklan said.

“That’s okay. I was actually thinking about going and grabbing a bite to eat and maybe a drink,” Langley said. “You care to join me?”

Decklan thought about the last time he went for a drink and how well that turned out.

“No thanks, I’m not hungry,” he said purposefully ignoring the drink offer. He didn’t need to explain himself to someone he just met.

“All right, I will be back in a couple of hours.”

Decklan needed to shower and try his best to unwind and relax, if that was even possible anymore. The shower did help him relax, at least a little. After the shower, he headed back downstairs to his living room, which had become the only room in the house he found himself in for more than five minutes.

He searched for the remote but couldn’t find it anywhere on the couch. Then he remembered that one of the men that night would have had it in order to play the horrific video of his family. He looked back over his right shoulder and saw it sitting there on the table directly behind the couch that sat under the giant living room mirror.

He hesitated going for it, since the last time it was used, it completely destroyed his entire world. He finally stood up and walked over to grab it. Although it was just a remote, it felt like it could have weighed a thousand pounds. He wanted to put it down. Hell, he wanted to throw it against the wall and break it into a hundred pieces, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t move a muscle. He just stood there, holding it in his hand like an unpinned grenade.

He looked up from his hand and stared at himself in the mirror. It was the first time in days that he actually looked at himself. He couldn’t believe how shitty he looked. Bloodshot eyes with dark, heavy bags under them. He looked like a strung out druggie or a law student who had been cramming for the Bar for the past week. His face was even thinner from the lack of food, sleep, and proper hydration. He was ashamed.

Look at yourself. You are pathetic. What would your family think if they saw you?

He had every excuse in the world to look and feel the way he did, but he couldn’t stand the sight of himself. He turned away in disgust and found himself back on the couch. Still holding the remote, he sat in front of his seventy-inch flat screen TV. No picture. No sound. He just sat there terrified of what would appear if he turned it on. So he didn’t.

“Hey Decklan, I’m back. Sorry that took me so long,” Langley said, walking back through the front door.

No response.

“Hey man, are you okay?” Langley asked, wondering if Decklan had heard him the first time.

No response.

This time he stood in front of Decklan and snapped his fingers. “Hey, you all right, man?”

Still looking at the blank TV, he finally responded. “Oh hey, sorry. I didn’t hear you come in. I must have zoned out for a minute.”

“No worries, just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“Thanks. Did you find that food and drink you went looking for?”

“As a matter of fact, I found something better,” Langley said.

This brought Decklan fully out of his trance. “What?” he responded.

“While I was enjoying my drink at one of your bars, I overheard a couple of guys talking about scoring some glass.”

A puzzled look passed over Decklan’s face. “Glass?”

“That’s right,” Langley said. “That’s a street name for crystal meth.”

“Are you serious? These assholes are selling meth—here?” Decklan said.

“That’s what it sounded like, and I managed to hear when and where they were meeting. Tomorrow night, at some college party. Guys like this use parties to move their product because they can find drunk college kids with too much money who are willing to pay twice the price to get high.”

“So what’s your plan?”

“We are going to try and get one of them to sell to us.”

Decklan was surprised by this response. “We aren’t in college and we sure as hell don’t look like we are.”

“No one will pay us any attention. Everyone there will be too high or too drunk to notice we don’t fit in, and the dealers will be too eager to sell to think twice about it,” Langley said.

Decklan wasn’t a hundred percent sure this plan would work but he didn't have much choice since this was their best chance. However, one thing did bother him…

“What if something happens and this goes sideways? There will be a lot of kids that could get hurt if things get out of hand,” Decklan said.

“I know, trust me. The last thing I want is to put anyone in danger, but this might be our only shot at getting close to these guys,” Langley replied, fully aware of the risks.

They were both a little apprehensive about this plan, Decklan more so than Langley, but they decided that they had no choice.

***

They were sitting outside the house where the party was taking place, only this time it looked to belong to some trust fund kid whose parents were probably out of town on some lavish vacation. They sat and watched patiently as college kid after college kid poured into the giant house.

Must be at least a hundred people in there, Decklan thought to himself.

They continued to be patient until they spotted one of the drug dealers.

“Right there! Look. Those are our guys,” Langley said, pointing toward the house. “Let’s go. They