The Beginning of the End, Part IX

It was almost a week later that I found out what had actually happened. I DID receive a call from my uncle, though, but all he told me was that “everything was taken care of.” According to him, that was all that I needed to know.

I was on pins and needles all week at work, unable to totally concentrate on the simplest tasks. Kevin called every day, and if he knew anything, he wasn’t telling ME about it. We even went out on Tuesday night to O’Brien’s, and had a great time. I asked him if he had “partied” at all during the week, and he told me he hadn’t. But he assured me that we would over the weekend, and said he wouldn’t leave me out. Not exactly the response I had been looking for, but if it was true and he HAD stayed clean all week… Well, maybe Aaron being gone wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe he could continue to NOT party without any problem. Maybe he would realize that what I had done was out of love, and be grateful. Maybe, just maybe, we could start over WITHOUT the drugs.

We met at his place Friday night and headed to O’Brien’s. After hanging out and having a few drinks, Kevin looked at me with a smile. “Wanna stop at P’s?” I sucked in my breath and smiled back, hoping that my nervousness didn’t show. “Sure,” I responded. Kevin gave me a funny look, then we said our goodbyes and headed out. As we drove to P’s, I stared straight ahead and tried to calm the butterflies in my stomach. I wasn’t sure what I was nervous about, after all, my uncle had told me it was taken care of. Aaron wouldn’t be at P’s and there would be no one to supply Kevin with his drugs. And this was a GOOD thing. Kevin may be mad at first, sure, but he would realize how good it was. I was still trying to convince myself of this when we walked into the bar. There seemed to be an air of tension in the place that you could almost feel, and when I snapped back to reality, I my heart almost stopped mid-beat.

There, in his usual spot at the bar, was Aaron.

I felt the blood drain from my face as he looked up and saw Kevin and me. I was SURE he knew, positive he was aware of my phone call… I swore he was burning a hole right through me with his eyes. I looked away, trying frantically to find Sam so I could order a drink and calm my nerves. Kevin, in the meantime, nodded toward Aaron and headed his way. I slowly lowered myself onto a barstool and watched the two of them, trying to appear nonchalant. Sam jerked me out of my reverie by setting a beer down in front of me. I jumped at the sound of the bottle hitting the bar, and Sam paused before turning around. “Everything ok?” he asked. I nodded. “Fine,” I replied with what I hoped was a convincing smile.

I turned back to Kevin and Aaron, and saw Aaron motioning to me. Kevin turned as well, and signaled for me to come join them. I had never formally met Aaron, and was terrified at the thought of doing so now. Why was he here? Wasn’t he supposed to be in jail? Did he KNOW? I tried to swallow my fear and appear as normal as possible. When I reached them, I sat down in an empty chair and waited for the shoe to drop.

“This is my girlfriend, Dasi,” Kevin said, putting his arm around me. “Dasi, this is Aaron.”

Aaron extended his hand and gave me a smile that sent chills down my spine. When I extended mine, he brought it to his lips and kissed it. “A pleasure,” he said, never taking his eyes off mine. He released my hand slowly, and finally broke his gaze to turn back to Kevin. “As I was saying, a mere bump in the road. Unfortunate, yes, but not enough to put a halt to business.” Aaron spoke with a thick Polish accent. He reached into his pocket, and then shook Kevin’s hand, passing a package to him. “Enjoy, my friend.”

How was this possible? How was Aaron still sitting here, still selling drugs? I avoided his gaze as I mumbled goodbye and turned to return to my beer. I sat down and finished my beer in one long chug, trying to quiet the questions that were screaming in my head. I looked back and saw Kevin heading my way. Aaron seemed oblivious to everything as he concentrated on drinking his beer. I wasn’t sure what exactly had gone on here last week, but the bottom line was that the end result was definitely NOT what I had expected.

Kevin and I left P’s and went back to his place to party. It was really quiet there, so I turned on some music to distract myself. Kevin went to work on the product, and I just sat on the couch with the same old feeling inside that I always got before getting high – a mixture of anticipation and excitement with a little nausea thrown in for good measure. Only this time, the nausea was more prevalent than usual. It only increased when Kevin started talking.

“Someone narc’ed on Aaron last weekend,” he commented. “Apparently the whole storefront in back was raided and he got busted.”

I snapped to attention. If this was true, then how…?

“Half a million bail. Can you believe it? But his people came up with the cash to get him out that night. I guess he lost a lot of shit, but still has enough to do business with. Either way, it was done without a warrant, he says, so nothing will stick. But whoever set him up is really screwed.”

I watched Kevin light up and inhale. Half a million? That would mean whoever bailed him out needed fifty THOUSAND in cash. IN CASH. Kevin handed me the pipe and I took my turn, wondering if it was possible he DID know…

“Polish mafia has connections, you know, so I’m sure the rat will eventually be caught.” Kevin laughed. “Poor guy. Wonder why he did it?”

I exhaled and looked at Kevin. Before I could stop them, the words came out. “It was me,” I whispered.

“What, babe?”

I looked him straight in the eyes. “It was me. I’m the one who narc’ed on Aaron.”

Kevin paled and jumped up. “WHAT? How could you be so STUPID? What were you THINKING? Don’t you know who he IS?” he was yelling.

I started to cry, and everything spilled out. How I wanted him to stop, how I thought it was a good idea, how my uncle promised to take care of everything. Kevin came over and held me tight. “Babe, you can’t EVER tell anyone about this,” he said into my hair. “Things like this could get you killed.” He pulled back and looked at me. “Thank you for trying, but babe… shit. Just don’t ever say anything, ok?”

I nodded through my tears, and he offered me another hit. It seemed to calm me somewhat, and I began to wonder why I would want to stop partying anyway. Kevin was right, it was a stupid idea, and I was just a little girl getting involved in big dog games. Games I had no right to be involved with in the first place. We talked a long time, Kevin and I, and came to the conclusion that Aaron would probably never suspect me. As long as I never brought it up again to anyone else. After all, I was just the quiet blonde girlfriend who minded her own business. But the thought of possibly being on the wrong side of the Polish mafia had my stomach in knots. I couldn’t shake the cold look in Aaron’s eyes when I met him formally that night.

Kevin and I never brought up the subject again, although every time we went to meet Aaron I still had the cold knot of fear in my gut. Apparently Kevin was right though, because we heard through the grapevine that Aaron was never able to find out for sure who it was that set him up, but there was one guy who mysteriously disappeared from the bar scene. And Aaron continued to be a gentleman in my presence.

I never bothered to tell my uncle that Aaron was still in business, actually, I never told my uncle anything again. I had learned my lesson, and was lucky to still be alive. For the time being. My journey on the wild side was getting more and more dangerous with every passing day, and then Kevin made a surprising and drastic decision. He was moving to Reno.