“Come here.” He grabs Nick around the shoulders. “I’m proud of you. You know that, right? I mean, what you’ve done here is pretty impressive. You’re gonna be the next Tony Montana if you play your cards right.”

“That’s what I’m saying. We have all the contacts up here. Maybe we can work something out with Devon.”

I hate watching Nick plead with his uncle. Losing Humboldt is the best thing that could happen to Nick, to all of us. This was never supposed to be a career.

“Look, I get it, you’re pissed. You gotta let it go. Devon’s got Humboldt now. You need to focus on school.”

Nick kicks at a rock and shoves his hands in his pocket like a sulky kid.

Will opens the door to his truck and leans against the seat. He pulls out a joint and lights it up. “Where did you apply?”

Nick runs his hand through his hair. “I was thinking I’d move to the city for a little while. Maybe work with you and learn more about the business, then next year…” Nick stops talking when he sees the look on his uncle’s face.

Will closes his eyes and flicks the joint across the parking lot. Some kid is going to score big when they find that. Will slams the door to his truck and stands in front of Nick. He towers him by two or three inches. “Please tell me you applied to school?”

I don’t know why Will is so worried about Nick getting a college degree. What does he have to gain from it?

Nick looks at Will like a defiant son. “Fuck college. I’m not going.”

Will sucks in a long breath and exhales slowly to calm himself down. “What did I tell you about going to school?”

“I know what you said but—”

“But nothing!” Will raises his voice, causing some unwanted attention.

I take a few steps away and pull my hood over my head.

“How many times have I told you that you need to graduate from college? How many times, Nick?”

“A lot,” Nick says quietly.

“So, what the fuck is this shit about not going?” He throws his hands in the air and shakes his head like Nick is the biggest disappoint of his life. “Did you apply to any schools?” Will stares Nick down.

Nick shrugs and shakes his head. I don’t think he’s ever felt as bad about anything as he does right now. Will kicks at the ground, then opens his truck door and slams it shut. He throws the biggest bitch fit I’ve ever seen. I doubt Nick’s ever taken this type of abuse. Unlike Arnie. We’ve all seen Arnie getting yelled at by his old man. He’s a high-strung ex-military guy. When you go to Arnie’s place, you expect to see some sort of confrontation. Arnie’s father would pace back and forth in their small house screaming orders to Arnie like he was a private in boot camp. To make matters worse, Arnie always, and I mean always, talked back, which drove his old man even more insane. I’ve seen Arnie tossed out the front door, thrown against a wall, and verbally abused by his father more times than I can remember, but I’ve never felt as bad for Arnie as I do for Nick right now. I’m waiting for Nick to come to his own defense, to tell Will to fuck off or something. But he just stands there and takes it.

“Do you realize what this means?” Nick’s eyes stay transfixed on the ground. “It will take that much longer to get the money!” He screams at Nick like he’s nothing—a nobody.

I finally get it. Will is referring to Nick’s inheritance. The Marino’s have this rule. You can’t get your inheritance unless you graduate from college with a degree. I’m just wondering why Will cares so much. Why is he’s so invested? Unless he is. Does Nick plan on going into business with Will?

“I’ll make it right,” Nick promises.

“God damn right you will. We didn’t work all these years to lose it in the home stretch. Don’t do what your old man did. Don’t fuck this up.” Will grabs Nick around the neck and kisses the top of his head.

That was a low blow. Everyone knows Nick hates being compared to his father.

“I won’t. I guess I thought I could get a jump-start on the business now with the money I got for my eighteenth. With the way things were going, I could have tripled it in a year,” Nick starts to explain, but Will cuts him off again.

“Patience, nephew.” He nods his head in my direction like I’m not supposed to know what they are up to. I don’t want to fucking know.

“So, how was your party?” Will walks back to the door of his truck with his arm around Nick’s neck. I’ve never seen anyone play with Nick’s emotions like Will Walker. He goes from an abusive thug to a loving uncle in the blink of an eye. “I hope you at least got laid!” Will looks at me. “I hope you had some fine girls lined up for our boy.”

I sort of laugh in a shut-the-fuck up kind of way.

“It wasn’t like that. I have a girlfriend,” Nick reminds him. “I really want you to meet her.”

“Yeah, sure.” Will opens his door and gets inside. “I’ll call you next week. You better have a plan to get into some kind of fucking school. Have granny pull some strings.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Nick assures him. I guess this is a good thing. At least now Nick is motivated to go to college, even if it’s just to please his asshole uncle.

Will points at Nick and smiles. “I have faith in you, kid.”

Nick beams at his uncle’s approval. I feel sick.

“And you.” Will points at me. “Take care of our boy!”

I keep my hands in the pockets of my jacket and give him a nod. “Yeah, of course.” What a prick.

I hate the way Will just had Nick groveling for his approval. I can’t believe Nick doesn’t see it. He’s blind when it comes to Will. What’s worse is that I can’t say shit about it. Will is the closest thing Nick has ever had to a father. He can do no wrong.

We get in Nick’s car and head to the café. There is only one thing that may change Nick’s mind about school, and that’s Dani. She deserves better than a drug dealer for a boyfriend. We’re at the light waiting to turn into the parking lot of the strip mall when Nick pulls an envelope from under his seat and hands it to me.

“What’s this?”

“It’s for Stanford.”

I open it and look inside. There is at least a year’s worth of tuition in my hand. I look at Nick; he’s staring straight ahead with a smile on his face. I didn’t earn this. Saying I’m in Nick’s crew and putting in work are two different things. Arnie is the one out there selling and risking his life, not me.

“I don’t know if I can take this,” I force myself to say.

“It isn’t a gift. This is your cut.” My cut should be somewhere around nine or ten grand. This looks like five times that. I want to mount some sort of argument, but I don’t know how to refuse the money without insulting him.

“Really? Business is this good?” I ask just to hear him say yes. Just so my weak ass can keep the money. “Are you sure you can afford to pay me after what Will said about closing shop?”

Nick scoffs at the question. Nick can afford to pay all four years of my tuition plus housing. He doesn’t need drugs to make money. All he has to do is go to the bank.

“You earned it for having my back.”

“I’ll always have your back, dude.” He doesn’t need to pay for my friendship.

We navigate through the parking lot and my eyes go directly to the café out of habit, not because I’m desperate to see her. I’ve stayed away from her all week. I said too much at Nick’s party. Things got way too intense, but that’s over now. I’m not giving her anymore pills, and I’m going to keep my distance. I tell myself it’s the right thing to do—for her. But I’m really doing it for me. It’s too hard to be around her now. She told me she loved me. She was whacked out of her mind, but I know she meant it. Then she went home with Nick. I can’t play this game with her emotions or mine.

Dani walks out the door and I look at Nick. He sees her too. His tunnel vision almost causes him to hit a shopping cart.

“Whoa!” I yell just as Nick swerves out of the way.