Page 85 of Survival

As Darren circledthe table, I tried to ignore the fact that he wasn’t just going toenter my back door; he was going to kick it open until there wasnothing left but a busted door hinge. God, he was going to ruinme.

“Ever experiment with drugs?” he asked after shooting the ballinto the center pocket.

“Yes,” I said.

Darren waited afew seconds then glared at me, obviously dissatisfied with myanswer. “These aren’t just yes or no questions, youknow.”

“Perhaps you should have specified that while explaining therules.”

Darren startedcharging toward me with that look on his face and words startedflying out of my mouth.

“Weed! That’s it!” I said, stopping Darren in histracks.

“Much better,” he growled, turning back around and aligninghis shot for the next ball. Missed.

I circled thetable and made my next shot quickly, pocketing that bitch like Iowned it.

“How about something serious for once. What would you havedone had you not gone into the ‘family business’? If it was allyour choice and your family played in no illegalactivity?”

He stood there fora second, almost confused by the question until he finally startedthinking, and shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t dwell much onwhat-ifs.”

“You don’t know? Come on. There must besomething.”

“No, Jaden. There isn’t. There are no what-ifs in my world.There is only now. There’s no changing the past, so there’s noreason to dwell on it. We keep moving forward because that’s allanyone can ever do. I can’t imagine doing anything else because Iknow this is all I was ever meant for. I was born for this life,and I don’t regret a single second of it.”

Well, that wasdeep, and I didn’t really have much of a response to that. So Inodded and lined up my next shot, sinking it in the cornerpocket.

“What’s the significance of the ring on your finger? I didn’tnotice you wearing it until a few daysago.”

Darren gave me hislittle shark-like grin.

“It was my father’s. He wore it as the head of the family, andnow that he’s gone, I wear it. It’s the symbol of our organization,the same one tattooed on my arm.”

“Oh,” I replied, not really knowing what else to say.“Interesting.”

“And the reason you’re just now noticing it is because I washaving it cleaned and repaired during our time at the warehouse. Sodon’t worry, your observational skills are still intact and assharp as ever.”

I nodded, nothaving much to add and attempted my next shot, missing. Damnit.

Darren then gotup, lined up his shot for the ball, and sunk itintothe corner pocket. Fuck, he was five deepnow.

“So what madeyoudecide to gotolawschool?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I’mnot sure if you realize this, but I like to argue. Plus, I wanted acareer that would allow me to help people and potentially make somedecent money.”

“Noble.” He nodded and went to line up another shot, landingit swiftly in the corner pocket.

“I’ll make this one easy. If you could go anywhere in theworld, somewhere you’ve never been before, where would yougo?”

I blinked at thisone. Where would I go? I hadn’t been on vacation in years, too busywith my life to be able to take off anywhere. I stood there andthought about it for a second.

“I don’t know. I’d probably want to go somewhere withmountains. I’ve never seen mountains before.” Ishrugged.

“Nice answer.” He nodded and pocketed is next shot. And now hewas down to the eight ball. Fuck!

“Here’s an even easier one,” he said. “What’s your favoritecolor?”

Myfavorite color? Really? He could ask me anything and he wanted toknow my favorite color?