A Secret Game

“Taylor, what are you doing?”
Taylor jumped at the sound of her name. She quickly hid the stuff under her pillow. “Umm…I’m just looking at some stuff from last year. From school.” She tried to give a convincing face but she knew she wasn’t pulling it off very well. Her mom just gave a sigh and said, “Well don’t forget that Jake is going to be here soon. I invited him for dinner.”
Holy crap! How could she have forgotten? “Why didn’t you remind me?” She looked in the mirror. “My hair looks like shi-crap.” She could see her mom’s reflection and that she was giving her a dirty look.
“Well at least you are trying." She turned around and headed for the kitchen. Once Taylor heard her mom crooning to "Can't Fight the Moonlight," she got the stuff from under her pillow. Damn, she thought. Where is the rest of the stuff. Then a thought came to her. She got up on the stool in her closet and reached up to the highest shelf. She finally felt the plastic bag and pulled it out. There it was. She counted to make sure all of it was there. Just as she finished she heard the dog barking. Jake must be here. She quickly put everything in the bag and put it on the top shelf.
"Hey there!"
Taylor was soo startled from the shout, she started to fall back. The next thing she knew, she was caught in Jake's arms.
"What have we got here, Grace?" He gave a large grin.
"You scared the shit out of me, that's what. Now put me down!"
"Ok," and he dropped her to the floor.
"OUCH! Crap that hurt."
"Well I just did what you asked."
"Yeah, yeah."
"By the way, what were you doing up there?"
"Just putting stuff away. What did it look like I was doing?"
"You aren't into that stuff again are you."
Taylor started to get frustrated, "Listen here, Sherlock. I promised you I wouldn't. Do you think I would lie to you and get back into that?"
Jake looked at her as she got up. "You wouldn't know some of the things people do," he muttered.
"What?"
"I said, of course not."
"Uh huh. Sure ya did."
"Ok you two lovebirds! Get your backsides out here and set the table," Taylor's mom yelled from the kitchen.
~
After dinner, Jake and Taylor crashed and watched T.V. in her room. He was stroking her back and she was about to fall asleep when all of a sudden, something caught his eye. He reached under the pillow and pulled out what looked like a bag of white powder.
"What's this?"
"What's what?" Taylor mumbled. Her eyes were still closed.
"This bag."
Taylor opened her eyes and looked at the small packet dangling in front of her face. She sat up really quick. No, she thought. No. How did that get in here?
"Well?"
"Well what?"
Jake gave her a look that made her cringe. "What is this?"
"Listen, Jake, I never...I didn't. I swear!"
"You lied to me! You told me you wouldn't go back to your old ways."
"Shh. Please don't yell. Mom can't know. I didn't do any of it. I don't know how it got in here." Then a thought came to her. Shit, the bag in the closet.
"I trusted you. I thought you had changed."
"I did change. You changed me, Jake. Why won't you believe me?"
"How can I after I find this and then you don't know how it got in your room?" He started to get frustrated even more. "I have to go. I need to get some air."
"No, Jake." Taylor started to cry. She couldn't stop him from leaving. After she heard him say, "Thank you for dinner" to her mom, she collapsed on the bed. How can this happen? Everything was going so good. That's it. She had to give the stuff back. She grabbed that sack from the shelf and the drugs. She told her mom she needed to go for a walk. Her mom was half asleep so all she heard was a little "hmm" and went on her way. As soon as she got on the sidewalk, she took the way to the club, where she knew he would be.
~
"Taylor!"
Taylor walked up to Jose, who was standing outside the club. He smiled at her and as soon as he did, she gave him the biggest slap she could.
"Damn, Woman. That kinda hurts."
"Well it better," Taylor said, tears in her eyes.
"What the hell did I deserve that for?"
"Why didn't you tell me you put that bag of coke with the money?"
"I thought I would leave it as a little surprise for you. You know, a present."
"Well that 'present' just ruined my life." As soon as she said that, Taylor threw the bag of money at him. "Don't worry about counting it. It's all there. The whole 10 G's."
Jose gave her a confused look, "Are you telling me that you are out?"
"I can't, Jose. I can't do this to Jake."
Jose walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
"I understand," he said as he took her to a private area. Then his voice changed, "But if you think that some guy can get my girl to quit out on me, there is going to be hell to pay. And I think you know what kinda hell I'm talking about."
Taylor stiffened at his last words. Then she turned around and left.
Jose walked up to his buddies and called to one of them, "Marcus, I want you to keep an eye on our special girl, ok? Make sure that boyfriend of hers doesn't cause us any more trouble?"
That's when he noticed the white car leave the parking lot across the street.
~
Damn it, Jake thought, I should have believed her. I should talk to her about it tomorrow. He called her cell phone. He left a message saying to meet him at the park at three the following afternoon. He went home and got in bed.
The next day, it seemed forever until three. He even got there an hour early. Finally, he saw her crossing the street. He ran to meet her but then he saw a look of panic on her face.
"Why did you want me to meet you here?"
"I had to talk to y-"
"But it's too dangerous here. Too open. Anyone can come here and just put a gun to us or something."
"Listen, I saw what you did last night. I saw you give the money back. I'm sorry, I should've listened to you." He hugged her.
Taylor hugged him back and started to cry, "It's ok. I did it for you. I can't see you get hurt." Then she saw one of Jose's thugs coming towards them. She saw him pull something out of his jacket. She screamed and blocked Jake. Everything became a blur. Marcus started running and Jake collapsed on the ground, Taylor's bleeding body in his arms.
"Oh GOD! OH GOD! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!" He screamed. She just looked up at him and smiled. "Why did you do such a stupid thing like protecting me?"
Jake had to put his ear close to her face to hear what Taylor had to say.
"What do you mean I protected you? Now why would I do something like that?"
"Don't leave me," Jake whispered. "I love you"
"I know and I love you. Thanks for changing me."
Jake's tears mixed with the raindrops that were starting to fall. He kissed the top of her head, "Don't give up. Stay with me." He hugged her and could feel the last breath leave her. Then there was silence, not even a heartbeat. The only thing he could hear was the ambulance siren in the background and the raindrops beating hard on the sidewalk.
"Why didn't I believe you?"