The Bad Boys of Summer Anthology(88)

“You okay, Logan?” Vincent looked at me in concern, his blue eyes worried. He ran a hand through his spiky black hair and he leaned towards me. “Did something happen tonight?”

“No. Nothing happened.” I faked a smile and hit him in the arm. “You don’t know who I am? I’m Logan Martelli, the cops can’t keep up with me.”

“Ha, ha, I almost forgot you’re Logan Martelli.” He smiled at me and then sighed.

“What’s wrong, Vincent?”

“I just don’t think I can do this.” He nodded at the books on the table. “I’m too stupid to understand this crap.”

“You’re not too stupid for anything.” I gave him a stern look. “Let’s have a look.” I opened his book and saw the page on quadratic equations. “I can help you with this, I was pretty good in math.”

“You were good in everything.” He laughed and sat back. “Genius of the family.”

“Well, you’re the college boy, so I expect you’re just as much of a genius as me.”

“I don’t know if I’d say I’m a college boy. More like a hopeful community college man.”

“Community college is still college, you’ll still get a degree. And then you can go on to a four-year university.”

“I don’t know about all that.”

“You’ll do fine. Now go take a five-minute break, let me look over the problems, and I’ll help you, okay?”

“Okay, thanks, Logan.” He jumped up. “You’re the best.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rolled my eyes and watched as he ran up the stairs. I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes for a second. I was worried that Vincent was going to drop out of community college and that everything would be for nothing. At twenty-two, Vincent was one of the oldest freshmen students at River Valley Community College, but I was so proud of him. Even though I had been pushing him for a long time to get a college education, he had ignored me. It was only when he got busted for smoking pot on the beach with some of his friends that he decided to enroll. Thanks to the judge, it was community college or jail. I hadn’t told anyone, but I was glad Vincent had been caught that night. I didn’t want a life of crime for him and Jared. I wanted them to go to school and get out of River Valley. They didn’t need this life.

“Okay, back. You ready to teach me, Einstein?” Vincent ran back into the kitchen. “And I think Jared’s back. I just heard a car door slam and then a car backing out.”

“He got a ride?” I looked towards the front door, slightly annoyed.

“I guess.” Vincent nodded and bit his lip.

“With Joey?”

“Dunno.”

“Okay.” I knew there was no point badgering Vincent about Jared. If there was one thing that was true about the Martelli brothers, it was that we weren’t snitches.

“What’s up, bitches?” Jared sauntered into the house and threw his fingers up in the air. I could tell that he was drunk right away, and I was pissed.

“Where have you been, Jared?”

“Out.” He walked into the kitchen with bloodshot eyes.

“With Joey?”

“Yeah, and?” He glared at me, his green eyes daring me to say something. I stared into the eyes that were an exact replica of mine, and I counted to ten.

“I told you I don’t want you hanging out with Joey.”

“You what?” Jared laughed. “I’m twenty-one, bitch, and you’re not my mom or dad.”

“You know he’s bad news.”

“We’re all bad news, that’s the beauty in it.” Jared stumbled to the fridge. “Any food?”

“He’s real bad news, Jared.” I walked over to him. “We don’t get involved in that stuff.”

“I know, I know.” He sighed and turned around to me. “There’s nothing to eat.”

“What do you want?” I looked around the kitchen and realized that there was no space to make anything, even if I’d wanted to. “Let’s just order a pizza.”

“You sure?” Jared’s eyes lit up and I pulled him towards me. He was my little brother but he was still taller than me, with his six feet and four inches. I patted him on the back and let him go.

“Yeah, go and call them.”

“You the best, bro.”

“Oh, I’m your bro now and not a bitch?”

“You’re still a bitch.” He laughed. “What up, Vincent?”

“Just trying to get ready for this exam tomorrow.”

“Tell Logan to go and take it for you.” He wiggled his eyebrows and we all laughed as we sat down at the table. I looked at my brothers and felt at ease; these were the guys I would give my life for. Even though I was only three years older than Vincent and four years older than Jared, I felt a huge responsibility for them. In fact, I often treated them like they were my sons. Ever since our mom died twelve years ago, we had been essentially alone. Dad had only been good for a few things: teaching us how to steal, how to drink, and how to not give a fuck about anyone else.

“Shh, Jared, Vincent can do this. And so can you.” I looked at him pointedly, and he gave me such a glazed look, that I knew he wasn’t going to remember this conversation in the morning.

“Vincent’s going to become a lawyer so he can keep us out of jail.” Jared laughed. “We only need one college boy in the family, Logan.”

“Whoa, hold on. I’m a far way from law school.” Vincent’s voice was gruff, though I could see the hope in his eyes. Vincent’s dream had always been to go to law school. He had this idea that if he got into the system, he could change it. I didn’t really want him to go become a lawyer; I felt it would distance him from me. But I wanted the best for him. His dreams were important to me, more than my own worries and concerns.

“You’ll make it, Vinny. And Jared, you get your ass working on that college application.”

“Shit, Logan, I’ve got two months until the deadline.” Jared rolled his eyes at me, and it took everything in me not to deck him.

“That’s what you said last year and you missed it.”

“How was the pier tonight?” Jared changed the subject, and I turned away from him with a shrug.

“Okay. I got a Corolla.”

“I noticed, sweet ride.” Jared laughed.

“Stay away,” I warned him.

“You taking it to Marty?” he questioned me.

I shook my head. “Nah, not this one.” I kept my voice monotone and jumped up to grab a beer. Marty was an old friend of my dad’s. He ran a mechanic shop in River Valley and always took the cars we gave him. He either used them for parts or sold them through an auto dealer magazine. However, recently he had been paying less and less and acting shadier and shadier. I think it was because he didn’t like dealing with me. He was used to my dad, who just took the money and shut up. By the end of the night, Marty would have most of the money back, either in his belly as free beer or as winnings from poker night with my dad and some of their friends. I didn’t participate in either of those activities and Marty wasn’t too happy about it. So now he offered less and less. In fact, the last time I had taken him a car, he had given me a veiled warning: take the cash offered or the car might make its way to a police parking lot in the middle of the night, and he’d hate to see them catch the thief due to fingerprints. I took the money instead of socking him in the jaw because he had his two henchmen next to him. But I knew after that, I couldn’t take another car to him.

“Where you going to take it?” Jared questioned me.

“I’ll have to see.” My voice was rough and strained. “Anyways, I gotta help Vinny now. You go wait on the pizza and we’ll talk later.”

“Shit, I better go outside and wait before Dad goes crazy at the pizza guy for ringing the doorbell again.”

“Yeah.” I nodded in agreement. “Do that.” I watched as Jared walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and out the front door, and I let out a deep breath.

“What’s up, Logan?” Vinny’s voice sounded worried.

I looked up at him with a weak smile. I had forgotten he was still in the room with us. “Nothing.”

“Something going on with Marty?”

“Yeah, but it’ll be okay.”

“He’s shady as fuck, isn’t he?” Vincent sighed and I saw that his fists were clenched. “You let me deal with him, or all of us can. You, me, Jared, we should go down there and show him that the Martelli brothers don’t play.”

“We can’t go down there and intimidate him, Vincent.” I shook my head, trying to talk reason into him, even though his idea sounded good to me.

“I wasn’t talking about intimidating.” Vincent smiled a wicked smile. “I’m talking about using him as a punching bag and not stopping until he cries like a bitch.”

“We’re not going to do that, Vinny.”

“Pussy.”

“Watch your mouth.” I laughed. “You can’t afford to get caught for anything anyway, you know what the judge said.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “What are we going to do?”