"She's going to try to take up where I left off. She's going to lead her life for someone else instead of for herself." Scotty looked away. "The same way you did. The same way I did."

Scotty sat down on the couch, defeated. "We can't keep going on like this, little brother. The heat is on us all." He didn't know how to save them. He didn't know what to do.

Phonso placed his beer on a cocktail table already crowded with empty beer bottles.

"I know Scotty. I was ...