Free Out of Aces by Stephanie Guerra Page A

her cigarette glowing cherry red in the dark.
    I breathed out and watched the cops surrounding the club, wound up tight and ready to nab people. They couldn’t get me, I told myself; my TAM card was real, and my license had been made by a friend at the DMV. But I was sha king.
    The main doors opened and light poured out of the club. No more beats; they’d shut down the music. In little knots, clubbers walked out the doors and passed through the ring of cops. The shepherds strained at their leashes, ears pricked up, sniffing crotches. It was spooky quiet except for the crunch of footsteps. Twenty, maybe thirty clubbers made it through the ring, when suddenly one of the shepherds gave two sharp barks, nosing a girl’s leg. She shrieked and took a step back, but a cop appeared next to her and said, “Over here, ple ase.”
    More quiet. More people passing through. Two more barks, and they took away a guy in a suit.
    The next batch of partiers came out. A girl with pink hair wearing some crazy latex club gear screamed when she saw the dogs and tried to run back into the club. It took the officers about two seconds to bring her back out. Four or five dogs started barking as the cops hustled her past.
    “That one’s going to need a cavity search,” remarked April. “She’s not wearing enough to hide anyth ing.”
    “That’s twisted,” I said, but I couldn’t help smi ling.
    “So, is that meathead still bugging your girlfriend?” she a sked.
    I glanced at her. She sounded like she actually cared. So I gave her a real answer. “Yeah. But she doesn’t think he’s bugging her. She likes hanging out with him.”
    “Hmmm,” said April. “Just as frie nds?”
    “That’s what she s ays.”
    April blew a thin stream of smoke into the air. “That’s what my ex-husband said about the woman he cheated on me with,” she rema rked.
    The comment fell like a stone, sending out ripples. It seemed like a terrible prediction of the future. Then I thought, Wait, April was married? She looked too young to have been married. And too hot. Who would be dumb enough to cheat on her? But immediately I remembered how many nice, pretty girls I’d cheated on—Irina was actually the first I’d been loyal to. Cheating says more about the person doing it than the person getting cheated on.
    “What an idiot,” I said.
    “Yeah, he was, but I got rid of him.” April made a little kicking motion with her foot. She was acting cocky, but her eyes were sad, so I decided to change the sub ject.
    “How long do we have to wait here?” I a sked.
    “It took almost an hour last time. Then they’ll bring us inside and lecture us for a while. Nick and Lars will have to pay huge fines.” April lowered her voice, glancing at the closest cop. “LVPD is cracking down. My friend’s boyfriend is with Homeland Security, and he says too many drugs and minors are getting into Vegas cl ubs.”
    I was getting tenser with every word she said. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was funny; I was checking texts more and more lately, especially if I was nervous about something. It was like my version of a cigarette. Kyle had sent me a picture from a party at our friend Forrest’s house. It was him, Forrest, and three girls who I didn’t recognize. They had taken a selfie, a blurry crowd in the background. Wish u were here.
    “Who’s that?” April asked curiously, peering over my shou lder.
    “My old friends,” I said.I looked at the wet cement, at the uniforms everywhere, and thought, I wish I was there, too. Lately, texts from my Washington friends were making me feel depressed. We’d been on a road together, and then I’d taken a major fork. I could still see them in the distance, but my road was going somewhere totally different. I had a feeling that soon, I wouldn’t be able to see them at all.

    The cop held out an eight ball of coke on the flat of his hand. He had a Santa sack open on the ground in front of him, except it was made out