by Peiri Ann
To my surprise, the car didn’t explode. We got Clark in the backseat and drove off before the first police car showed. Then the car blew.
“Why aren’t you walking?” I asked Spirit as I sped down the street, keeping clear of any flashing lights.
She shook her head, turning her body away from me to face the window.
“I’m going to drop him off at the hospital. You’re good, right Clark?”
“Yeah, I can go to a hospital. I’m legit.”
“Good, ten minutes. I’ll help you out of the truck. But I’m not staying.”
“Thanks for looking out for me, Shultz. You saved my life, man. I owe you a solid.”
I nodded, checking my mirrors. “Well, you won’t have to feel indebted to me for long. Get her name off whatever lists you can for me. Even if you can only erase it temporarily. Do what you can.”
“Whatever you want. Just get me to a hospital so they can fix my leg and everything else that’s broke on me. Sorry I tried to kill you. I didn’t know it was you, we were tracking her.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it.”
“Watch your back, bro, Reynolds is not playing with this one.”
“He’s got agencies and assassins after me?” Val asked Clark.
“Apparently when you fuck someone over, you do a damn good job at it,” I said.
Kyle sat in the driver’s seat, avoiding looking at me. The back window was busted out. The side rearview mirrors were shot out. When we stopped and he helped his friend, I walked around the truck to see the damages. All I could say was… the front was perfect.
I pulled out my phone to text him. He was fuming, and he’d already blown up on me three times since we dropped Clark off at the hospital. I felt bad, and he was kind of right.
Me: I’m sorry.
His phone buzzed in the cup holder and he waited until he came up on a stoplight to look at it.
He breathed in deeply, and heavily blew out that same breath. Calm and relaxed, he placed the phone back in the cup holder. When the light turned green, he pulled over.
We were an hour and a half drive away from his house and in walking distance of a park. It was dark, quiet, and empty. I stole a glance at the clock in his dash and it read twelve fifty-three.
Kyle got out and walked around the front of the car to my door. He opened it and said, “Get out.”
He’d stripped off his shirt when we left the hospital. Clark’s blood was on it from when he carried him to the truck. Kyle stood by the door waiting for me to get out, and damned if he wasn’t the hottest with his mellow demand, stern glare, and strong display of muscles.
If he weren’t already so angry with me, I would have stayed sitting there and riled him up even more until he started huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf.
He looked from me to the ground, and pushed his fingers through his hair.
I stepped out and he closed the door. He just stared at me as we stood next to the truck, and it turned really awkward. “What?” I asked.
“Get your bag.”
I followed instructions and grabbed my bag from the back seat. “Now what?”
“Let’s walk.”
“What about your truck?”
“Someone is coming to get it.”
“Are we going to walk with this awkward feeling between us? Or are we going to discuss our problem?”
“If you’re uncomfortable, you can walk in a completely different direction.”
I dropped my bag and pulled him to a stop. “Why are you being such a jerk? Who is this person?” I threw my hand toward him, shaking my head.
“Spirit,” his voice stayed mellow, a little distressed, and a sad look stuck in his eyes. “I thought wrong.” He shook his head and grabbed my bag from the ground. “Come on. On the other side of the park there’s a car waiting for us. I’ll take you to the nearest hotel. You should be clear for a while, but you might want to get that tracker chip out of your arm. That’s how everyone’s going to find you.”
“And where are you going?”
“I’m a man of my word. I’m going to put my mom, sister, and niece somewhere safe and go after Melor with Nixon. Then maybe Reynolds, if he puts a pot on me for helping you. I’ll keep my ear to the streets and if I get any new information, I’ll let you know. You should get a new phone, so text me your new number when you do.”
“You’re pissed at me?”
“No, I’m shocked.”
There he went again with the incomplete sentences. “About…?”
“I’ve explained it to you. But I’m not over it.” The upbeat Kyle I was used to was gone. A thick hurt, heavy in his voice grabbed me around my neck and began choking me. I didn’t like him like this.
I looked out to our front: a path through the park, lit by short street lamps. Ahead of us, at the end of the path, was a car. Like he’d said. Our pace was moderate and the air was cool. He was waiting on me to say something. I could tell pushing me off really wasn’t what he wanted. Kyle wanted me. I didn’t know why, but he did. And I wanted him, always have. But I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to live on the edge, or have that feeling of worry while he was gone. Worried if he was alive, or hurt, or hell… with another woman. I wasn’t ready for that. But as the worry sank in, I realized I would have the same worries and thoughts if I was to stand here, stop, and say I’m sorry and explain my insecurities, and how he scared the hell out of me holding that knife when he urgently called me into his kitchen, that I would if I were to walk away and act like I didn’t want this. Want us. Want Kyle.
So I leapt.
I took a leap I couldn’t turn back from. And I hoped Kyle was worth it, and later we wouldn’t try to kill each other, no matter the cost of each other’s death or the safety of our families. I did not want that. I didn’t want us to battle. And I had to be honest with myself and say I was scared of the outcome. But some of the strongest couples had lasted despite their fears and insecurities. They were still here because of their trust, belief, and determination to keep and fight for one another.
I could do that, it would be hard, but I could fight, I could learn to trust, and I could believe that Kyle and I could make it, and grow to become one of those strong couples.
“Kyle, listen, I’m sorry. I’m nervous as shit now, sun up to sun down. Have been since we talked and you told me Reynolds has a hit on me. Besides combat, I’m not protected, and I’m trying to trust you after everything, and you should know what I mean living a similar life. But it’s hard to trust anyone. Even while trusting you, I did seriously think you were trying to kill me and the first thought I got was to protect myself. I pulled the gun on you, but I wasn’t going to use it. I couldn’t. I would have used every word in the English language to try to talk you out of killing me before I even laid a hand on you. Don’t you understand?”
“I understand perfectly. And I’ve been down this road. I’ve seen its ending.”
I grabbed his arms, pulling them around my waist. “We’ll reconstruct the road, throw some forks in it. That way… each turn is unexpected.” I pulled my lips to the side and let a grin peek out. “Whatta ya say?”
He smirked. “You’re starting to make me have some deep feelings for you, Val.”
I could melt at his feet when he said my name. My name never sounded that perfect. “Kyle, you’re a true jerk. I cannot believe you would say that stuff to me.”
“Pain is just a consequence of love. You’ll get over it. The instant I tell you I forgive you, it will evaporate like water.
“So you forgive me?”
“Tell me what you did.” We approached the car and got in.
I threw my bag in the backseat. “With what?”
“To Reynolds.”
“You should already know.” I grew uncomfortable. I hated the person I was that day. “I killed his wife and his son.”
“Why?”
I breathed evenly, preparing myself to hear his I’m sorry to hear that. “His son murder
ed my parents. Drunk driving, hit them head on. His mom, I hit her because I needed a woman’s body to cover for another I was supposed to come up with for Cohen.”
He nodded, looking out the front window. “Tell me something else?”
“What?”
“What happened to you, why are you so guarded and blocked off?”
I thought about that. “I don’t know, Kyle. It’s how I’ve always been.” I rubbed my arms, trying to understand myself so I could explain me to him. I came up with nothing. “I don’t want to be this way. But I don’t know how else to be. I don’t know what else to do. I just… don’t.”
He looked at me with understanding. Brushing my bangs from my eyes, he said, “Okay.” and eased my discomfort. “I forgive you. And thank you.”
I gave him a small smile. I figured he already knew what happened because he’d read my letter. He may have been trying to see if I would openly tell him.
His hand fell from my face as he pulled out his phone and read over an incoming text. His hand tightened around the phone’s edges, then he dropped it in his lap. Slowly, he leaned his head back on the seat and squeezed his eyes shut.
“What’s wrong?”
“You mind meeting my mom?”
“Yes. Yes, I really do mind,” I said, nodding. I did not want to officially meet Mrs. Shultz.
His phone started ringing. “Mom,” he answered. “It’s almost one in the morning. Why are you awake?”
She yelled into the phone.
“Mom, why are you yelling at one in the morning? Go back to sleep.”
She yelled some more.
“Mom, I have company. I can’t come right now.”
“Get your ass to this house now!” she yelled and I could hear that clear as day.
“Okay, Mom.” He pulled the phone from his ear. “She thinks I’m lying. And to prove for once I am actually telling her the truth, you need to come with me. Plus, if you’re there she won’t yell as much, especially walking into her house without a shirt.”
“Then let’s go, Kyle. Maybe she’ll like me and beg you to keep me forever.”
“When you stop trying to kill me, I do plan to keep you forever.” He lifted the armrest and dug out a small box. “You see anyone? Any cars?”
I scoped out around the car, checking the mirrors and out the windows. “No.”
“I don’t want whoever is after you to track us to my mom’s house. Feel around in your arm for the tracker.”
I rubbed up and down my left arm, finding the small hard chip near the vein on its crook. “Kyle.” I watched him pull a razor blade from the box. “This thing is really close to my vein. Don’t fuck up.”
“Cool it.” He stuck his hand out and I placed my arm in it. “Show me.” I grabbed his finger and rubbed it over the area of the chip. “Grab those tweezers and that gauze. I got you.”
I took a deep breath. “I trust you.”
I cringed from the pain as he dug the razor blade’s edge into my skin. It went in and slid back less than an inch in length. He pushed around that area and I could feel the hard plastic chip moving around as my arm started to bleed.
“You’re not going to try to catch the blood so it doesn’t drip all over the car?” he asked. “You’re just going to watch it?”
“That shit hurts.” I grabbed another gauze from the box and put it under his hand. My blood was running over my arm and onto his hand, dripping from it. “Kyle, hurry up. I’m bleeding a lot.”
“If you die, would you mind if I submitted it like I killed you to get that two mil?”
“If I wasn’t bleeding out in this car and at your mercy, I’d slap you.”
He laughed. “Hand me those tweezers. I got it.”
“Here.”
He pushed the tweezers into the wound on my arm, seizing the square black chip. “There we go. Now open a few of those antiseptic wipes.” I did. “Trade me the wipe for the chip and throw it out the window.” I did. He wiped my arm, cleaning the blood away. He then wrapped it and rubbed his hand over the area. “There.” He brought my arm to his lips and kissed it. “That’s the closest I’ll ever get to killing you.”
I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe so badly. I owed it to him to believe it. So I nodded and leaned over to kiss him. “We better get out of here.” I used his line.
He stared at me a minute, time slowly ticking by, the engine rumbling, waiting to go. He was still as air.
I admired him and reached up to place my hand on his chest. It wasn’t moving. I’d stolen his breath. I smiled as I said, “In… and out…” I moved my hand from his chest to his cheek. “If you don’t start breathing, you’re going to turn blue.”
He grabbed my hand.
“Oh, great. I thought you’d turned into a statue.”
A candid smile stretched his lips. “Incredible…” he whispered, gaze locked.
“You are,” I uttered, drowning in his acquiescent green eyes. Sure our hearts were preparing to pound out of our chests, I said, “Let’s go, Kyle. Before we turn into gargoyles, trapped in each other’s eyes.”
“Gargoyles are made of stone right?” he said, inching closer to me.
I breathed him in, eyes glued on his, heart thumping faster the closer he got and longer we stayed lost in one another. “Right.”
Against my lips he concluded, “Then maybe, if we do happen to turn into gargoyles, we’ll stay frozen in time. Lips against lips, heartbeat to heartbeat, gaze in gaze. There’d be no hurt, no tears, no battles, and no broken hearts.”
“Sorry to break it to you.” I kissed him, filling the crave that snuck up on me. “But they don’t exist.”
“But we do.”
His tongue brushed my lips and I parted my mouth to taste his passion. His savor sent my senses insane, calling me to him like a force beyond reckoning. I felt his affection for me through the skim of his lips, his desire for me to be the girl he wanted through the graze of his tongue, and his want for me to fall so deep in him that I’d drown through the gentle touch of his hand resting against my neck.
I gave in to all of it, laying my heart on the line, because unlike me, he deserved it.
“Mom,” I called as I walked through the back door with Val behind me. “Do not yell. You will embarrass yourself in front of a guest,” I said, hitting the alarm.
“Kyle, do not lie to me!” She came charging down the hall from her bedroom. She was feeling better tonight. Though I hated for her to yell, I was happy to see her normal. The cancer treatments were making her so sick and to have a day without her dragging along, coughing, shoving needles in her legs, and stuffing pills down her throat, it was refreshing to hear her yell.
I pulled Val to my side as Mom hit the corner. I pointed. “See, guest. Stop yelling.”
Mom smiled. “Oh, hello. I didn’t know Kyle was bringing someone by.”
Val brightened her face, giving my mother a genuine smile that showed her teeth. “Hi, I’m Valerie. It’s okay, most times he deserves to get yelled at. And I’m sure you have a long list.” I pinched her side.
She pinched me back.
“Kyle, is she your lady friend?”
“Yep Mom, I’ve dived into a rel—” I cut myself off, seeing Janet come around the corner.
“Hey, Val.” They hugged.
I’d missed a conversation I should’ve been a part of. The last time I checked, I’d made it onto Janet’s shit list, and Val was a name above mine.
“Hey, Janet.”
“You two have been together all night? I assume so, with Kyle missing a shirt.”
“Why are you missing a shirt?” Mom asked.
“I had to help a friend. I carried him into a hospital and his blood got on my shirt. Where’s Anna?” I changed the subject. I would have bet my money that it was Val who had come by the house that day Grimmer told me she was after us. But my mom didn’t seem to recognize her. It’s possible she was out of it; maybe she didn’t remember, or maybe Val looked different.
She was very good at that.
Mom shook her head. “She left, again! Some men came and picked her up and she left with them.”
Janet rubbed my mother’s shoulders. “Mrs. Shultz and I tried to go after her. Anna yelled for us to leave her alone and the men in the car pulled guns on us so we backed off.”
I felt more than three emotions in a matter of fifteen seconds listening to Janet. I tried to stay as calm as I possibly could, but my leg was jumping under the table and my hands started shaking.
Val reached over and grabbed my hand. She leaned closer to me and whispered, “We’ll go out to find her. Calm down. We’ll figure it out together. Let’s go.”
With that, she had me. “I’ll be back. I’m going to grab a shirt.”
“Janet, are you coming with us?” I asked, headed for the back door.
“No, I’m going to stay here and make sure your mom’s okay.”
“Thank you.” I left Val’s side and hugged her. “I appreciate that.”
She hugged me tight and whispered, “I’m always going to be here for you, Kyle, and the rest of your family.” She kissed my cheek. A day ago I would think nothing of it, but now something told me that hugging Janet and allowing her to kiss my cheek and neck in front of Val was not going to work for long.
I backed away. “I’ll update you as I’m updated.”
Mom and Val said their goodbyes and we headed out the back for the black Challenger I’d had Janet get me. My truck was destroyed and I wasn’t going to drive it around with a busted window and bullet holes. I asked Grimmer to pick it up and take it to the shop.
“Sorry about Janet,” I said, pulling away from my mother’s house.
Val shook her head. “Just don’t cheat on me with her and we can all play happy friends like she wants.”
“I don’t cheat.”
“Un-hun. Where are we headed first?
“Talk to Rick, ask him to lead us to this guy named Roger.”
“Roger Hamilton? The local dealer to the college?”
My brows drew taut, shocked she knew about him. “Yeah.”
“Rick knows Roger?”
I scratched the back of my head. “Um, Rick said he didn’t know him. He saved my sister from getting her ass kicked by this guy.”