by Holly Hood
“You’re not the first person I met who practiced black magic,” Evan said.
Slade returned to me. And Eve quickly dumped a pitcher of water on the painting.
“So you know what I am capable of.” Slade rubbed his hands together looking for something else to destroy. Before he could Evan cleared his throat and finally said something smart for once.
“How will you protect her?”
“I know a spell. It only last for about ten minutes but it will keep anything from happening to her.” Slade looked at Evan. “Will it take longer than ten minutes?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”
“It’s been a long time. I don’t know how long it will take, what if it takes longer than that. What happens to me?” She looked around the room, biting at her lip.
Evan put a protective arm around her. “I promised you nothing would happen to you. And I won’t break that promise.” He looked at Slade. “We have a little boy. He means the world to her and she doesn’t want to ever leave him again.”
I sat down, a heaviness in my chest. She was only worried because of her little boy and that made me feel awful. They weren’t bad people, they were trying to look out for their family. And I was about to ruin theirs because I wanted mine back.
“Hope is capable of doing the same spell, right, Hope?” Slade asked me.
I reluctantly shook my head. “I remember reading about it.”
After a couple minutes of silence Evan dropped his arms and looked at us. “She’ll do it. But if anything happens to her I will make sure the rest of your life is miserable.”
Slade touched his arm. “On my word nothing will happen to her.”
I hated how easy it was for Slade to lie to them. He knew as well as I did things were not going to end well. As soon as we got what we wanted Kenny would ruin everything.
But it was either let my dad die or deceive complete strangers. I looked away from the picture of their son on the wall. What if she died trying to bring my dad back to life? Her son would be without his mother, just like my brothers and I.
I watched Slade leave the room to get my father’s body. The guilt ate at me. Maybe the right thing to do was tell her once she gave us what we wanted. Maybe if I warned her she could stop Kenny.
I stood up, and paced the room. I needed to hold it together for a few more minutes and then we would be headed back to California with my dad.
And just as I started to in ran their son. He raced across the room and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled, stroking his curly mess of hair.
I smiled forcing myself to sit back down.
“Oliver, I want you to go get a snack in the kitchen and let us have a few minutes.” She turned him to the doors. “I promise after we are finished we will have a big bowl of ice cream.”
He looked at me. “Who is that?”
“She’s a friend.” She forced a smile pretending everything was alright. “Now go.”
He did as he was told and left the room. She took the seat next to Evan. “Maybe you should help him.” She patted his leg. “I can’t imagine he’s light.”
He sat back in his chair. “The guy looks like he’s on steroids, I’m sure he can handle it.” He looked at me. “I wouldn’t believe everything my brother tells you just so you know.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe anything he says.”
“Good because he’s only out for himself.” He crossed his arms. “He’s a snake. And he’ll ruin your life.”
Eve’s gaze dropped to the floor and she nodded. “He ruins everybody’s life.”
The door opened, and Slade came in carrying my dad’s body. I hated the thought of him underneath the black plastic.
He carefully placed him on the ground.
“Alright.” Slade clapped his hands together. “Let’s get this started.”
Withdrawals like a mother
I knew the spell. I knew all spells like I knew my birthday and social security number. Maybe I was some kind of witch savant, the amount of stuff going on in my mind when it came to magic astounded me.
But that didn’t change the fact I was scared to death of Evan and what he would do to me and Slade if I failed to keep up my end of the deal.
I looked at him, clutching his cell phone in his big hands. He was only willing to give us eight minutes.
So after Slade performed the spell. I sat behind him on the couch watching Eve. She rubbed her hands together and dropped to her knees uncovering my dad. I looked away. I didn’t want to see him in that condition.
“Six minutes,” Evan announced.
I admired my shoes, and then I admired Slade’s boots and the way both toes had perfect scuffs on them. And I thought about the first time we slept together. It was a stupid thought, it seemed pretty shallow but anything was better than the thoughts that would start if I didn’t think about something.
“Four minutes,” Evan reminded us. This time he sighed.
I bit down on my lip, I wanted it to work. I wanted to know my dad would be okay. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I had to go back to Cherry and tell Nona and my brothers he was dead.
Slade touched my arm. “Stand up.”
I knew what was coming next. “When he says one minute I want you to start the spell.”
I swallowed and shook my head. I repeated the words over and over in my head so I didn’t forget them. “What if this doesn’t work?”
“It’s going to work,” Slade said. “Stop thinking like that.”
I closed my eyes forcing air through my nose. “I’m trying.”
“It’s working,” Eve said breaking through my calm. I opened my eyes and dropped down beside her. I touched his face, he looked okay, better even. He was warm, he was breathing, he was everything I wanted him to be and more.
She stood up, leaving me and Slade to tend to him. I touched his chest feeling the rhythmic beating of his heart, it was the best feeling I ever felt beneath my fingertips.
Slade kissed my temple, squeezing me for a couple of seconds before he let me go back to my dad. I squeezed his hand smoothing his hair back waiting for more. I wanted him to look at me.
“It sometime helps if you talk to them,” she offered.
I looked at her and smiled. “Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.” I looked her over. “Are you okay?” She looked okay.
She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m a little shaky. But I’m okay.”
I squeezed his hand. “Dad. It’s Hope. Wake up, look at me.”
Seconds never felt so long. But soon enough I was looking at one of the most important people to me like it was the first time. He touched my face. “Hope.”
His words meant the world to me.
“How do you feel?” I asked him.
He sat up. “Like I have the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life.”
Slade kneeled down beside us with a glass of liquor in his hand. I raised an eyebrow but bit my tongue. Dad accepted the drink and looked around the room as he took his first sip. “Where are we?”
“Jersey,” Slade told him. “But not for long.”
Dad rubbed at his forehead with his free hand. “The last thing I remember is Hope singing down by the water.” He looked down at the black bag and pulled one leg free. “What the hell is this?”
I cleared my throat. “We didn’t have a blanket.” I wasn’t sure how to explain.
“Dead bodies travel better in plastic,” Slade said bluntly.
I sighed. “Everything is fine. We’re all fine now. Please don’t worry about it.”
He shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.” I helped him free himself and get to his feet. Evan stood by the door, it was obvious he wasn’t going to let us leave that easily.
“I hope you’re a man of your word,” Evan told Slade. “We did what you wanted. I hope you leave it at that. Bringing Carlo back would be bad for everyone.”
I
swallowed.
Slade nodded, giving Evan a handshake. “No problem. We will be on the road and you won’t hear from us again.”
Slade touched the small of my back to get me moving. I looked at him, the guilt seeping into my soul. “Slade.”
He raised an eyebrow, his jaw flexing. I knew what he thought he didn’t even need to break into my thoughts. He didn’t want me to say anything.
“Hope, we have to hit the road.” Slade grabbed my arm and brought a hand to my hair. “Your dad’s going to be fine.”
Dad rubbed the back of his neck doing his best to pull it together. He wasn’t in control of his life for days I could only imagine what kind of toll that took on someone’s mind.
But he was still trying to comfort me.
“Hope. Are you alright?”
“I’ll be okay.” I lied. I was about to burst if I didn’t leave.
And then she looked at me. She smiled, coming over to me. “I’ve done this too many times to count. He’s going to be okay. I know it’s strange. But I promise you he will be.” She squeezed my arm.
Her eyes were really blue when she was emotional. It pulled at my heart strings. “It’s not going to be okay.”
Everyone looked at me. I avoided them all breaking away from Slade and Eve and my dad. I didn’t want to be comforted for misleading anyone. “Just straighten this all out so we can leave. I don’t want to be here anymore.” I shot Slade a look sending him into motion.
As soon as Slade gave Evan his word again we were on our way. Part of me was relieved to be sitting in a car with my dad. The other part of me felt bad to know we deceived them.
Kenny drove us back to his apartment so we could do one final thing for him.
“So what’s it feel like?” Kenny adjusted his mirror to get a look at my dad. “Coming back from the dead?”
Dad scratched his head. “Who is this guy?” He looked at me and Slade. “And why are we in Jersey?”
I sighed. “This is Kenny. He’s the reason we are in Jersey.”
“And the reason you were dead for almost a week.” Kenny pointed out.
“I think he gets it,” Slade said.
“We all get it,” I added. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. “We all understand you’re some freak of nature that runs around touching people and killing them. Let’s get this over with so I can go home and forget this ever happened.” I concentrated on the cars and the rumble of the engine.
“I held up my end of the deal, when are you going to give me even an ounce of credit, sweetheart?” He smirked.
“Never. Your about to ruin your brother’s life all because your angry for whatever reason.” I crossed my arms and sighed. “What is it? Are you upset because she loves him and not you?”
Kenny slammed on the brakes and my head thudded against the back of his seat. Slade kept his eyes on his every move.
“Eve was my brother’s girlfriend first.” He slammed the car into park. “I tried to be the nice guy and do what my brother wanted.”
My dad shook his head.
“So they fucked you over and you want to pay them back. That doesn’t fix things,” I told him.
“It may not, but it feels good.” He put the car back into drive and made a u turn.
Dad looked out the window. “Where are we going?”
“To finish what we started,” Kenny answered.
He pulled into a parking lot and parked the car a few spots away from the others already there. I studied the neon lights flickering off in the distance.
“What the hell is this place?” Slade said.
Kenny grinned. “You never been to a strip club?”
I was speechless.
Slade shifted in his seat. “Why are we here?”
Kenny turned the car off. “Come on, don’t deflect. I bet the strip clubs in California are ridiculous. Are you afraid of hurting her feelings?”
Slade flexed his jaw. “I don’t give a shit if she knows I’ve been in a strip club.”
“Good, let’s go.” He climbed out of his car.
I looked at Slade before getting out. Kenny threw up a hand stopping my dad before he could get out on his side. “Dad we don’t want this to get awkward. So take a nap. We’ll bring you out some wings or something.”
I nodded, and followed behind Slade to the entrance of the club.
“What are we doing at a strip club?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine how a strip club could help bring back his dead father.
Kenny patted the burly bouncer on the arm and we got inside without any issues. The music bordered on hearing loss, the woman were naked and if I wasn’t so stressed out I might have been embarrassed to be staring at vaginas. But today I didn’t care.
“This shit hole has the one very important thing we need,” Kenny said. He pulled up a seat, planting us in front of the stage. “They have the biggest bouncers around and if we are going to bring Carlo back I say go big or go home.” He pulled out a couple dollars.
Slade took a seat. I looked around at the scary men and took the seat next to Slade getting as close to him as possible.
A waitress in nothing but pasties and a black thong came over. She twirled a pen between her fingers and offered a smile. “Can I get you guys something to drink?” She stared Slade down and then Kenny. But it wasn’t long before she started to drool over his tattoos and fitted black t-shirt and focused on him again.
“Three shots of patron,” Kenny said. “Put it on the tab.” He winked, slapping her ass. “They know me here.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure.”
Another girl worked her way over. “Hey there.” She took a seat in Slade’s lap as if it was made for her and not me. “I’ve never seen you here before.” Her hand slid down his thigh, and he watched her every move bringing his hand to her waist. He looked up at her. “I’m not interested.”
She spun around straddling him, grinding parts of her into him that I preferred she didn’t. Slade secured both hands around her waist and hoisted her off of him. “Not my style. Sorry.” He tucked a bill in her g-string and leaned back in his chair. Everything he did was so damn casual.
She rounded the table and took a seat on Kenny’s lap. “I’m glad you came back. We have missed all your insults and lame tips.”
Kenny nodded balling up a dollar and shoved it down the front of her g string. “You fucking love it.”
I cleared my throat. “I need to pee.”
Kenny shrugged. “Then pee. I have to ask Candy a few questions anyways.”
Slade stood up. “And so do I.”
I followed behind him down a dark hallway. “Do you really have to pee?”
He shook his head shoving open the bathroom door. He found the light and looked around. “No. I just want a reason to get you alone.”
He pressed me against the wall using his free hand to lock the bathroom door. He pressed his lip against mine. “I’m glad things worked out.” Another kiss increased my heartbeat. And I jumped up and wrap my legs against him. He planted me on top of the sink sending my ass into the damp water, we both laughed. I let him take my pants off. I didn’t care if they were wet, I was wet.
I undid his jeans and kissed down his neck, sliding my hands down the back of them to get him all the way out. He pressed himself against me.
“Close your eyes,” he said guiding my hands around his neck. I closed them gasping when he tore my underwear off.
I groaned at the feel of him. He filled me, slamming against me without a second thought. We tore at each other like two crazed animals that couldn’t get enough of each other. My head banged against the glass as I bit down on one of the tattoos on his bicep letting him pound me into a satisfying orgasm. We both needed the release.
Slade’s teeth grazed my neck. I caught his bottom lip, licking his lip ring before I enjoyed his tongue. One more kiss was all it took, he tugged me by the hair coming to a stop.
“That was good,” I said with a smile, some of the stress melt
ed away.
We dressed, clean up the best we could in a dirty bathroom and went back out to the table. Kenny was still entertaining strippers and I wasn’t surprised. I was sure it was a usual day in his life.
As I took a seat I was overcome with a huge amount of guilt. It ate at me. But I didn’t say anything because I knew Slade would only tell me what we did was for the best.
“We’re all set,” Kenny informed us. He stood up and finished off his drink before he looked at us. “Do me a favour, go check on your dad while Slade and I take care of my daddy issues.”
I dropped my jaw. There was no way he was telling me to hit the road to make my boyfriend perform some ridiculously stupid spell. I shook my head. “If he goes I go.”
Kenny shook his head. Shit. “No. You are going out to the parking lot to check on your dad.” He pointed toward the door. “We are going to get the bouncer.”
Slade’s hand slipped through the front of my hair. He forced me to look at him. “Everything is going to be okay. I can do this. Just one more step and we can go back home.”
I kissed his lips, running my fingers against the side of his face. He took my hands in his and looked at me one last time. I didn’t look back. I just headed for the door. If I looked at him I wouldn’t leave. We were so close to getting what we wanted. I didn’t want to see it ruined now.
Answers
I don’t have any answers for my dad. And he’s looking at me waiting for one. I had to remind myself if it weren’t for me he wouldn’t be alive. He didn’t have a right to yell at me. He couldn’t get mad, because if we didn’t do what we were supposed to do he wouldn’t be living anymore.
I nervously ran a hand through my hair and leaned forward. I had to say something sooner or later. “How do you feel?”
“I really don’t know how to answer that right now,” he said. “What does someone say after they find out their daughter carted their dead body around for almost a week so she could bring him back to life?”