by Linda Cooper
At least we’d be able to see our girlfriends a little longer. If we made it, but we ran the risk of getting them involved in all of this. If I got Ashley into trouble, I’d never be able to forgive myself. I stared down at the dog as she sat there waiting for me to throw the ball. I did. She ran to get it as I heard the door open. Luke gave me a smile as he pulled a pack of smokes out of his pocket.
“I never thought I’d live long enough to regret smoking these things,” he said as he lifted one to his mouth and lit it. “But now, we’re all talking about living. It’s odd. I never would have expected to hear it from all of us.”
“I never would have expected to hear that we were all happy.”
Luke let out a soft, dry, laugh. “That’s true. I thought after Becky … things would never be the same.”
Jas came running back towards us; she dropped the ball and sat down as she waited for me to pick it back up.
“Same.”
There was a long silence between the two of us. Luke flicked his smoke onto the ground and turned to me. “Do you think Ashley will go for it?”
“I do … I think. I think she will be happy that I’m not planning to kill myself.” I knew that much she would be happy. I just wasn’t sure if she would actually come with me. Could she give up her life for me? I couldn’t expect her to, but I wanted her to. I wanted to beg her, down on my hands and knees if I fucking had to.
***
I turned to face him.
“Jack, what are you doing here?” I tried to sound strong, but the truth was, I was petrified.
“I’m here to see you.”
He reached out to brush my cheek. I stepped away from him, my hand slipping into my pocket. My heart pounded in my chest. Oh God. Where was it?
I stepped further away, but he closed the distance between us again.
His fingers curled into my hair pulling me close to him. I tried to push away.
“Get off!” I screamed hoping someone could hear me. No one came. My heart raced. I took another sharp breath as he forced me into a kiss. I pushed against his chest, but he wouldn’t budge. He pulled me closer to him, I tried to resist, but he had a full foot, if not more, on me and was much stronger.
I screamed. “Stop!” I could only pray that the boys would find me. I pushed against him. Finally, I broke free.
I stumbled back, tripped over my own feet, felt my butt hit the ground and scrambled back as he advanced on me. No. This wasn’t going to happen.
I gasped as he stepped towards me. “Babe, come here.” He bent down, pulled me to my feet and I struggled to break free, but couldn’t. His grip tightened on me. I brought my knee up against him, and he let out a howl of pain as I felt his grip on me ease. I tripped over myself as I turned around and ran towards my car, my heart pounding in my ears as I scrambled to pull the keys from my pocket.
I could hear him running after me.
***
Jas finally tired herself out, and we headed back inside. Luke had stayed out with us until we were ready to come in.
Dom and Priest stared at us. Dom smiled. “So, Priest and I have been thinking.”
“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Well, if we are actually going to try to live through this, we should try to set up some forensic countermeasures.”
“I guess that’s a pretty smart idea.” I nodded. “So, what are you thinking?”
“Well, we could do fingerprints?” Dom mulled it over. “Or we could try to get DNA off hair or something.”
“What, just dig through someone’s trash?”
Dom nodded. “Yes. That is kinda what I’m thinking.”
I nodded. That could work.
Maybe, just maybe, this could work. I padded to the fridge, pulled out another beer and took a long swig. “You know … we could try finding someone to look suspicious.” All heads turned to look at me. “Not that we’re going to implicate anyone or anything, just push the light onto someone else while we get out of here and as far away as we can.”
We’d need time. I wasn’t sure how long it would take, but the longer, the better. The longer it took for them to look for us, the more time we would have to get out of town, change the way we looked and get our lives together in Canada.
Canada. I couldn’t believe I was going to move to Canada.
“We’d all better get fake IDs,” Dom spoke up. Luke nodded.
“I know a guy who could help us with that, at least I think he will help. If not, he might know someone who will do it.”
“Good. You get on that as soon as you can, alright?”
“Yea, I’ll go make the phone call now.” Dom pulled his phone out of his pocket as he headed into another room. I looked from Luke to Priest. “I can’t believe this would ever happen.”
“That we’d be going through with it?”
“No. Well, yes. And that we’d … you know, we’d all be happy and have girlfriends and planning to run away to Canada together.” It was all just so strange to think about.
“I agree. I didn’t think this day would ever come. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to say any of this was happening.”
We’d all spent most of our lives working towards this; we’d all spent most of our life fixated on this single thing.
“Alright, all we have to do is get your pictures to him, as well as the girl’s pictures, and we will be set to go.”
“Good.” I looked around the room. “We’ve just got a few more things left to sort out, and then we’ll actually need to put things into action. But first, we’ll talk to the girls about it.”
“I’ll collect some hair samples in the meantime; once we get back to the city of course.”
“I’ll double check everything, start learning … his routine.” I couldn’t bring myself to say his name. The man who killed one of my best friends.
Dom
It had been a week since I’d gotten together with the guys and we’d spent the weekend away from everything.
When I got home, Kat had been waiting for me in the kitchen, dinner was waiting, and she’d even made a cake that looked like it had taken her hours. She grinned as I entered the house.
“Wow, it smells amazing.” She blushed.
“Thanks, I wanted to make something nice for when you got home.” She smiled widely. “How was your … trip? Did you get much done?”
“We got … everything planned.” I swallowed dryly. This was it. I’d spent the entire drive home trying to figure out how I was going to bring myself to say this, how I was going to tell her my plans and ask her to come with me. If she said no, I wasn’t sure how I would react; I wasn’t sure if I would still do it, but all I knew was that I had to try—otherwise, I’d spend the rest of my life wondering if she’d have said yes.
“It went really well, actually better than I’d expected. We got a few good plans … actually, we were talking about what we would do when we were done with everything.”
She dropped the spoon in her hand and stared at me, her eyes wide. “You …” She trailed off, still staring at me.
I took a deep breath. “Well, we all decided that it wasn’t worth it to … get caught. We’re going to try to get away with it. We’re going to try to get to Canada.”
I didn’t think it was possible, but her eyes widened even more. “You are?”
“Yes, and … Kat, I’d really like it if you came with me. I don’t want to lose you at all. I never want to be away from you again. Please come with me. Please, Kat.” I didn’t realize I was rambling, I didn’t realize I was close to begging her to come with me—up until then, I didn’t realize that begging was something I would resort to for anyone, but it was an easy thing for me to do for her. I couldn’t bring myself to look at her; I was already trying to figure out how I’d get out of the house if she said she didn’t want to come with me.
If she says no I could do it by myself. I could do it for all of them so they don’t have to, then they could all be happy. They wouldn’t
have to worry about getting caught.
“You guys are going to Canada?”
“Yea, we can slip over the border without being noticed and end up in Saskatchewan, the guys and I have already been talking about it. They’re inviting their girlfriends too.”
“So … we’d move to Canada? To Saskatchewan? Where the fuck is Saskatchewan?”
I laughed softly. “It’s … well, it’s in Canada. It’s a lot of country living, but there’s supposed to be a lot of work there. We’ve got a friend who gave us some tips. He’s even gotten us in touch with someone who can get us a car and help us get on our feet once we get there.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What kind of friends do you people have?”
I blushed. Alright, maybe I had some strange friends out there, but they were the ones who were going to help us through this.
“You haven’t given me an answer yet.”
“I …” She closed her eyes. “”If I say I will go with you … I’m giving my life up.”
Kat
I was giving up my friends, my family—everything I had worked towards my entire life. Could I really do that for some random guy? But the thing was, Dominic wasn’t just some random guy to me. I knew I should say no, it was the smart thing to do—I mean what if the relationship didn’t work? Then I’d be stuck in Canada all by myself with no one to call.
“Yes. I’m sorry to make you go through that, but you wouldn’t be able to see your family again.”
I let out a deep breath. No, I couldn’t just accept that. It wouldn’t be fair to my dad or my sister. I bit my lip.
“I … I need some time to think about it. I’ll let you know as soon as I know.”
I knew that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but I couldn’t give him the answer he needed yet. I had to think about it.
“Of course. Take as long as you need.”
I had to weigh my options. I forced a smile over my lips. “I’m sorry, but thank you.”
Dom
It didn’t take her long to decide.
It was halfway through dinner, during which neither of us had spoken. “I’ll do it,” she blurted out without any other warnings. I didn’t need her to give any more details. I couldn’t fight the smile that spread from ear to ear.
“You will?”
“Yes. But I’ll need to tell my dad. I’m sorry, but I can’t just vanish on him.”
I nodded. “Alright.” I had to give her that much, didn’t I?
We didn’t say anything else during the rest of dinner, but the silence was no longer awkward like it had been at the beginning of the meal. I finished my food with a smile that didn’t waver as she cut into the cake once our dinner plates were stacked on the counter.
“Have you guys figured out how you are going to do it?” she finally asked, picking at the cake with her fork.
“You mean kill him?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, we’ve got it all sorted out.”
“And … how can I help?”
My jaw dropped. “No, no, no, no. You’re not helping in any sort of way.”
“Why not?” She raised an eyebrow. “I’m allowed to give up my entire life for you and move to some country where it’s supposed to be freezing in the winter, but I can’t help you?”
I opened my mouth as I tried to think of something to say.
***
My heart pounded in my ears as I fumbled to get the keys in the ignition. I glanced up. He was coming towards me. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I locked the doors just as he reached for the handle. The flap of the handle not working was all I heard as his eyes locked on mine. There was nothing but pure determination in them. I resisted the urge to scream and curl up as he turned away from me. I watched as he made his way to another car, one I recognized as his.
My fingers fumbled as I pushed the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space. I stopped, flicked it into Drive and sped out of the park’s parking lot. I glanced into my rearview mirror to see him staring at me and then back at the road as I came to the opening of the driveway, glancing up one final time before getting out of here. He was no longer there, but there was a car speeding toward me.
I let out a whimper, speeding into a left turn.
“How the fuck am I going to get out of this?” I asked myself.
Of course, I didn’t have the answer to that. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. Why hadn’t I just stayed with Dom? He would have kept me safe, and none of this would be happening, but, of course, I had to go out and get some fresh air. I had to be alone for a little while, as if it was worth my life.
I glanced into my rearview mirror. He was still behind me.
I hadn’t planned on letting Kat help, but what was I supposed to do?
“I let you do whatever you want,” she almost whined. “Can’t you at least let me help you?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Kat, this is dangerous.”
“So is running off to Canada with you!” Her eyes narrowed. “Look, I get it, you want to protect me. But you can’t just not let me do stuff that I want to do.”
Oh, but I really, really could do just that. I bit my lip, refusing to let myself say it. Mostly because I knew that would just make her want to do it even more.
“Kat, I don’t want to put you in any more danger than I already have.”
She snorted. “Well, I don’t want you to go around killing people, but that’s not going to change, is it?”
She had a point. I was doing something I knew she wasn’t alright with and yet she was still supporting me throughout it all.
I let out a deep breath.
“Alright, fine. But please promise me that you won’t take this lightly. I’ll find something for you to do.” I’d have to.
“Don’t give me some stupid job.” She smiled knowing she’d won. She grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, letting out a deep breath. “You’ve waited for this for a long time.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a question or not, so I just nodded. “Yeah.” I checked the clock. I had one more night to sleep in this bed then it was all done. I’d have to give everything up. “Are you all packed and ready to go?”
“For the most part. I’ve still got a couple things to grab quickly.”
The girls
Ashley greeted me with a hug as I stepped away from Luke. “Hey.” We were the last to arrive and everyone looked … tense to say the least.
I pulled away from Ashley and found myself in another hug, this time it was Kat’s arms that were around me.
“Alright,” Priest cleared his throat. He looked at Sam, Ashley, and I. “You three are going to be waiting in a car down the street from his place. Once you ...” he looked at Kat, “... get out of the building, I want you to go right to them, and then you guys are going to head north until you get to the hotel we agreed to meet at.” We all nodded. We’d been over the plan dozens of times. I was going to go into the bar with Sam to keep an eye on everything while the guys made their way to the guy’s house. This was it.
We were all going to somehow be involved in some man’s death. And, truth be told, I was okay with that. I straightened my back as Luke turned to face me.
“Be careful, alright?”
“I’m always careful,” I promised.
Ashley strolled over to the car that she and Jacob brought. She wouldn’t be coming into the bar with us; instead, she was going to stay with Jas, their dog, and then when we were ready to head to the house she would drive us there. I flashed her a smile as Sam and I headed towards the bar. My heart raced.
“Are you ready?” Sam whispered.
“I think so.” I swallowed dryly. There was no turning back; that hadn’t been an option for a long time. I hooked my arm around Sam as we approached the bar. We entered, ordered ourselves a drink and looked around the room.
“He’s in the corner,” Sam whispered. “Front right.” She stepped to the side, and I stared past her
. She was right, that was him. Pulling out my phone, I sent Kat a text about turning left on Main Street and coming to the front door, a code we had worked out—the boys wanted to be extra careful with our part in all of this. I wasn’t sure they would ever be able to forgive themselves or each other if anything happened to us.
Scooping up my drink, I headed for the back of the room with Sam. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Of course, that didn’t work, so I just took a drink from the whisky that I ordered and slid into a seat across from Sam.
“So,” I tried not to stare over her shoulder too much as Kat came into the bar and made her way to get a drink. For a split second, our eyes locked. This was it. “Did he ask you to help or did you offer?”
“A little bit of both. You?”
“I wanted to help.” It sounded odd I guess that I wanted to help my boyfriend kill someone, but it wasn’t like that. I wanted to help him. I wasn’t sure if this man deserved to live or not, after what he did to a 15-year-old-girl. I thought about my niece who was about that age. I’d want to kill someone who hurt her. But most of all, I wanted to support my boyfriend, no matter how crazy this was for him to want to do.
“How’s she doing?” Sam’s voice dropped to a barely audible tone.
“She just paid for her drink.”
“Oh.” Sam sounded disappointed or was it nervous?
“Now she’s given him a smile. He’s getting up to go see her.” My heart pounded as I watched him approach her. He had grey hair and wore a suit. From far away, he wasn’t anything special, though attractive with his short blond hair and big blue eyes. I couldn’t help but think that my boyfriend was much more attractive. He stopped in front of her and said something. She shook her head, and they headed towards the table he had been sitting at. He reached out and touched her. I was pretty sure I saw her control herself not to move.