Page 60 of Warped

“What do you want me to do?” the man said, staring at me in defiance. “You want me to call the cops?”

“No,” I said. “No cops.”

“Then I didn’t see nothing.”

We glared at each other. Maybe I could have taken the gun now stuffed down the back of my pants and shoved it in this guy’s face, but I had the feeling whoever had threatened him probably had a bigger hold on him than I did. They’d have threatened his business or family, where all I could do was threaten to shoot him or perhaps break a few fingers. I wasn’t actually going to kill some random motel guy. I was screwed up, but I wasn’t that screwed up.

“Fuck!” X declared, slamming his palms down on the desk, making the guy behind it jump.

“Come on,” I said, trying to keep my head. “Let’s get out of here. Whoever it was might come back.”

X shot the man a final glare, but he’d already gone back to the game, obviously deciding he’d managed to get out of this one unscathed.

With nothing of any worth left in the room, we went straight back to the car. If someone knew we were at the motel, they probably knew what car we were driving, too. I had the sudden feeling we were being watched, a shiver wracking down my spine.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” said X, giving me a concerned look. He reached out and touched my arm, and then moved in closer, pulling me into his side and kissing the top of my head. “Sure I can’t tempt you with a quick drive to Mexico? I hear the beach is beautiful this time of year. Bikinis and margaritas? It’s got to be better than this shit.”

I gave a weak smile. “You’re absolutely right. After this is over, we’ll go to Mexico. I promise.”

He returned the smile. “I’m holding you to that.”

We got back in the car. We didn’t even know where we were going now, utterly directionless. I dropped my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes. The sudden tiredness I’d been experiencing recently swamped over me.

When I opened my eyes again, X had pulled into a small wooded area. There was a picnic table and a grill, but they were unused at this time of year, and there didn’t appear to be anyone else around.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, rubbing at my eyes with the back of my hand.

“You were obviously exhausted, and I just wanted us to go somewhere we could talk and think without worrying someone was about to start shooting at us.”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long. An hour at the most.”

“Shit, sorry.”

“Don’t be. You obviously needed it.”

I wasn’t the only one who’d been through a trauma that day. “How’s the head?”

“Better. I found a couple of pain killers, and they’ve helped the worst of it.”

“Do you think you’re up to visiting Tony?”

He looked at me, his eyes hard, his nostrils flared. “I don’t want you to do it.”

“I don’t have any choice, X. You don’t have to come with me, but I don’t know what my father is going to do when he finds out Nickie is with Tony the Hound. And she has a right to know our father is being let out of prison. Going to Tony’s is the only way I’m going to be able to do that.”

“Vee, sometimes we just have to make the choice to cut people from our lives. She’s done nothing for you, yet you’re willing to risk your life for her. Both our lives.”

His words stung me. “You don’t have to be involved. Just walk away, I’ve already told you that you can.”

“I don’t want to walk away from you, but her….?”

“She’s seventeen,” I snapped.

“Not for much longer. You’re willing to risk everything for her, yet I’m not sure she’d as much as spit on you if you were on fire.”

I didn’t want to fight with him. But I had to remember who I was with. X wasn’t some new age guy in touch with his feelings. Perhaps he’d been more like that before he remembered who he was, but the old X was back now. I had to remember this was the guy I’d fallen for—the one who was so like me that we’d both recognized the cold, hard shell around us both. Maybe I just didn’t like what he was saying because I knew it to be the truth. That didn’t make me any more likely to abandon Nickie though. She thought she knew it all, but she didn’t.

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