Page 5 of Tyrant Blood

The woman took another large glug of wine and turned away from Joaquin and faced the window. She clearly had her own stuff going on, but Joaquin knew that she was probably correct about not getting involved with the other couple’s drama. As far as Joaquin could tell, the man and woman were both giving each other as good as they were getting, and it would probably resolve itself soon enough.

‘Good luck guys,’ Joaquin muttered to himself, leaning back in his chair and staring out of the window once more. ‘But don’t take all the good luck. I’m going to be needing some for myself…’

In between sheets of rain crashing down, Joaquin could see lights in the distance. Maybe it was another town, a factory, or even an airport. Joaquin had no real idea where he was, or even where he was heading. The only goal in Joaquin’s mind when he jumped on the bus was to get as far away from home as he possibly could.

Joaquin’s plan was to stay on the bus until the end of the line, no matter how far that was. But then an avalanche of thoughts had started to creep into his mind.

What if he was being followed?

What if the men he’d escaped from were going to track him down?

What if the men he’d angered so much were already driving toward the end of the line and were going to ambush him when he got there?

Surely it was better to hop off the bus earlier, try and pick the most random stop to get off. Suddenly, the idea of getting off at the end of the line seemed like the most obvious – and dangerous – thing to do.

Joaquin felt a pang of pain in his ribs and held himself tightly. The last thing he wanted was to ever see those men again, and he knew that he had to do whatever it took to make sure that happened. And if that meant spending time in some nowhere town, then that was a price worth paying.

Joaquin would bide his time and lay low.

It might be a few weeks, or even a couple of months.

But Joaquin knew that he simply couldn’t get caught – he owed too much money and had crossed too many lines with the worst people.

All that was left for Joaquin to do as far as he was concerned was get his head down and keep it down. No more fights. No more trouble. And definitely no more romantic entanglements either. From here on out, it was all about maintaining the lowest of low profiles and entering into survival mode.

Romance hadn’t really been on the card for Joaquin for some time. Sure, there were always girls in clubs and bars, typically only after a quick fix and out for what they could get. This suited Joaquin too, and whenever he did end up with someone, he was always relieved when the morning came, and it was just him again.

Joaquin hadn’t been in a proper relationship since high school, and even then it felt more like kids’ stuff than anything real. Joaquin would sometimes imagine how life would have turned out had he followed Jenna to college. But college life wasn’t something that Joaquin was ever cut out for.

There was always too much fun to be had for Joaquin to properly focus on his studies and get the grades he needed to go to university. And the idea of simply following Jenna and getting a job while she studied and partied was always a no-go too.

The one thing that Joaquin did wish though was that he’d ended things with Jenna in a more open and honest way. The truth of the matter was that he’d pretty much cut and run after high school graduation. A quick text message and Joaquin was out of her life, travelling across the country in the passenger seat of his friend’s truck. Joaquin had always regretted not sitting down and talking through things with Jenna to at least explain to her that it was nothing personal and simply a case of their future’s not being compatible.

But that was a long time ago – or it certainly felt like it anyhow.

Joaquin figured that Jenna was probably far happier with him out of her life, so he saw no reason to go drudging old emotions up again. And even more so, there was far too much going on in his life he be spending time thinking about Jenna.

Joaquin took a deep breath and did his best to put all thoughts of the past out of his mind. Even by his own wild standards, the previous few months had been a real rollercoaster for Joaquin. Except right now it was feeling like there were way more downs than ups.

I need a break.

I want something new.

I just don’t know what it is, or how to get it…

Joaquin wriggled in his seat to get comfortable again and see out the rest of the journey. The bus was going to be on the road for another eight hours, and Joaquin knew that he would need to start thinking about getting off at a stop sometime soon.

The only question was… which stop?

‘I hope you find what you’re looking for, kid,’ the vodka and wine drinking lady said, her words blurring into one another at this point as she struggled to focus her gaze on Joaquin. ‘Try not to fuck your life up too bad.’

‘Sure, I’ll try,’ Joaquin said, feeling a pang of sadness at how clearly messed up the lady was. ‘You take care too.’

Joaquin flung his small backpack over his shoulder and made his way down the bus toward the open door.

As he stood in the doorway, Joaquin looked out into the blackness and did his best to make some kind of rapid-fire assessment of the surroundings. With the rain still torrential, Joaquin knew that he would need to move and move quickly if he was to have any chance of avoiding a total soaking – and even that was an optimistic aim judging by the howling gale that was whipping the rain up, down, and from side to side.

‘You might want to try the Smokers Tavern,’ the bus driver said. ‘It’s right across the road. See the blue neon sign? Cheap beer and they usually have rooms to rent too.’

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