Page 52 of God of War

“You seemed to be doing okay,” I say with a shrug. “Threatening to cut his dick off?”

Her lip quirks. “Adding my own flair to your self-defense lesson.”

I snort and turn away. The haze of adrenaline is clearing now, leaving me wondering what the hell we’re going to do. If Griff were here, if Reaper were here, they’d tell me that this is the perfect opportunity to walk away. Delaney is a magnet for trouble, and the Wastelanders don’t need any more of that.

“So, what do we do now? We can’t stay at the motel.”

“Hell if I know,” I huff. My body is starting to ache now, a bone-deep tiredness that’s going to be impossible to shake if I keep going like this.

“Hey!”

My body reacts faster than my brain and I grab Delaney again, yanking her behind me. I whip around to the approaching figure.

It’s Oscar. He pulls up a few yards away, one hand raised, the other clutching my boots and my shirt.

“Whoa, man,” he says on an awkward chuckle. “I just wanted to catch you before you disappeared. Saw you run outta there without your stuff.”

He sets the boots down and he digs something else out of his back pocket. A folded stack of bills. “Here’s your cut. I threw in a little extra, an incentive to come back next week.”

I hesitate, then snatch my payment and my shirt, giving him a curt nod. Oscar’s eyes flick to Delaney for a moment. It’s a moment too long, in my opinion, and it makes my lip twitch into a snarl. Oscar clocks it.

“You two got somewhere to stay tonight?” he asks, surprising me.

“We’re good,” I reply, just as Delaney edges forward, saying “Actually, no.”

Oscar raises an eyebrow. He considers something, his body swinging back to the bar like he’s considering just going back inside and forgetting all about us. He scratches at his stubbled chin.

“I don’t know your situation. Don’t want to know, truthfully, but you seem like good kids. The bar has a room around back. Used to be a studio apartment, all done up for AirBB or whatever it’s called, but the wiring’s all screwed up, so the power’s spotty, so we never… Anyway, safe place to stay for the night.”

A new hiding place, dropped right in our laps. Do I trust Oscar enough to take him up on this? He did bring me my cut instead of just pocketing it, but if motel douche does call the cops, we’ll be right across the street when they show up, which isn’t much safer than being out in the open.

Delaney presses closer, the length of her arm warming mine.

“Thank you, we appreciate it,” she says.

I guess that’s it, then. Oscar nods once. “Up the stairs ‘round back. Key’s above the door.”

A moment later, he’s gone, the door to the bar swinging closed behind him. We’re alone again and I still have Delaney’s delicate wrist in my hand. I can feel her pulse racing; her rabbit-heart making music against my skin. Everything else is still, the music from the bar the only thing breaching the night air.

She sways a little on her feet and I look down at her, finally getting a good look at her eyes. They’re unfocused and glassy. How the fuck did she get drunk?

“Come on.”

I grab my boots and drag Delaney around the corner of the building. There’s a dumpster against the brick wall, and behind that, a set of wooden stairs hidden in shadow.

I drop her hand and shove my feet into my boots.

“The fuck are you doing here, anyway?” I mumble. I prop my foot on the wall and tie up the laces. I hear Delaney shift nervously behind me.

“Me? What about you— You and, and— all this!”

I turn around to find her waving her hand at me, as if that explains what she’s trying to say. I look down, my chest is speckled with blood that’s not mine. I press my lips into a tight line and quickly yank on my t-shirt. It sticks uncomfortably to my clammy skin.

“I was getting us cash. I told you to stay in the room. Why don’t you ever fucking listen?”

“I thought—” Her mouth slams closed.

“Thought what?”

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