Page 52 of Hyde

“How’s it going?” I ask, friendlier than I usually am to him.

“Um, good,” he mumbles, his face turning bright red as he tries to look me in the eyes.

“Can you watch my back for a minute?" I smile at him after making that request. “There aren’t many people around and I just need to grab some cash.”

“Oh, yeah, Leslee. Of course!”

I turn from him, using the reflective bar over the ATM to keep an eye on him as I withdraw a few hundred from my account.

“The battery in my cell phone died, can I use yours real quick?” I ask when I turn back to him.

That poor kid nearly dropped his phone twice in his rush to hand it over to me. Once it was firmly in my palm, I spin on my heel and head to my SUV. A small twinge of guilt hits me as I’m pressing the ignition button and see him, his mouth gapping open like a fish out of water when he realizes what I’ve done.

It takes him a couple of minutes, but soon enough he starts his bike back up and follows after me.

I approach the motel from the back and circle around the office, smiling when I see Royce’s other son standing near the side of the building and watching the parking lot.

“Hey! I’m so glad I ran into you,” I call out when his head snaps around at my approach. “I think there’s something wrong with my Blazer and I don’t have my phone, can I use yours?”

“Oh! Yeah, of course!”

While this twin is obviously startled at first, he immediately runs over, holding his phone out. Just then, he sees his brother pulling up and when confusion starts to spread across his face, I reach out to yank the phone out of his hand.

Tossing that into the passenger seat with his brother’s phone, I slip out and lock the doors behind me.

“What room is she in?” I ask him, trying to use the slight advantage I have at this point.

“What? Who? Um, I need my phone.” His words trip over each other as he tries to figure out what to do.

"She took my cell so I couldn’t call you,” his brother yells out after shutting down his bike and looking between us. “Leslee, we have to tell Flint you’re here.”

“Y’all just hold tight a bit, and I’ll give you your phones back,” I tell them, thinking this will be a good lesson for them to learn. Now, before they’re forced to deal with anyone who would pose an actual danger to them. “Oh, do you know what room she’s in?”

When I turn back to them, repeating my question, they have matching pained expressions on their identical faces. I’m going to take that to mean they’re not going to make this easier on me.

I click my tongue and start to walk over to the office when I see a cart being pushed out of another doorway, smiling brightly at the cleaning lady as she emerges from what seems to be a storage closet, I ask her about the single woman staying here by herself.

At her blank expression, I shove my hand into my back pocket and separate out one of the bills before she can see how much I have with me. Showing her a twenty, she quickly holds up four fingers as she reaches for the money.

With that, my first problem is solved. Now I just have to hope that Finn and Aiden stay locked in their state of indecisiveness for a while longer.

I knock on the door with a number four written in calligraphy across it.

“Breakfast is served,” I call out, staying out of range of the peephole.

Pressing my ear to the door, I hear the muffled sound of more than one voice swearing and scurrying around the room.

“You’re early!” Trinity yells out, sounding pissy. “Give me a minute.”

Reaching into the pocket of my hoodie, I grab my first secret weapon and crouch down, somewhat impatiently waiting for her to open the door.

“Christ, these bitches think they can come whenever it suits them. Just stay in the bathroom.” Since I can hear her voice as plain as day, I know she must be waiting to open the door.

The second she does, I taze her. Thankfully, I’m holding the cute little pink device in my left hand because I immediately need to slap my right hand over my mouth to cover my snort.

Alright. Maybe I’m not right in the head, but her reaction to the low voltage device I had purchased a few years ago was everything I had dreamed it would be. Her body convulsed right before she pissed herself.

Once, when we were all out drinking in the field behind the clubhouse, I offered a hundred bucks to whomever would let me test it out on them. No takers. So today I get to tick one box off my bucket list of things I want to do before I die.

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