Page 37 of Burning for You

Levi

“What were you thinking!” I shout at Jesse. Sometimes I wonder if all the drugs he’s consumed have reversed the effect of human evolution in him. Where has he landed? The Neanderthal era?

“Sorry, man,” Jesse says. “I just couldn’t stand how bad a hypocrite that bitch was. Flying Doctors, my ass! And you know what, she’s also a patron of this animal foundation, some kind of lemur in the Amazon.”

“We don’t even have a car! How did you think we were going take her without alerting everyone in NYC?”

“I just wanted to scare her,” he says. “You’re right, she was shaking like a dying whore in the dark. How did you know that?”

I shouldn’t have told him too much, too soon about Carolyn.

“It’s common knowledge within Brilliance.”

Jesse paces the living room of my apartment. “And she called us a couple of kids? Fuck her! Wait until I smash her pretty nose.”

So the head of the snake, Carolyn Meyer, is also a philanthropist. God knows why He created this problem for me. Didn’t she glow in that thin, skin-color dress, though?

Why she stopped Josh’s bodyguard from chasing us, I don’t know. One thing for sure, he obeyed her without question. But what has she told Josh about us by now? I hope not much, or we might have the police knocking on the door soon.

“If you want to do this, we’ll do it my way,” I tell Jesse.

“Fine. So what’s your plan?”

“The midget told me she’s going to Bozeman the day after tomorrow—apparently for a meeting with the airport authority. We’ll take her then.”

“So we’re flying back to Montana tomorrow, ahead of her?”

“Yes.”

I don’t know if I feel better that we’re dealing with Carolyn now. When we found out about Josh Bright, I feared that Jesse might end up gruesomely killing him. Would he do the same to Carolyn? She doesn’t seem to be the type who would just succumb to our demands—not by a long shot.

I know my family comes first, but how do I draw the line between an obligation and my own conscience? Would I stop Jesse from hurting her, from killing her?

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jesse says.

I stay silent and make my way to bed.

Jesse says, “So, I guess with this bitch, we won’t need the Vipers?”

Hell no.

“No, Jesse. Just the two of us. Swear you won’t do any more stupid things!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

It’s past midnight and our flight is only a few hours away. But I close my eyes. I can imagine how scared Carolyn was when Jesse decided to trigger a blackout at Miller Hall. Actually, I don’t have to imagine. I felt it in her breath, in the slight rustle her dress made as she futilely fought against Jesse. Her fear broke my heart then. I know she will break my heart again. I don’t know how or when, but she will.

Maybe when Jesse smashes her nose, as he said earlier.

Will I let it happen? I don’t know. I’ve never been tested like this.

I tell my brain to shut it for tonight.

But my heart refuses to follow suit. Its fast beat inevitably stirs my brain.

A vision appears behind my closed lids. Carolyn is in Jesse’s hands. She’s dragged into the river, and her head is dunked mercilessly. A couple of the Pit Viper men are behind him. When she refuses to give our land back, Jesse lets her drown.

Just like he let go of Lucy…

I sit up and gasp.

“Geez, bro!”

Jesse’s presence at my bedside prompts me to release a small scream.

My brother frowns, saying, “What the fuck? You having a heart attack or something?”

Just about.

I pant. I wish there was another way.

---