Page 77 of Texas Kissing

Hands shaking, Antonio unlocked the trunk. Calahan shone a flashlight into the depths. My stomach knotted as I remembered the blood and piss at the bus. Was she tied up? Alive?Dead?

I stepped forward to look.

The trunk was empty.

65

Lily

One hour earlier

I had a plan, of course. All neatly worked out and scientific. But when I saw Antonio walking towards the glass door of the bus, it fluttered right out of my brain. Suddenly, I was back in New York, watching him help to kill Annette.

I heard the phone hit the floor and realized it had slipped out of my numb fingers. Antonio was almost at the door, now, but I still couldn’t move.

“Lily?”

Bull’s voice saved me. I came back to life and slammed my hand against theclosebutton just as Antonio hit theopenbutton outside. The pneumatics hissed angrily as the door fought itself...but it stayed closed. I thumbed the switch to lock it.

Antonio glared at me through the glass.

I ran for the driver’s seat. Plan A—get the whole bus the hell out of there. I went to fire up the engine—

And stopped. Antonio had parked his sedan rightin front of the bus. By accident or design, he’d blocked me in. There was a tree behind me, so I couldn’t back up.Shit!

Plan B—escaping in my Toyota—was out, too. Even if I could make it out through an emergency exit, there was no way I could get to my car before Antonio caught me.

That left plan C: fight.

I heard the glass door crunch and then start to shatter. Antonio was using a tire iron on it. All he had to do was make a big enough hole to get his hand through and flip the lock….

I sprinted to my bed, stuck my hand under it, and pulled my gun from its holster.

I heard the door opening and then the crunch of breaking plastic. Antonio must have stepped on my phone.

I checked my gun was loaded.

Time seemed to slow down as I heard him climb the steps up from the door to the aisle. He took his time. Why the hell wouldn’t he? He thought he knew me. He thought I was the same scared kid he’d known in New York, the one he’d ferried to swimming practice and to her high school prom.

I’d been dreading this day for two years, praying it would never happen. But that didn’t mean I hadn’t prepared for it. And Iwasscared. But I wasn’t going to let Annette have died for nothing.

Antonio’s voice was world-weary, like an adult telling off a child. “Now,” he said as he stepped into the aisle. “We can do this the easy way or—”

I raised the gun, pointing it straight at him.

He stopped and we both stared at each other. His face had been so deeply burned into my memories,surfacing again and again in my nightmares, that it was a jolt to see it in reality.

“You’re going to shoot me? Really?” he asked.

I couldn’t speak. I nodded instead.

He took a tentative step towards me.

I raised my gun a little more, my hands shaking. “Don’t,” I warned.

“Don’t what? Don’t come any closer?” He took another step, more confident, now. “I gotta. Your uncle sent me all the way out here to bring you home.” Another step. And this time he wasn’t scared at all.

“I’ll shoot you,” I panted. I tried to stop the gun shaking but I couldn’t. “I’ll fucking shoot you.” I centered the sights on the middle of his chest. My finger tightened on the trigger but it felt as if it was made out of lead, welded in place, and secured by girders.

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