Page 30 of Revenge

Zane rounds the corner of the doorway and I drag him along with me whether he likes it or not, because he talks a lot less than Axel.

“Zane and I will be back.” I grab my jacket off the coat rack and slip on a pair of aviator sunglasses before adding insult to injury. “We’ll need the keys to your truck.”

“Why do I have to stay here and play babysitter while y’all go out and get shit? In my truck no less,” Axel whines like a little bitch. “If anything, your ass should be the one to stay here.”

“Because there’s a storm coming and if we lose power you need to be here to handle her.” Better him than me right now, but I don’t tell him that because I don’t want to hear any bullshit about it.

Zane slaps him on the shoulder as he walks off in the direction of the truck without a word. He’s been quieter than usual, leaving me to wonder what shit is going through his head, but I don’t push because he’ll tell me when he’s ready. We’re the same in that way.

“Why do you have to take my truck when you have a perfectly fucking good van right there?” Axel waves a hand at the blacked out van parked next to his truck.

“Because that one is stolen and the less we drive it around the better.” I pinch the bridge of my nose to keep from wringing my brother by his fucking neck. One day he’s going to push me too far. “Just give me your damn keys, Ax.”

“Fine.” He sighs like a little kid who just got scolded and drops the keys into the palm of my hand. “You better not fuck up Willie Mae or I’ll kick your ass.” A muscle in Axel’s cheek jumps as he points a finger between the two of us. “You hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah. We hear you.” I wave my free hand at him as Zane and I climb inside the cab of the truck.

The ride into the city doesn’t take us longer than a half hour. Being so far out has its perks, but having to drive a ways just to get more supplies has me second guessing myself on that one. We stop at the first strip mall we see, which just so happens to have a jewelry store right next door.

“Give me a minute.”

“I’ll meet you inside.” Zane nods and walks away without asking me why, but somehow I have a feeling he already knows.

I hesitate on the sidewalk for a minute, second guessing this idea, but something pulls me inside. There’s an older woman with graying hair chomping on gum and watching TV from behind the counter as I enter.

“Can I help you with somethin’?” she asks as soon as I approach her.

I pull the small silver band out of my back pocket and set it down on top of the glass case. “I need to get this cleaned.”

“This is gorgeous.” She eyes the emerald stone that’s set inside a small leaf. “Must have been a gift for a very special lady.”

“It was.” Charlee’s mom was very special to Diego, up until her death. I knew it was her mother’s and special to her. That’s why I took it.

“I’ll just take this in the back and it’ll be as good as new. You want to wait here or come back later?”

“I’ll wait.”

“Suit yourself.” She smiles at me and walks into the back.

I tap my fingers against the glass and wonder if listening to Axel is even a smart idea. For all I know this could blow up in my face like the last thing I tried to give her.

“That be all for you?” The sales lady brings me out of my head.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“All right. Here you are then.” She hands me back a gold plastic bag.

“How much?” I reach around to pull out my wallet, but she stops me with a wave of her hand.

“No charge. You just come back and see us the next time you want to buy your special lady another gift.” She winks.

“Thanks.” I grab the bag and try my best to forget what she insinuated when the headline on the TV catches my attention. A weird sense of unease creeps up my spine as I read the lines. I reach into my back pocket, but my damn phone is back at the house. I was in such a hurry to leave that I forgot it.

Without a backwards glance, I storm out of there and into the grocery store to find Zane. He’s not hard to spot. He’s the only six-foot tall man with a bun in the whole fucking place.

He has a buggy full of groceries, but the second he sees me his whole body goes on alert. “Everything all right?”

I set the plastic bag on top of the buggy and run a hand through my hair to keep from losing my shit. “Not sure. You have your phone on you?”

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