Page 126 of Gambler's Fallacy

I take my hat and put it on Seven’s head to save him from heat stroke.

We walk for at least half an hour, and I don’t remember it taking that long for me to find them. Adrenaline and fear had made time contract. I’d been rushing, too, but we’re all too exhausted now for even a light jog. We have to stop to catch our breath and have water a few times too.

As we approach the shack, I spot Vortex—wearing the hat I’d forced him to buy—running our way.

“Seven!” he shouts. His cheeks are flushed red, and he’s as sweaty as we are. He envelops Seven in his arms, and Seven lets out a surprised huff. “Fuck, you’re okay.”

“Caleb?” Seven asks, squirming and trying to look past him. “Is Caleb okay?”

Vortex nods. “Yeah, we’re both okay. Are you?” He glances from Seven to me, then his eyes narrow when he sees Earl. “What’s this fucker doing here?”

“Seven didn’t think I should kill him,” I say, giving Earl a shove.

He cries out and stumbles forward, but manages to keep himself from falling to the ground.

We circle around the front of the shack. Caleb is sitting half inside the SUV, wearing a pair of shades and a strange sunhat. As soon as he spots us, he gets up and walks over, his arms spread out.

Seven dashes to him and wraps his arms tightly around Caleb. “You’re okay,” he says, looking him over. There’s a spot of blood through his shirt, though, and Seven freezes. “Caleb?” His voice wobbles, and he looks back at Vortex in accusation. “You said he was okay!”

“I’m fine,” Caleb says, stroking Seven’s hair. “It’s a shallow cut. And the other guy is very dead now.”

Earl whimpers. “Caleb! Nephew! Call off your goons. We’re family.”

Caleb glares at him. “You accused me of conning you. You’vebeen trying to siphon funds from the casino.You kidnapped my lover. Excuse me if I’m not feeling particularly familial.”

Seven presses close to Caleb, though he keeps looking from him to me and Vortex like he expects one of us to disappear.

“I think he’s out of chances,” Vortex mutters. “He’s had plenty, and he keeps fucking them up.”

I groan. “If we’re going to kill him, why’d I drag him back here?” I let go of Earl and head for the SUV for more water. I’m glad to see that most of the water reserves are still full.

“We aren’t going to kill him,” Caleb says. He peers at Earl. “But we aren’t helping him either.”

Earl looks at Caleb with wide, fearful eyes. “What?”

Caleb chuckles. “You were going to leave Seven out here overnight, right? You can stay instead.” He glances in my direction. “How much water do we have? I’ll be nice and spare him a bottle.”

I finish my gulp, then assess our supplies. “We can give him a few protein bars and one jug of water. That’ll last him until tomorrow for sure. Possibly even two days.”

I pull out one jug and two of the protein bars and set them on the ground a few feet away.

Caleb nods. “Vortex, you have all the car keys, right?”

Vortex walks over to Earl and starts patting his slacks. Earl protests, but Vortex pulls out a set of keys. “Yep. He’s not driving away from here.”

“Please,” Earl begs. “Caleb, please don’t do this.”

Caleb glances down at Seven. “Is this all right, pet?”

Seven looks at Earl and rubs his wrists, which I notice are red. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “You could’ve gotten hurt. Really, really badly hurt.”

“So could you,” Vortex says harshly.

Seven shakes his head. “No one would’ve hurt me.” His smile is bitter as it flits across his lips. “But they’d have hurt Caleb.” He pauses, then he goes to Vortex, touching his arm as he says urgently, “Connie. They?—”

“Connie is fine,” Vortex says firmly. “She was on the way to the hospital when we left. She told me to get you back. I’ll go visit her as soon as we’re back in Calamity.”

Seven nods, and he steals a desperate kiss from Vortex. “I’m sorry.”

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