Page 10 of Run with Me

“You come back to Pace and don’t say hello to an old friend, John? Or is it Father John already? You screwing around with a priest, chiquita? I have to say, Xavier was much better looking. He wanted you too, beautiful. He wanted youbad.”

John stopped for the secondtime.

“That’s not true, John. Xavier was a gentleman. Ben’s taunting you. Ignorehim.”

“Where’s this Xavierguy?”

“I don’t know. I’m worried, John. I haven’t seen him since he pushed me out the back door of the Bistro yesterday and told me to gohome.”

“Do you think he could be in trouble?” John asked, concern shadowing hisface.

I nodded.

John stopped and turned around. “Where’s Xavier?” he calledout.

“Come in for a beer and I’ll tellyou.”

“John, don’t. I have a bad feeling.” I tugged at John’sarm.

“Come on, amigo.” Ben gestured to the front door. He was nothing close to a friend and never would be. I didn’t want John to be caught up in whatever scheme Ben was planning, but part of me was worried about Xavier as well. I wanted to know that he was all right.

“Just tell us where Xavier is and we’ll be on our way,” I calledout.

“Oh, come on, beautiful. Let’s share a beer, like we did last night, and I’ll tell you.” He once again gestured with his hand to thebar.

“You had a beer withhim?”

“It wasn’t like that, John.” Didn’t he know me? Didn’t he believe me? John gripped my hand with reassurance, and I knew that he did. There was a resolve inside him. He didn’t want to give up. He never did, and it was one of the wonderful qualities I’d fallen in love with when I methim.

“Learn from yesterday,” John said under his breath, and guided us towardBen.

“John, please,” I begged, desperately pulling on his arm, which was now moving me closer to the Bistro.

“God will protect us,” he added.

My stomach tightened, but John had a plan. I could see it in his eyes. Holding onto his arm, I followed John as he turned to face Benjamin Cortez. “What do youwant?”

“How about a little game of chess, for old time’ssake?”

“John’s parents are expecting us,” I said. “Everyone at the fiesta is expectingus.”

“Then we better stop wasting time, chiquita. Now, what are we playing for?” He rubbed his hands together, looking straight at me, his gaze placing me somewhere near the top of his prize list. The way Ben looked at me reminded me of the time a tarantula had crawled on my arm in the middle of the night. It wasn’t pleasant. It didn’t tickle.

“Do you have a death wish, Ben?” John growled, stepping slightly in front ofme.

“More than one. You in orout?”

John waited patiently, and I wondered what was passing through his mind. I wanted to know what he was thinking so deeply about. John was a planner as well, just like Ben, but he was a different planner than Ben. John believed that God had a plan for him. That’s why he was fearless. His faith was stronger than that of anyone else I’d known.

“I want to know where Xavier is.” He paused for a moment. “What do you want? The only thing of worth I have are these tomatoes.” He pointed to the basket on my leftarm.

Ben scanned me from my head all the way down to my toes, saying, “Then you don’t know what you have. Tomatoes it is, then.” A sly grin stretched across his face as he pushed open the wooden door to the Bistro. For the second time in two days, I walked through the entrance I’d once vowed to never walk through again.

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