Page 3 of Preying Heart
“I don’t see you complaining about the living conditions,” he says. There’s a hard edge in his tone because he knows full well what I did for him. Even now, the bail money comes from Gavin.
“You’re not planning on skipping bail, are you?” I hit back because he’s the only person I can hit. “Someday you’re going to have to pay for your crimes. Follow the rules and get rehabilitated. It’s easier than going in and out of jail.”
“Boring.”
The traffic is grueling, and I’m itching to get moving. I don’t exactly know how I feel about the baby. He doesn’t seem real, even though I bought one of every brand of pregnancy test kits and they all came back positive.
“Maybe I have a hormonal disorder. You know, false positive.”
“Since you got the money, you might as well get retested. Unless—” He gives me a sly sideways grin. “You scammed the money out of him, didn’t you? In which case, let’s hit the road, Jack, and shoot ourselves over to the nearest tribal casino.”
I sneer at him and shake my head. “You are impossible, and no, I wouldn’t dare lie to Gavin. He has ways of finding out the truth.”
“Oh, really? How?”
I raise my cell phone. “He has a tracker on this thing.”
Before I can take the next breath, Slade snatches my cell phone and tosses it out the window. “Taken care of.”
“Slade!” I beat on his broad shoulder. “That’s a brand-new iPhone!”
“It’s a ball and chain.” Slade whistles in the air and laughs. “Geez, Remi, don’t you get sick of checking in?”
“Well, now that you bring it up—” I pause, wondering if I should tell him my secret wish. “Nah, you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Believe what? Remi. I’m the only one in the world who believes in you, believe it or not.”
Ah … His words are so meltingly sweet I almost forget he’s a con man.
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter anyway. It’ll never happen.”
“What?” he demands and takes his eyes off the road. “Spill it. You want to leave him, don’t you?”
“Brake lights.” I hit the dashboard. “And no, I’m not that stupid.”
“Oh, wee,” he squeals in a mock female voice. “I just can’t leave Gavin and that million-dollar view. And all my clothes, jewelry, shoes. Gotta have them shoes. I can’t risk breaking a fingernail to cook and clean. Besides, I spent a wad on that interior decorating.”
“Are you done making fun of me?” I’m not the least bit amused. I’m sure he’d trade an eyetooth to find a sugar mama like Gavin’s wife, Claudia. Isn’t that supposedly the reason Gavin had him jailed? That he was caught inside his mansion and harassing her?
“Just stating the truth.” He resorts to big brother mode, all serious and stern. “You don’t have the guts anyway.”
“You’re right, I don’t. Not forever, but once, just once, I’d like to disappear, you know. Just go AWOL without checking in. Go somewhere where no one knows me, and I can be myself.”
“Until you run out of money and you go crawling back to Gavin.” Slade snickers. He knows me so well I feel like kicking him.
“Yeah, well, I don’t have any marketable job skills. It’s not like I can support myself on my freelance jobs.”
I edit and proofread for a few authors as well as design book covers and ads. I also get paid to play online games for a few clients who don’t have the time to collect magical items and rack up the kills.
“Maybe you don’t need any.” A hard look crosses his face, the kind a robber gets when he corners you on the sidewalk. “How much did he give you?”
I squirm uneasily in the passenger seat. “Five hundred’s barely enough to buy a plane ticket.”
He grunts, and for the first time in my life, I don’t know what he’s thinking.
Surely, he’s my brother, right? And five hundred isn’t enough to take that away—not even for a petty criminal.
We drive at a snail’s pace, mile after mile, and I’m almost tempted to go back to a clinic closer to home. I should have called a rideshare driver. It’s not like I need Slade at my side. But then, he is the only family I have.
