Page 71 of Unspoken Words
“What?”
“The keys, to your car?”
I racked my brain for a memory that was teetering on the edge, a memory I’d much rather forget. “In the black hole,” I mumbled.
“What?”
“Ellie threw them in the black hole, over there.” I pointed, somewhere.
Lilah growled like a wolf in heat. “That stupid bitch.”
Slap!Ow. Fuuuuuck.
“Open your eyes and show me where she threw them.”
“My eyes are open.”
“No, they’re not. Come on, you need to get up before anyone sees you.”
“I don’t even see me.”
“Connor, pleeeease. Work with me, yeah?”
Trying hard to focus, I willed my foggy brain to communicate with my arms and legs and pulled myself to rest on the side of my car.
“Get off that car. It’s not yours.”
“What?” I stared at it, almost waiting for it to explain, but Lilah was right, it wasn’t my car. “Shit!”
“Your car is over there. I’m over here. You’re there. And your keys are where exactly?”
I blinked a few times to find her bent at the knees, rubbing her arms to get warm. “You’re cold.”
“No shit, Sherlock. That’s why I want to get you and me into your car to get warm, so think, Connor, where’d she throw them?”
I pointed in the vicinity of where I thought Ellie had tossed them like trash, tossed me like trash. “Over there, but I didn’t hear them hit the ground.”
Lilah placed a hand on my shoulder and removed her heels. “Hold these.”
I did as I was told and watched as she disappeared into the black hole.
“Damn it! You didn’t hear them hit the ground because there’s a bunch of friggin’ bushes here.”
“That’s not good.”
She growled again. “No, because it makes this even more diffi … cult. Wait a minute … I think … YES! I have them. Ouch! Fuck! Shit! What was that?”
“Are you okay?”
“No. Yes. I think so. I stood on something sharp.” She hobbled toward me, keys dangling from her fingertip. “But I found these. We’re good to go.”
“Go?” I’d sobered up enough in the last few minutes to know I couldn’t drive. “I’m not going anywhere. And you don’t have your licence.”
“Let’s just get in the car and out of sight. Plus, something is stuck in my foot and I need to get it out. I can’t do that here.”
I agreed, unlocked the car, and climbed into the driver’s seat, reclining my chair and once again closing my eyes. “I fucked up. Ellie’s never gonna take me back now.” Reaching behind my seat into the back of my car I felt around for the bottle of water I’d left there the day before.
“Maybe you should finally cut your losses and move on then?”
