Bow Down(77)

His eyes, at least, didn’t seem like he was lying. In fact, he looked like he was pleading with me, begging me to listen.

I couldn’t though. He was like a ghost to me still.

I had thought he was dead. I had mourned and I got over it. But now he was back, and I hated him more than ever.

Worse, I wanted him more than ever.





4





Camden





The look on her face nearly tore me in half. I watched as she stormed into the bookstore, clearly pissed beyond belief and probably convinced that I was insane.

But she had to believe me. One way or another, I was getting her and our parents out of the state and up to Alaska. Maybe I was going to have to drag them at gunpoint, but I would if I had to. We’d be protected there, or at least hidden away until things blew over.

Dangerous men were coming. Men that were far more dangerous than me. And my old handlers couldn’t protect us anymore.

I turned away and began walking back toward Main Street. The hotel was just a few blocks away, and I needed some sleep. Trip would switch out with me and take a turn watching over the house.

As I walked, memories of the town came rushing back. Hammond had been my home for more than half my life. Though what happened in Mexico dominated my thoughts and shaped me as a person in the last few years, Hammond was my childhood. I learned everything I knew from Hammond, and then some.

The hotel was a run-down chain place. I went into the lobby and found the elevators, riding them to the third floor. I knocked on the door to our room.

“Yeah?” Trip’s voice came, muffled by the door.

“Special delivery,” I called.

“Camden?”

“Let me in.”

The door opened and Trip peeked out. “Hey, man.”

“It’s really me, and alone.”

He nodded, closed the door, unlocked the chain, and let me in.

“You’re getting more and more paranoid,” I said to him as I flopped down on the bed.

“Can’t hurt, being careful.”

“Listen, I need to sleep. You okay watching over the house for a few hours?”

“Sure thing. You tell them yet?”

I frowned. “I told Lacey.”

“Your sister?”

“Stepsister.”

“Whatever. How’d she take it?”

“About how I expected.”

“So she thinks that you’re a lying piece of shit.”

“Pretty much.”

He laughed. “You must be pretty used to that by now, though.”

“Unfortunately.”

“It’s cool, man. We’ll make it work.”

He grabbed his gun from the dresser and slipped it into his waistband. Without another word, he walked out of the room and was gone.

I stared at the doorway for a minute, exhaustion overwhelming me. I’d barely slept for more than a few hours since our close-as-fuck escape from Mexico. Our handlers basically hadn’t done shit, and it seemed like they had no intentions of helping us out. Even with innocent civilians in danger, they were nowhere to be seen.

They probably told themselves that they were avoiding an international incident. Basically, it was really just some bullshit excuse to get rid of some low-life criminals. But I wasn’t easily gotten rid of, and neither was Trip.

I lay back against the pillows and let my mind drift. I found myself remembering the night, years ago, when I decided that I couldn’t be with Lacey anymore.

It was the day before I disappeared. I had just found out from a friend about the Bloods and the stolen cars, and it had fully sunk in that I was either dead or I was gone.

I chose gone, as badly as that hurt. And I chose to break the heart of the one person that really gave a shit about me only a couple of months after I had finally given in to how I really felt.

We knew our parents were dating at the time, but we didn’t care. At least I didn’t. I’d been desperate for her for years, even though I was too cool to do anything about it. I was too busy getting high and stealing cars, right up until the end.

I just couldn’t see Lacey for what she really was. Every day in Mexico I missed her smile and the way she laughed at my jokes. I missed the way she touched my arm and the way she frowned when she was angry.

And I missed the way she tasted. I missed her firm ass, her nice tits, and her sweet fucking pussy. Shit, that day in the bookstore was incredible, and even more amazing for the fact that she’d refused to actually sleep with me.

I smiled to myself softly. We did other stuff, plenty of other amazing shit, but she wanted to wait until we had graduated high school. I never understood that. I’d never been the type to wait.

But that was one of my biggest regrets. Not getting her pussy while I really had the chance.

Now, things were too fucked. We’d be lucky if we lived through the week.