Sins & Needles(92)

“Camden, please!” I screamed, trying to grab his arms. But he wouldn’t budge. He was going to lose his shit and I was going to lose my uncle.

“Tell Ellie the truth!” he commanded. “Tell her the truth, you owe her that!”

My uncle’s eyes fell to the floor and silence overtook him. Then, after a few beats, he burst out into a sob.

“He promised me he wouldn’t hurt her!” he wailed.

No. No, this couldn’t be. I found my head shaking back and forth, showing my disbelief. Even Camden looked shocked for a few moments before he tightened his grip on the gun, grinding his teeth.

“I’m so sorry, Ellie,” my dear Uncle Jim apologized through his tears. “It was so much money. I needed the money. You know I do. Fifty thousand dollars—I could save everything with that amount. I had no choice, I didn’t. I need it.”

I felt like I was being ripped apart inside, my heart a single sheet of brittle paper splitting down the middle.

“I think you always have a choice,” Camden whispered violently, pressing the gun harder, his eyes boring holes into his head. “You were like a father to her.”

“I know,” he sobbed, eyes tearing and locked on the gun above. “I know. But Ellie, Jesus, Ellie, how you’ve made my life so hard. I wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for you. He promised he wouldn’t hurt you, Ellie, he did.”

Camden’s finger was about to pull back the trigger. Through all my pain, I tightened my grip on his arm and said, “Please, Camden.”

His nostrils flared as he tried to regain control of himself.

“Camden, he’s still my uncle,” I told him quietly, working the pain through my words. “He’s still the only family I’ve got.”

With great reluctance he ripped the gun away from his head. “Well now what? How much time do we have?”

Suddenly the room lit up with headlights from outside the gauzy window blinds. We had no time. They were here.

“I’m sorry,” Uncle Jim whimpered again. “I wish I could take it back.”

Camden shoved him hard. “Well you can start by helping us now.”

He ran to the bathroom and I heard him struggle with the window for a few minutes. “It won’t open and it’s too small. I can’t fit through it.”

Meanwhile I just stood there at the foot of the bed, feeling like my life was crashing down on me, reeling from the impossible betrayal by the man I had always trusted.

“Go under the bed, Ellie,” my uncle said to me. “I won’t break your trust again. Go under the bed.”

I looked around the room, thinking there had to be a way out. The car doors slammed from outside. Footsteps.

Camden came back in the room and put his finger to his mouth, motioning for us all to be quiet. Then he pointed at the bed and nodded.

I didn’t think I could move my legs. The terror was too great. I heard a knock at the door. Someone tried to turn the knob. I was going to die.

But somehow I did it. I got on my knees on one side of the bed while Camden did the same on the other. We both flattened out and then squeezed in sideways, barely making it. The broken coils of the mattress pulled at my hair but I ignored the pain.

We were both under the bed, side by side. We wiggled as far back as we could go until our feet touched the wall. We tucked our limbs up against us just as Javier called out, “Housekeeping” from outside the door.

I held my breath and waited. Uncle Jim got off the bed, the mattress rising in front of us by a bit. I could see his legs, mid-calf to his dusty Timberland boots as he walked over to the door and opened it.

“What the hell is this?” Javier asked, his voice collected but with a sliver of annoyance poking through. His sleek leather shoes entered the room followed by Raul’s and Alex’s. I could. Not. Breathe.

“I don’t know what happened,” Uncle Jim said. He was trying to stay calm but his words trembled. “They came and then they left right away. I think they were suspicious, I don’t know why.”

“They what?” Javier seethed quietly. “They were here? And you let them go?”

Though I couldn’t see above his shins, I could tell he was coiling up like a snake. Seeking the right moment to strike.

“I…I don’t know what happened,” Uncle Jim went on. “I’ll try again. It was that McQueen kid; he didn’t want Ellie to be here.”

“Mmhmm,” Javier mused. It looked like he turned around to look at the others. His shoes came forward and walked, step by step, over to the bed. Over to us.

Camden’s fingers wrapped around mine as we held our arms as close to each other as possible. We were worse than sitting ducks. There was nothing to prevent Javier from dropping to the floor and peering under the bed. He could fire the gun underneath. He could shoot the mattress. We had no way of escape. Even with Camden’s gun, it didn’t look like we’d make it out of here alive.