Sawyer
Ican’t take my eyes off Zelda’s retreating back. Every muscle in my body aches with the desire to chase after her, to catch her and fold her in my arms, to tell her this was all a consequence of my life before her, but now that she’s in it, nothing will ever be the same.
I want to shout out that I love her, that I had my eyes on those scumbags at every moment, that it would have been me before her. That nothing else like this will ever happen again.
There are no guarantees in life, but I know Domino, and Domino isn’t going to invest resources into hunting me down a second time.
Not if he thinks the cops are already involved.
I let out a bitter laugh. He’s probably banking on the cops being after him for a while now.
If he thinks they took me in on some bullshit charge, he’s also going to think I ratted him out.
I don’t care about any of that. Domino might be relatively small time in comparison to some of the nationwide cartels, but he has plenty of friends who definitely would come after me for sport if he asked them to.
The only way out of this is to keep my mouth shut, which I’m glad to do.
The only way forward with Zelda is melting away before my eyes, disappearing into the night.
Aunt Linda’s voice breaks into my thoughts midsentence. “…doing out here?” There’s a tension in her voice that carries over even into the pause. “Where’s your shirt?”
Zelda is gone, but it’s another few seconds before I can tear my eyes away from the sidewalk where she used to be standing, and turn, blinking.
“Sawyer, what happened?” I didn’t feel it before, but now the throbbing in my cheekbone takes over.
I’m going to have a black eye. In any other circumstance, I’d have thrown an answering punch right into the side of that asshole’s face, but with Zelda nearby, with the guns in his hands, I didn’t dare.
I didn’t dare. I would never have forgiven myself.
Turns out there are things that matter more than the high of leveling a guy. Even one who deserves it, unlike the people I’ve been harassing for Domino for years now.
“A fight.” I have nowhere to go but toward Aunt Linda, and her eyes get wider as I climb the porch steps.
“Did this—God, did this have to do with your two friends who showed up?”
“Did they wake you?”
“Yeah,” she says, and there’s a hint of irritation in her tone, but it’s mostly masked by worry.
“They said they needed to talk to you, that it was urgent. I told them you’d gone to your girlfriend’s house down the street, but that you’d probably…
be back.” She narrows her eyes. “Those weren’t friends of yours. ”
“No.” I let out a sigh and step into the front hall. Linda follows me in and closes the door behind us, locking it firmly.
“Sawyer, I have to ask you something.”
“Yeah?” I rub my hands through my hair, then touch my fingertips to my cheekbone. Pain lances out from the center. This is going to be great. Lovely.
“Is this—should I call the police? Are—are they going to come back here?” She must have some sense that they’re not exactly acquaintances.
“I don’t think so. But if it would make you feel better, you can call and ask for more patrols. Say there’s been a suspicious car around the neighborhood.”
She presses her lips together.
“I’m not asking you to hide anything, Aunt Linda. If you want to tell them what happened, you can. But that part of my life—” My throat tightens, because the words also apply to Zelda. I can’t see a way out of that. Not right now. Not tonight. “That’s over with. Okay?”
“Okay.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Let me get you some ice.”
I follow her to the kitchen, and she takes out a flexible ice pack from the freezer. When she presses it against my skin, the lightest touch, I hiss in a breath through my teeth. That is painful.
But it’s nothing compared to the ache in my chest. It hits me so strongly that I almost jerk away, head straight out the front door and go over to Zelda’s house.
Except pounding on her door right now will get me absolutely nowhere. I saw the look on her face as she left. She’s never going to feel safe with me again. I might as well have pushed her off the ravine myself and laughed at her on the way down.
“I know this probably isn’t what you want to hear.
” I discover myself saying the words before I can really make up my mind.
“But is there any way I can stay with you a while longer?” I’m thinking that my apartment in the city might not be the best place to go right now, even if—even though—Zelda and I are over.
“Well, I assumed you would.” Aunt Linda’s brow furrows. “I think your dad needs you right now.”
A surge of guilt like bile rushes up into my throat. That’s the whole reason I’m here, and I forgot about it. Funny what getting punched in the face will do to you.
“Right. That’s right.” I sound unconvincing as hell, and I know it. “After tonight, I didn’t know if you’d want me to be here anymore.”
“I’d feel better if you stayed.”
“Are you sure?”
Aunt Linda looks at me, her eyes focused and clear. “If your friends pay any more visits, I’d rather not be sleeping here alone.”
“They won’t.”
“Even so.”
We stand in the kitchen for a few more minutes, and then she goes back to the freezer and switches out the ice pack for a fresh one. As soon as she turns her back, I feel myself swaying on my feet. It’s late as hell, my face is throbbing, and Zelda’s gone.
Zelda’s gone.
“Get some sleep.” She says it like she’s answering my thoughts. All I can do is nod, and then I turn away, holding the ice pack to my face.
It’s a long trudge up the stairs. I fall onto the bed and close my eyes, shutting out the world.
I thought there was nothing in it for me before, when working for Domino was all I had.
But now that Zelda is gone…I know better. Now there’s absolutely nothing left.