4. Paige
4
PAIGE
They look at me like I just dropped out of the sky. I can’t tell what their answer is going to be, but I’ve at least shocked them into taking me seriously. I’m in so much trouble. I’ve been terrified to use any more of the money than I absolutely have to, but look where that got me. At this point, how much worse can it get?
Crank strokes his thick beard, his icy blue eyes locked on me like I’m a strange new creature. “No fucking way you've got five hundred thou. Not if you're living like this.”
“It's complicated.”
“I don't like complicated,” Savage says. “Complicated usually leads to blood.”
He's right. The blood from their fight with Eddy and the others is still drying on the pavement. Uncle Walter's clearly after me if he’s hiring people to bring me back. And I don’t even know whose money I have. All I knew when I ran was that whoever it belonged to wasn’t going to appreciate me getting mixed up in whatever dirty business they have going on with my uncle. Every moment I’m standing here bargaining with these men, is time I’m not using to put more distance between me and the danger I’m in.
“Do you want more? How about six hundred? That’s two hundred thousand for each of you.” It’s way too easy to bargain away someone else’s money. It doesn’t even feel real.
“I don’t believe you.” Crank leans his weight on the dresser I used to block the door—for all the good that did. It creaks under his bulk. “Nobody who’s sitting on that much cash would be living here, let alone putting up with the shit you did at the diner. Put up or shut up.”
“I can't. I’m not stupid. Do you think I’d leave it here?” I gesture around.
“Honey, listen to yourself,” Savage says in a frustrated growl. He steps towards me and Crank does the same, pushing off the dresser.
I grab the lamp again and hold it up, ready to throw. “Stay back!” I growl right back at them, or at least I try. I don't think anyone will ever classify my voice as scary, no matter how much I practice.
Crank laughs. He freaking laughs. Savage too, though he at least has the courtesy to try to hide it by turning aside and pretending to scratch the side of his face. They both step a little closer, making me feel like a feral cat they’re trying to herd into a corner to grab. Maybe that isn’t far off from the truth.
Savage holds up a hand, indicating for Crank to wait. “Alright, let’s say you have all this money. Where the fuck is it?”
“I’m supposed to just tell you? No way. I want a deal first.” A deal with a pair of handsome devils that have already fooled me into thinking they were on my side once, but what’s the alternative? “I’ll… I’ll go collect the money and then when I have it, I’ll put your split somewhere safe and tell you where it is. You get your money and agree to never look for me again.”
“That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” Savage says. “Grab her.”
Crank is on me before I have time to react. For someone his size, he moves fast. He grabs my arms and pulls me into his chest, locking me down with his arms wrapped around me. The lamp hits the floor with a crash, falling from dead fingers. “Sorry, babe. He’s right.”
“Aaaaargh!” I hate that in spite of everything, I actually believe they think they’re doing the right thing. That I’m someone’s out of control niece and bringing me back is for my own good. “You guys are making a mistake. Look around. Do you see drugs? If I’m such a crazy junkie, where are the needles? The little baggies? The…” My knowledge of drugs is mostly based on TV and rap lyrics, and it turns out I haven’t been paying very close attention. “See? I don’t even know what you should find, but I know it’s not here!”
Savage throws up his hands. “Jesus fucking Christ. Enough. You get two hours to prove you’re not talking shit. No passing go, no collecting two hundred dollars, let alone a million. Your choice, take it or leave it.”
Two hours? I take a step back, then nod. “Okay. Fine. We can meet back here.”
His laugh is low and sexy. “So you can take off and get a head start? Nice try. We’re not letting you out of our sight.”
I’m so bad at this. It didn’t even occur to me to try and double cross them. “Then we need to get to the bus station.”
“The bus station?” Crank’s chest vibrates against my back with his deep voice. “You left a million bucks in a fucking locker? I wouldn’t leave my spare underwear in one of those.”
A little ball of bratty resentment fires up in me. “Oh, so sorry. I guess I should’ve invested it in crypto or an IRA. Look, I wasn’t exactly overflowing with choices, okay?”
“Oh, for fuck's sake. Let’s go. The sooner you get over this delusion, the sooner we can be on the road.” Savage’s hair glints red in the streetlight coming in the window. He moves and I get a glimpse of the butt of his gun, a scary reminder of the kind of dangerous men I'm dealing with.
What if I show them the money and they just take it and still bring me back to my uncle? “Okay. I'll prove it to you, just… Please don’t hurt me. Let me go and forget you ever saw me.”
Savage and Crank exchange glances, and neither of them look happy. My shoulders sag. Crank’s arms relax a little, enough for me to pull away. I do, but as stupid as it might seem, I immediately miss the feeling of being held.
“Honey, we're not doing this to be cruel.” Crank easily lifts the dresser that I struggled to drag across the floor and puts it back against the wall. “It's just business.”
That'd feel a lot better if it mattered at all. “Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.”
“Pack your things.” Savage snaps. He looks pissed. “You don’t know shit about us, and we’re already giving you way more leeway than we should. I sleep like a fucking baby.”
I pack the little I've got in silence. All I have is some drug store toiletries, a cheap backpack, and clothes I thrifted after I ran. It looks pathetic all gathered together. Enough to last me a few days before I have to start washing stuff in the sink. Other than that, all I have is my wallet full of cards I was afraid to use, and a phone I’ve kept powered off in case someone could use it to track me.
“That's it?” Crank looks confused.
“I’m not exactly on vacation, you know?”
“But if you supposedly have all this money…” He trails off for me to explain.
“I had my reasons.” And right now I don’t trust these guys any farther than I can throw them. Which is exactly nowhere. Once my bag is filled, I toss it over my shoulder and give my little hideout a last look. It was good for a couple of days.
Back at the diner, Poe and Mike are talking next to a black van with a motorcycle trailer hitched behind it. Mike’s put his shotgun away, so I guess I'm not getting a miraculous rescue from him.
“Took you long enough,” Poe says as he sees us coming.
I glare at him, heading straight for Mike. “Listen, I don’t know what he said, but I'm not?—”
He pinches his lips together. “I'm sorry Sarah. Or I guess I should call you Paige now. You seem like a nice enough girl, but they’re licensed and everything. I hope you get your life back on track, kiddo. Nothing I can do.” He throws his hands out apologetically, like he wants me to give him a hug for trying.
Blah blah blah. No help coming. I don’t blame Mike, but it’s hard to feel understanding at the moment. “They broke your door, by the way. Split it right down the middle. That’s not my fault. They wouldn’t wait for me to unlock it.”
Savage’s expression looks caught between pissed off and amused. “I'll pay for it,” he grumbles.
“In you go.” Poe opens the back door of the van to reveal a couple of bench seats and not much else.
Crank fetches his bike from behind a tree and rolls it onto the trailer. “I'll be keeping you company.”
“Yippee.” Great. Not that I thought I'd be able to break out of the back anyway.
A few moments later, I'm buckled in with Crank sitting across from me while Poe drives us to the bus station. Savage leads the way on his bike. I close my eyes and pretend I’m somewhere else, anywhere else.
“You okay?”
Crank’s question has me look after all. With his shaved head, beard and tattoos, he looks like the kind of guy you’d cross the road to avoid, but his blue eyes are kind, and I remember the feel of his strong arms around me. He’s strong enough to have really hurt me, but he didn’t. He held me like I mattered. They didn’t get me into this situation. I can’t even totally blame my uncle. He tried to warn me off, but I couldn’t stop poking my nose into things.
I want to stay angry, but it’s hard to maintain when the mercenaries that are probably going to ruin my life keep seeming like decent people. “Been better.”
“Fuck, it's just a shit situation. You're cute, you're young, and you don't seem like you’ve really let the habit get to you yet.”
“Do I seriously look like I'm on drugs?”
“Jesus, ease up.” He sighs. “I didn’t mean nothing by it. You can’t tell by looking at someone, you know? I’ve known people who should be fucking dead considering how much they shove into their veins, but they hold down jobs and join the PTA. And then someone else makes one shitty decision and it fucks up their whole life. I’m not here to judge. Do I look like a fucking boyscout to you?”
“Sorry, I just… I’m not supposed to be here. None of this was supposed to happen.”
“Welcome to life, beautiful.”
The van stops, and a few moments later there’s three quick knocks on the back door before it opens. They don't cuff me or march me through the doors like a prisoner as we enter the bus station, but they keep me centered between them, and someone is always close enough to grab me. In some ways, I’m probably the safest person here right now. Nobody would dare touch me with them around.
The lockers are in the basement. It’s not a big town, so the place isn’t exactly swarming with people. Right now it’s just me and my captors. Eager to get it over with and prove I’m not making things up, I pick up speed down the hall as we get closer to the locker. It’s the third section on the right. I crouch down and put my key in the lock. This is it.
Here's hoping I'm not making a huge mistake.
I open up and reach inside. My fingers close on nothing. My heart freezes, refusing to pump ice through my veins.
“No, no, no,” I chant, crouching even lower and feeling all the way to the back of the locker.
Savage crosses his arms in front of his chest and sighs. “Give it up, Paige.”
“No! It should be here!” I double check the locker number, but why would my key work anywhere else? No matter how many times I open and close the door, it's not going to change anything.
It’s empty.