Chapter 13
HADRIAN
Behind Soren stands a woman I only recognize from her photographs, and the most recent one I could find was still a few years old.
I’m still not sure Nina and Loretta Ponderosa are their real names since the trail there eventually goes cold too, but it’s certainly closer to the truth than Liliana and Purity Davenport.
“Take your fucking hands off my daughter, or he dies,” she says.
So this really is her mom.
Soren holds up his hands but doesn’t say anything.
I’m not sure what I expect of him at this moment, but maybe a hint of care that he’s in danger.
Instead, he wears the faintest smile on his face, like he’s been hoping someone would do him a favor and blow his head off for a while.
The image of him walking up the stairs, claiming he was going to jump out the window, compounds the issue.
“Don’t shoot,” I say. “I’m taking my hands off her.
” I let go of Nina’s neck grudgingly, but if I’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, it’s that I care about Soren’s well-being much more than I thought I did.
I can’t let him get shot in the head. She coughs and rubs her neck, the spot my hand squeezed red and bruising in the shape of my fingers.
She deserved that at least for her hand in the bucket incident.
Annie Oakley over here has darker hair than her daughter, the same pale blue eyes, and a few more lines on her face than she did the last time she was behind a camera.
She wears an impressive mix of fierce and calm, absolutely ready to blow Soren’s head off, and maybe even more excited about the prospect than I was about killing Nina a minute before.
“Mama, don’t be too jumpy. I have a plan, and it will only work if both of them keep their pretty faces.” Nina’s words shock me, and I turn back to her. I thought this was my plan. I had my hands around her neck about a minute ago, and she didn’t seem too in control then.
“What kind of plan?” she asks, mirroring my thoughts, but not lowering the gun a fraction of an inch. Her eyes move between Soren and me, calculating. His pupils are so dilated I’m surprised he can see straight, and he just stands there like nothing in particular is happening.
“Not a plan, the plan,” she clarifies, holding up her hands too. It’s clear she’s not begging for her life like I am for Soren’s, just for her mom to listen to her. “We’ll never have to work again.”
“When did you ever work?” I ask her, knowing damn well she’s been playing the rich socialite for years. The gun cocks, then points at me. I swallow hard, but manage not to piss myself.
“Are you suggesting something, pretty boy?”
Nina rolls her eyes. “He’s the musician, Mama, not the pretty boy.” She shoots a dirty look at me. “Plus, convincing old money morons like you that you belong is a full-time job.”
“Morons?”
“You’ve got a gun pointed at you, and you’re arguing whether you’re smart or not, genius.”
She has a point, and I do keep my mouth shut after that.
“I don’t trust them,” her mother says. “I think we should feed them to the pigs.”
“Well, isn’t that a sunny way to go,” Soren comments dryly, and I wish I could throttle him when she points the gun at the back of his head again. If she pulls the trigger in here, we’re all going to be wearing my old best friend’s brains.
“This isn’t a debate, Mama. Put the gun down. I’m going to show them what they want, and whether or not we find Sable, we’re disappearing after.”
“Forget Sable,” her mother says with an animosity I don’t expect.
“Every goddamn thing isn’t about Sable Briarwick.
” She spits on the ground like her name itself is cursed, and while I know a lot of people who believe that, they’re usually scared, not angry.
Her intensity takes me by surprise and leaves me filled with questions and my own anger.
Every part of me screams to defend her, but I’m not in a position to tell her she’s full of shit with a gun to Soren’s head.
“What do you think you’re going to get out of this?” I ask Nina, suddenly not so sure I want to bring her with me.
“The one thing you boys won’t miss at all.”
“And what’s that?” I ask.
“Money,” Soren answers to my surprise, eyes pointed at Nina. I should have known. That was obvious.
“Fine. If we find Sable, we’ll pay you,” I say, thinking that’s a very reasonable compromise. “And if you shoot us, you’ll have one hell of a mess to clean up. Seems like everyone will do better this way.”
She laughs. “I’m getting paid whether you find Sable or not. Don’t sweat it, though, boys. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Are you sure?” her mother asks her. Their eyes meet, and a conversation so intense passes between them that my chest pangs with a pain I didn’t expect: jealousy.
I have never for a minute been close enough to my mother to discuss anything without words.
I would never have thought this criminal living in this tiny house would have something I didn’t have, something I wanted, but here we are.
“Let’s go,” Nina says to us both. Her mother doesn’t drop the gun, but she holds it off to the side rather than aiming it directly at us.
“Anything happens to my daughter, and I will happily blow both your brains out.”
“Understood,” I say.
“Can I enlist your services at a later date if I ask nicely?” Soren says. I’m seriously considering beating the shit out of him in front of her so she doesn’t feel the need to punish him on her own, but to my surprise, she laughs.
“Sure thing, you come on over for target practice anytime.”
While they both think it’s funny, I’m nauseous. What the fuck happened to my best friend? “That won’t be necessary,” I say. I’m keeping this asshole alive whether he wants it or not.
“Higher than a kite, that one. Better be careful, baby,” Loretta says to her daughter.
“I will,” she says, kissing her mom on the cheek like she’s not holding a shotgun and then walking toward the door to leave with us like I didn’t just try to choke her into compliance. What the fuck is going on with this family?
“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask.
“I really don’t know the address.”
We’re almost out the door when something catches my eye.
“Wait a minute,” I say, finding a familiar face on the wall with his arm around Nina. “Why the fuck do you have a picture with Sable’s dad on the wall?” I ask.
Nina smiles, and her mom looks like she’s about to spit on the floor again. “That really isn’t any of your business, is it?” Nina says. “Worry about finding your girlfriend.”
She heads out the door ahead of us, leaving the three of us alone, and somehow her mother is even more intimidating without the buffer.
Grabbing Soren by his collar, I drag him out of the house to make sure he can’t say anything else stupid.
Nina is already sitting in the car in the passenger’s seat.
It makes more sense since she’s directing me and Soren is useless, but I’m still irritated that she made the assumption.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Soren grunts as I push him along. “You should be glad I’m willing to take myself out of the equation. If we find Sable, me being around isn’t going to make things easier.”
“What the fuck is yours?” I demand, smacking the back of his head, before I open the back door and shove him inside.
“I swear to God I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but you’re really starting to scare me,” I tell his back before I slam the door on him.
What the fuck is happening? Climbing into the driver’s seat, I start the engine and wait for her to give me some direction.
“Start by pulling out of the driveway,” she says in a dry, bitchy tone. I do what she says, wondering how exactly the tables turned so quickly, and strapping myself in for a very long ride.
“We could still kill you, you know,” I warn, not wanting her to get too comfortable with making me miserable.
“I have a feeling that would work out very poorly for you.”