21. Mia
My vision remained red as the truck pulled into the funeral home. My fists clenched into tight balls around my sister’s shoulders as she tucked her head against me, her tears burning a hole in my skin. “Where are we going?” The vehicle pulled down the side of the building, slowly moving away from what I thought was a place that Margot would be taken to rest and Millie could say goodbye to her friend in peace—a woman who had made her feel welcome here. “I said, where the fuck are we going?”
Sly sat in the passenger seat, his grim face missing the normal jovial look. “We’re going to keep you and your sister safe. It’s for the best, just remember that.” He watched us over his shoulder, his mouth opened and closed like he was going to add more, but instead he twisted to face the front, his decision made. I didn’t need him to fill me with comforting words or niceties, I needed him to get our stuff so we could leave, but I knew where his loyalties lay. Rex had made it clear back at the shop that we were ‘under his protection’ for the foreseeable future and we should suck it up. I thought that meant taking us back to my motel and having someone sit outside like a creeper, following us around. I didn’t anticipate it meaning that we were being taken to their place.
As the truck drove along a dirt road, lights in the distance appeared, highlighting another building behind the funeral home. Bikes lined up outside, with Rex just climbing off his. He’d left after us, but he must have overtaken us at some point, because now he waited at the door, a somber air around him and the bald man beside him. I’d seen him before, at the diner, Jenna’s husband. He had looked scary then… now, he was intimidating as hell. His frame was bigger than Rex’s, which was ridiculous. I didn’t know what they put in the food out here, but they made them bloody huge.
The other man glared at Rex, his lips moving to an unknown conversation as I sat in the back of the truck, watching the comings and goings.
“Are you coming?” Sly questioned, jumping out and opening the door for us. “It’ll go easier on you if you just… listen.”
I snorted in derision. “Fignya yakas,” I muttered under my breath. The harsh words made me feel better despite the fact that they didn’t have a clue what I was saying. My mother’s language rolled off my tongue in perfect waves, still perfect though. I hadn’t spoken it very much since my grandfather had died.
Hugging Millie tightly to me, I whispered words of encouragement. My goosebumps had nothing to do with my uncertainty at practically being held prisoner. The cool night air swept in through the open door, brushing against my bare arms—it was just the weather. Sure, Mia. You keep telling yourself that.
Deep voices muttered outside the confined vehicle, one I recognized as Sly, the other was unknown. Peeking over Millie’s head, I watched through the windshield as the big man issued orders to the surrounding men, pointing at them harshly, his narrowed eyes swiveling from man to man before pinning me with his glare through the glass. Oh shit.
He walked toward us, moving Sly out of the way, and ducking to look inside. Two women huddled together didn’t make us look very alarming. In fact, his dark pools seemed almost sympathetic when he cast his eyes over my sister, her slight frame practically on my lap and trembling at the events of the past hour. I glared at him, but he must have seen through my bravado, because he merely nodded at me, and heaved a great sigh, before signaling to someone behind him.
Kannon rushed toward me, his arms outstretched to take my almost-catatonic sister from my arms. He cradled her like a child, her head tucked in the crook of his neck. He looked at her longingly as she lay curled in his arms. A man that looked at a woman that way, wouldn’t—couldn’t hurt her. And so I let him take her inside, feeling bereft when my baby sister was no longer tucked up against me.
Climbing out slowly, my body felt stiff. I felt every ache and pain as if I’d run a marathon. “Where is he taking her?” I croaked out, feeling the weight of everything on my chest.
“He’s just gonna put her in one of the rooms to sleep it off. Rex can show you where she is and we can speak about things in the morning.” I merely nodded at the man—the president—talking sounded like a horrible choice right now. I needed sleep and a lobotomy to get rid of the nightmare that was taking over my life. This was supposed to be routine—come here, get my sister, go home. Things weren’t happening in that order, and life was throwing us a curveball—again.
Rex and the president looked pointedly at each other, the bigger man’s glare evident when he looked at Rex. I stared at the gravel and the heavy boots of each man, trying to erase the blood-soaked image of Margot’s floor. Sure, I was a nurse, but I saw these injured and dying people in a hospital bed more often than not. And I’d never seen someone who had been murdered, least of all someone I was chatting with that afternoon, who I had been moaning about internally. It was too personal. Too close to home for my liking.
“Come on, I’ll show you where you’re sleeping.” I followed Rex blindly inside, ignoring the stares of every person in attendance. I didn’t look around me to check out the decor or whether I knew anyone there, I just… followed. Rex’s arm hung off my shoulder, his thick arm pulling at my hair. The sting of pain did nothing to dull the memories, her stone-cold body flat on her back and her lively brown eyes now void of all life—completely blank and empty staring up at the ceiling.
I was led down a hallway, rows of doors lined the walls, all closed. The dark wood hiding their secrets from me. Rex paused outside one, and pushed the door open. The inside was bare except for a bed, wardrobe and dresser. There was no personality, no color in the room. And what was more evident when I looked at the bed, my sister wasn’t here either. “Um, where’s Millie?”
“She’s in a different room, you can?—”
“I’m so tired, Rex,” I groaned, “I’m not in the mood to fight with you, just show me where my sister is sleeping, and I’ll crash with her… please.” I practically begged at this point. My head swam and I was so close to my body just giving in, I couldn’t be bothered to argue. I needed to just lay down and forget all about this day.
Indecision warred on Rex’s face, he looked from me to his room and back. “Please?”
“Goddamnit.” He stepped across the hall and rapped his knuckles against a different door. Kannon flung it open, annoyance etched across his face. “She wants to crash with her sister,” Rex gritted out. “This don’t mean shit, her sleeping in your room, just open the fucking door…” Rex waved me across, and I used what little energy I had left to shuffle past Kannon and see my Millie curled up on one side of a double. “And you ain’t sleeping in there, go bunk with someone else,” I heard Rex growl. “Fucking women.”
It was the last thing I heard before I succumbed to the darkness, and was swept away in a dreamless slumber.