6. Alek #2
Slamming the car in reverse, I get us to the road, flip on the headlights, and start to drive. I flip on the windshield wipers, swiping away the grim that’s built up. The radio is stuck on one station. A classical jazz that has a lot of static from a weak connection.
I’ll take it. It’s better than nothing. I can’t stand driving in silence.
The roads wind and the trees become denser as we get further away from civilization. The safehouse isn’t really a safehouse for everyone. It’s only for me or Nikolai if we ever need to get away. No one else knows about it.
No one.
So, if someone who isn’t him shows up at my door, someone will be dying for that, but not before I have them dig their own grave. I won’t let anyone ever hurt Mia again.
I don’t care how much blood I need to spill. I don’t care how much pain I inflict. I don’t care if they beg for their lives. Every single person will be met with a bullet between the eyes and dirt weighing down their body ten feet under.
Ten. Not Six.
I don’t chance anyone finding my kills or risk any flooding washing them away.
May every person I’ve killed rest in Hell.
My eyes become heavy, the danger of falling asleep at the wheel weighs me down. Luckily, my private dirt road is coming up on the left.
A deer on the side of the road lifts its head, the headlight bouncing off its eyes.
“Oh, don’t you dare,” I warn through gritted teeth.
We stare at one another as if both of us are daring the other. The big buck stays put as I pass, and I flip on the signal to turn down the road.
The signal doesn’t work.
I suppose it doesn’t matter. There’s no one behind us or coming from the opposite direction.
The dirt road is old and bumpy. I’ve never had it made so it looks old and useless. The car bounces and tilts from uneven ground, the entire frame shaking and I’m nervous the frame is going to fall apart on us.
It reminds me of how she had to save money to afford this car. My son putting her on a fucking allowance. I squeeze the steering wheel again wondering how the hell I raised such a bastard.
We follow the path for twenty minutes, the branches hanging so low they scrape the roof as if they are trying to get inside and take us. Reaching the bridge that takes us over a small creek and instead of going straight, I hang another left, making it a little more difficult for people to find us.
Thirty minutes later, I stop in front of an old log cabin that I purchased ten years ago. It’s well maintained and always stocked. We’ll be safe here.
Until we aren’t.
“Mia.” I sweep my fingers up and down her arm to wake her gently. “Mia. We’re here. Let’s get inside and get you to bed.”
Her eyes barely open when she gives me a soft grunt in agreement. I grin, loving how she gets when she’s sleepy.
Opening the door, the cool breeze sweeps in causing Mia to shiver. She climbs out of the passenger side and slams the door shut, only to try to walk around the car and get tugged back so hard, she crashes to her back.
“Mia!” I shout, sliding over the hood, and kneel right beside her. “What happened? Are you okay?”
She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath.
I know that look.
That’s the look of a woman who is sick of everyone and everything.
Her dress got caught in the door when she shut it, and she must not have realized. I hold in a laugh, knowing if I allow myself to find any humor about this situation, I might get slapped.
Granted, if she were to slap me, I’d like it too much.
“It isn’t funny,” she giggles, throwing an arm over her eyes, then groans up to the sky.
I chuckle, unable to hold it in anymore. I hang my head and my shoulders shake from how hard I’m laughing. Tears sting my eyes and I collapse right beside her, rolling to my back.
“Are you okay, though? I know that had to hurt. You hit the ground pretty hard.”
“I’m fine. My ego is just bruised,” she jokes.
“As long as you aren’t bruised, that’s all I care about.”
We both stare up at the sky, the stars still hidden by the thunderclouds building in the night. An owl hoots nearby and frogs croak in the distance.
Fireflies blink, creating the stars we wish we could see.
“You really mean that don’t you?”
I turn my head to give her my undivided attention, as she’s drawing hearts in the dirt.
Probably something she does when she is bored, but there’s a part of me hoping those hearts are for me.
“I mean it with my entire being, Mia. No one will hurt you again, da? Besides maybe a car door closing.”
She scoffs, playfully slapping me and we both laugh, the sounds morphing together to create a sound that I’ll never forget.
“Can you get my dress out of the door?”
“Da.” I stand, wiping the dirt off my hands, and open the door, freeing my heart’s desire. “Your dress is ruined and filthy. I could get it cleaned if you want?”
I help her get to her feet and she wipes her hands down her dress.
“Are you kidding? I want to burn it. I never want to wear or see this dress ever again.”
“Tomorrow we will have a bonfire then and have smores as your dress burns.” I offer her my arm to help her inside.
She loops her arm through and offers me a genuine smile, the kind that speaks a thousand words without needing to mutter one.
“You’d do that for me?”
“Da, Mia.”
I would do anything for you.
“Why?” She stands in front of me, confusion pinching the gorgeous brown eyes I can never look away from.
How did I not realize how much I loved her? How did I let her and my son’s relationship go on so long when I’ve known she’s been meant for me? I’m a fucking fool.
All I need to do now is get her to fall in love with me. It won’t be easy considering her worst nightmare is my son, but what is the saying? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? In this case, it does. The apple isn’t even in the same field.
“Why, what?” I step to the side and take her hand, tugging her behind me as we walk over the stone path.
“Why are you doing all of this for me? Why are you helping me? Why are you encouraging me? You’re okay with me leaving your son? Burning a wedding dress? Stashing a car in the woods? Nearly killing us in a lake? It doesn’t make sense, Alek.”
We climb up the steps, the porch swing banging against the rails as the wind blows. The river isn’t far either. The water can be heard rushing from below through the endless thick of the trees.
I don’t have the keys to the front door. There actually are no keys. There’s a hand scanner to the right of the doorframe and I flatten my palm on it, a red light sliding up and down my skin. It turns green and the lock slides free to allow us inside.
All precautions must be taken given my line of work. There might be two or three bodies buried on the property that only Nikolai and I know about.
But I won’t tell her that.
“I don’t see how it doesn’t make sense, Mia.
Good people care about other people. And I’m not even a good person.
I only want to be good to you. How you were treated by my son leaves me forever in your debt because he didn’t learn that from me.
I’ll show you that not everyone in your life is like that.
You have purpose, Mia. Your purpose isn’t supposed to be hoping for death instead of enjoying life.
So yes, I’ll do what I have to until you start liking life again.
” I push the door open, wanting her to step inside first.
I’m getting too close to allowing her to see how I feel about her.
“Thank you.” She steps inside, tilting her head, staring up at the high ceilings of the cabin held up by beams. “It’s been so long since I’ve had kindness shown to me. It’ll take some getting used to. There’s always catch if someone is kind lately. I’m sorry for assuming otherwise.”
“No apology needed, Mia. Your skepticism is warranted.” I close the door and with a press of a button, three steel locks slide into place.
Mia looks beautiful standing in the middle of living room. She’s so curious. She looks and touches everything, wanting to get familiar immediately.
“It’s so different than your house. It’s much more minimal and cozy.”
“At the end of the day, I’m a simple man. I don’t need much. The house, the life, the material things, a lot of it is for show because a man in my position has to have nice things. Just between you and me though?”
“What?”
“I prefer a place like this. It’s quiet. Secluded. I don’t have to deal with people or drama or plans to kill.” The last admission comes out more blunt than I intended to. “A simple life is here, and I don’t get to enjoy it as often as I should.”
There’s a small wooden table to the left of the kitchen and an old green couch with a matching recliner in the living room. A wood burning stove is nestled in the corner.
“I didn’t know a man like you appreciated a slower lifestyle.”
“There’s a lot more to know about a man like me.”
Her curious gaze lands one me after finding the staircase. “Oh? And what else is there?”
“Plenty for you to learn in time.” I step forward, my shoes squeaking on the polished wooden floors.
That’s when I notice we have tracked in so much mud. I kick off my shoes, the bottoms caked in dirt. Mia’s small footprints are pretty much all over the main floor now.
She loves to explore.
There’s just one problem with this cabin that she’s going to find.
There’s only one bed.