Chapter Fifteen
Worthy
Iwas slowly coming around in the back seat of a car, the sound of the ground rolling beneath the wheels unmistakable. I was in pain again, and not the good kind. My head was killing me, and there was an ache in my right shoulder I was lying on. All in all, I’d felt worse recently, so that was a plus. What wasn’t a plus was the conversation I heard in the front seat. I wanted to hear as much as I could, so I stayed absolutely still and listened.
“I don’t know, Jimmy, but we need to figure out a way.”
“Jesus, Paulie, don’t you think I fuckin’ know that? I’ve been thinkin’ about it ever since we got roped into this shit.”
“Is he still asleep?”
I heard movement in the passenger seat, presumably Jimmy checking on me. I kept my breathing even and didn’t move until I heard him moving back around.
“Yeah, he’s still out. That chloroform shit works like a charm. Glad he gave it to us. That’s about the only good thing about this shit show.”
“Jimmy, I said I’m sorry about all this. How many times I gotta say it?”
“Jesus, Paulie. Why the fuck did you have to gamble so fuckin’ much? If you’d just listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this Goddamn mess. I had to take my damn vacation time for this Godforsaken trip to hell.”
“I know, and I said I’m sorry. What else you want me to do? He said this job would be a one and done. Get the guy, take care of the other guy, and bring him to this place in San Diego. That’s all we had to do, and the slate was wiped clean. No killing, no nothin’, just get the guy and take him to the place. It sounded like an easy job.”
I heard Jimmy mutter under his breath, “Well, it didn’t turn out that way, now did it?”
Paulie revved the engine, going faster and faster down the road. No one said anything for several minutes until Jimmy must have gotten spooked.
“Paulie, we have a guy tied up in the back of the car that we just drugged and kidnapped. Can we not get pulled over for speeding, then go to prison for multiple felonies?!”
Paulie let up on the accelerator, but then he swerved off the road, eventually stopping and parking the car.
“I’m done for the fuckin’ day. I said I was sorry. I know I shouldn’t have gambled, and I know this is all my fault. But can you give me a Goddamn break? I’m sorry we had to camp out in those woods for days. I’m sorry we had to commit a felony for me to get out of it, but Jimmy, it’s almost over. We got the guy, and we’re on the way.”
Jimmy must have leaned over to Paulie, and I heard them moving around. Then, wait a minute, were they kissing? Oh, my God, they were making out in the front seat of the car!
“Paulie, I need you, baby. Let’s stop for the night. I need a bed and a shower and you.”
Fuck me. They were going to fuck. What the hell would they do with me?
“Jimmy, we need to keep going.”
There was more kissing, and then moans were coming from Paulie’s side of the car. Jesus, I did not want to know what they were getting up to.
“Okay, okay, there’s a hotel over there. We’ll stop for tonight and drive straight through tomorrow. But what are we going to do with him?”
I heard Jimmy moving back into his side of the car before he answered.
“You took care of the asshole in the woods and drugging this guy before we put him in the car. This time leave him to me, baby.”
What the fuck did that mean?
* * *
Handcuffedin the fucking shower-tub combo. That’s what they did with me. They’d gotten the room in a roadside motel that looked like they never asked questions from the looks of the place. The sign that saidhourly rateswas a dead giveaway. So, two guys helping theirdrunkbuddy to the room didn’t even raise an eyebrow.
The room was surprisingly clean, so when they threw me on the bed and told me to stay put, I didn’t fight. The mattress was soft, and the gun in Jimmy’s hand leveled at my head gave me a little incentive, too. Paulie had jumped in the shower when we came in, and the sound of the water running lulled me to close my eyes again even though I knew I needed to keep sharp. I tried to focus on what was going on around me because if I thought too hard about my situation, I’d let the worry drive me crazy.
The things I’d heard in the car began running through my mind. What did they mean they took care of the other guy in the woods? Where was Crow? Was he okay? Alive? Was he trying to find me, or did he even care that I was gone?
The thoughts went around and around in my still fuzzy brain, but no answers were there. All I had were questions. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes again, Paulie had taken Jimmy’s place with the gun and the shower was running again. I wanted a shower, but I had yet to speak and thought it would be a bad idea if I did. The guys were solely focused on each other at this point. I was just an inconvenience to them right now. I didn’t want to become a problem.
