“Off-the-books hourly rate is five hundred, cash, the timer starts now.”
Dingo choked. “Fivehundred…? An hour?”
“Take it or leave it.”
“Dude, come on. We just want to get cleaned up. We’ve been living in the car, and we’re meeting her father for breakfast—”
“God, you’re a terrible liar.”
“It’s the truth!”
The man smiled. “Clock’s ticking.”
“Five hundred dollars is insane,” Dingo said. “I’ll give you a hundred, and we’ll be done in a full hour, with the clock starting only when we walk into the room.”
The man laughed in his face. “Price just went up to six hundred, mate, with fifty-seven minutes left on the clock.”
“Fuck you!”
“Seven hundred.”
“God, you’re a douchebag!”
“I’m the douchebag?” The man suddenly seemed to expand and get taller and broader. “I’mthe douchebag? Said the pathetic little man-boy who messes with children?” He reached for the phone. “Deal’s off, I’m calling the police.”
Fuck! Dingo ran for the door.
“Yeah, run, run, as fast as you can, pathetic little man-boy!” his future self called mockingly after him. “But you can’t run fast enough, because wherever you go, there you are! Give my love to your sister!”
Dingo jumped into the car, turned it on with a roar.
Maddie was startled. “What happened?” she asked as he pulled out of the parking lot with a spray of gravel.
“They don’t take cash,” he said flatly.
“What? Who doesn’t take cash? Wait, we should try someplace else—maybe one of the smaller motels…Where are you going?” she asked as he blew past both the Desert Flower and the Ride On Inn, heading south on 395. “Dingo!”
“It’s you, all right?” he said. “The guy took one look at you, and said he was calling the police. He looked at you, and then he looked at me, and just like the entire rest of the motherfucking world, he thinks I’m a loser and a creep. So, no, I’m not going to try someplace else, thanks.”
“I want a shower!” Maddie said.
“I fucking know that you fucking want a fucking shower!” he shouted back at her. “I’m gonna get you your fucking shower at a place where I won’t be arrested, and then I’m going to bring you to your father and be done with you! For once and for all!”
“You said you love me,” she whispered, and when he glanced over, her eyes were filled with tears, her face aghast in the dim glow from the dashboard’s light.
Dingo hardened his heart as he blasted toward his parents’ house in Van Nuys—the one place he knew he could get her cleaned up without having to run a gauntlet of shame, derision, or scorn. His folks were out of town—his mother had emailed to let him know.
“There are limits, love,” he told Maddie quietly. “To everything. And I think I’ve finally hit mine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Saturday
“Can you imagine it?” Shayla murmured.
“No,” Peter said. “I can’t.”
They’d woken up before dawn, showered, had breakfast, and then climbed into Peter’s truck—but there was still no word from Maddie.
