“Don’t thank me. I’m not doing anything for you. I’m here for George. Where’s your phone?”
He points to a landline, tucked behind a magazine stand. I check the battery’s full, then toss it to him, blocking his view when I slice through the cord on the receiver. Its screen goes blank as I ask, “You can handle the ambulance yourself, yeah?”
“Sure. Can I…” he licks his lips. “Can you let George stay with me? I don’t want her to worry.”
My lip curls into a sneer as I stare at the man in disbelief. I’m used to dealing with people who are consciously evil, conspicuously cruel. Handling someone who is both without the self-awareness to know those qualities are a choice is a new twist.
The sooner George is out of his orbit, the better.
Speaking of whom, there’s a creak behind me. A tread in the hallway. Instead of getting in the car like I asked, she’s snuck back inside to make sure her darling roach of a father is safe.
“Get yourself gone as soon as you can,” I tell him, aware I’m now performing for an audience of two. “If I were you, I’d skip the hospital. You’ll be a sitting target in there.”
I take a wad of cash out of my pocket and toss it over, hitting him in the chest. “Take this and buy yourself a plane ticket outof here. Go as far as you can, make them work to track you down.”
“L-let me… I want to go with him.”
I swing sideways, meeting George’s gaze. “No. You’ll stay here under my protection. Once I’m sure there won’t be any lingering unpleasantness from the gang he owes, you can do what you like, but until I know you’re safe, you’re not leaving my sight.”
Her expression says she wants to argue, but her face twists into a tic and I take advantage. “We’re going.”
“My father—”
“Just stop!” I step back, my hands fisting, wanting to punch something, hurt someone. “Look around you, George. You think this is what happens when someone loves you?”
There are shattered remnants from the cupboards along the benches. Food scattered everywhere. Blood covering the floor. Her phone in pieces.
And I know this visit is my doing but my first visit to this place wasn’t. The reason I came strolling into this place that first time was solely because of her father’s actions. If I hadn’t been in control of his latest descent, another gang might already be knocking down their door.
Even though everything Adnan has destroyed is cheap crap, it’s still hard to see it busted apart. It might be harder precisely because it’s all worthless. The demonstration that no matter how bad you thought things were, they could always go downhill.
I sat in that chair. I beat her father to let him know we were serious. I listened to his fumbling excuses.
And I know what my next step would have been that night.
If Kari hadn’t offered her distraction, I would have hurt George. I would have hurt her, and I would have made her father watch. I would have done it and I wouldn’t have cared.
Much as my father wants to send me overseas to toughen up, some hardening has occurred already. Perhaps more than even I know.
The thought I could have hurt her, caused irreversible damage while never knowing how special she is makes me cold with rage, but anger won’t win her over. Not right now.
“Please,” I say in my softest whisper. “I need to know you’re safe.”
She looks at me for so long, I think she’s going to turn me down. To jump back onto her father’s bandwagon, even knowing how much grief it causes. How much harm it’ll do.
Then she tilts her head forward, breaking our gaze. “And once you know we’re s-safe, I can find him?”
Over my dead body.
“Sure.” I glance at her father. “Call her when you get settled. Give her your new number.”
Her face clears as he nods, letting herself be talked into it. We leave the house together, her still clutching the keys as a prize.
“You’re sure you’re safe to drive?” I tease her as we get into the car, drawing her attention as two men slip into her house, one nodding to me from the top step. “Or have you been drinking?”
She gives me a shadowy smile, ducking her head as she adjusts the settings to how she likes them. I stiffen at a faint bang, but she doesn’t notice, pulling on her seat belt and caressing the steering wheel like it’s a long-lost pet.
“I’m always safe to drive.”
