I reached out for Tee’s hand. “Talk to me. Right now, I’m the only person who even sort of, kind of, maybe, possibly, even a little bit understands what you’re going through right now. So, just say it. Spit it out, and then we can go from there. Together, all right?”
She dropped her hand tiredly into mine. “How did our lives end up like this, Jay? How—how did we get here?”
I understood the burden in her voice all too well. Ever since Mom and Dad had been gunned down during one of their weekly date nights, things had been rough. Four years of them being gone came and went while the two of us were held captive to our grief, and with every passing year there was more distance put between us and those fond memories. Now, there were only passing holidays. Christmases that were too painful to celebrate and birthdays that were filled with tears rather than smiles.
Visits to their gravesite had taken up our Friday nights instead of dating and boys, and the dark cloud that constantly loomed over us had gotten heavy. It had also made us more vulnerable to the cruel world that lied just outside. But more than that, it had made us more susceptible to people’s kindness. More susceptible to those who wanted to take advantage of our emotional dispositions. We sat there while a bunch of men were downstairs plotting the murder of an entire group of people, for crying out loud!
That caused me to sit up. “Tee.”
“Hmmm?”
I let go of her hand and shook her leg. “Tee, look at me.”
She furrowed her brow and tossed me a look. “What? What is it now?”
I cupped her hand within both of mine. “What if I could get us out of here for good?”
Tee furrowed her brow. “Huh? The hell are you talking about?”
“Look,” I said as I lowered my voice, “that guy that got us out of there? Fangs? I had a conversation with him earlier.”
I had my sister’s full attention at that point. “Yeah? What about?”
I scooted a bit closer to her. “Fangs told me that he believed our best bet was to hang around here until whatever plan they’re concocting downstairs is done tomorrow night.”
“Wait, what’s happening tomorrow night?”
I shook my head quickly. “Not important right now. What’s important is that we find our footing again. We can’t continue to live our lives this way, right? I mean, it’s going to eventually get us killed if we continue on like this. Walking around in a haze and not really giving a damn what happens to us until it’s too late. We can’t be like that any longer. You know?”
She scoffed. “I’m not ten years old anymore with scraped elbows and knees you have to kiss. Just tell me what the fuck is happening, Julia.”
I knew that voice. It was the voice of my sister getting stubborn. And I knew better than to try and sidestep around information she was now determined to get.
So, I settled in for the ride. “Bullet.”
Her face immediately paled. “Wh-wh-wha—what about him?”
I leaned in close and lowered my voice to a whisper. “The guys are downstairs right now planning on how to take Bullet and his men out tomorrow night.”
Her eyes widened. “You mean, kill them?”
I leaned up slowly and nodded my head. “Yeah.”
Her face stayed pale as a harsh whisper fell from her lips. “You mean to tell me that we’re stuck in this place with a bunch of killers and you’re telling me they’re our best fucking bet? Are you nuts?”
“Tee, what I’m saying is that if we leave tonight, right now, I can get you somewhere safe before everything goes down tomorrow,” I said as I continued to whisper.
She paused, her voice returning to normal. “But what about you?”
I cleared my throat. “I have to help these guys here. I have to help them.”
She swung her legs off the edge of the couch and buddied up to my side. “I’m not letting you do that. Have you lost your mind? Didn’t you just say that we needed to stay away from risky scenarios? Because I’d call this a very, very risky scenario.”
I held my head high. “Just like you’re a grown woman, so am I. And you’re in no condition to fight. Even you can’t challenge me on that. So, I’m going to get you somewhere safe tonight, then I’m going to come back and help the guys out. I want to make sure the man that did this to you is—”
“What, dead?”
It seemed so perplexing that I was entertaining a fantastical idea about my sister’s captor when I had just been chastising someone else over that exact same issue. When we had parents that had been murdered in cold blood without so much as retribution for their lives being taken away from us. But even more than that, I was almost happy at the prospect of that man dying.
