I grabbed my purse from my locker before leaving the employee area. As I stepped into the restaurant, I scanned the area one last time. The crowd had thinned an hour ago, and Beck had already headed to the back office to count the register.
Lucan wasn’t here tonight.
The three times he’d been here during my shift, he’d sat at the bar. He hadn’t waved or called out a greeting. He’d simply eaten his meal, enjoyed his beer, and walked out without looking my way.
I told myself I didn’t care. That I was relieved. The fact that his absence tonight registered at all made me want to throw something.
His knife still sat in my trailer, hidden in a sock. Eighteen thousand dollars sat there while I worked shifts and pretended I wasn’t thinking about it.
I didn’t need the money anymore. The paychecks and tips would cover my rent and groceries. But I kept circling back to it and wondering if I should take the offer. I kept replaying the look on Lucan’s face when I’d walked away from him.
The check hadn’t reappeared. He hadn’t pushed. Hadn’t cornered me in the parking lot or shown up at my trailer with explanations I didn’t ask for.
He was respecting my boundaries, and somehow that made everything worse.
I pushed through the front door, the cool evening air hitting my flushed skin. I reached my car and unlocked the door, the interior light flickering on as I slid into the driver’s seat. My reflection stared back at me in the rearview mirror, tired and more confused than ever.
I pressed the ignition, and the engine started fine, but something was off about the idle. The whole car vibrated through the steering wheel in a way it hadn’t before.
I frowned, gripping the wheel tighter.
Probably nothing. The car was old. It made noises. This was just another one to add to the collection.
I pulled out of the parking lot, turning onto the road that led toward Wings End. The headlights carved through the darkness, illuminating the trees pressed close on either side.
The engine stuttered.
My stomach dropped.
The car jerked forward, seeming to lose power for half a second before catching again. I eased off the gas, heart hammering. The engine smoothed out, and I exhaled slowly.
Just a hiccup. It was fine.
I pressed the gas again, lighter this time.
The car jerked, and the vibration intensified, rattling through the frame like something inside was coming loose.
“No. No, no, no.”
My foot hovered over the pedal as the car lurched again, harder this time. The engine roared and then cut out entirely. The wheel went heavy in my hands, fighting me as I pulled the car onto the shoulder.
Silence.
Complete, suffocating silence.
I sat there, hands locked on the wheel, staring at the dashboard as the check engine light glowed mockingly at me.
I turned on my hazard lights and pressed the start button. The engine turned over once, then again, slower this time, before giving up entirely. It made a weak clicking sound that might as well have been a death rattle.
I tried again.
Click. Click. Click.
“Are you kidding me?”
My voice sounded too loud in the stillness. I cranked the key one more time, harder, as if force would somehow convince the car to cooperate.
Nothing.
