“Let me try.” Steph glides over from the bed, looking refreshed in yesterday’s button-down dress, like we didn’t get kidnapped together. Benny’s dried cum is still on my thighs. My matted curls shoot every way but the right direction, and the bowel of an asshole is slow cooking on my breath.
I’m tired. I need food, I want my freedom, and I miss my husband.
“The door won’t budge,” Stephanie says, out of breath like she hadn’t seen me fighting for my life to open it. “We can try to break it.”
“Not with all those goons roaming the yard.” There are at least ten with guns. My chest caves in with an exhale. “What if this is it?”
“Don’t say that.”
“I’m scared, Steph.”
I’m trying my best to stay positive, but I’m freaking the fuck out. What if I never see Vince again, or Benny? I never got to say goodbye. I’m finally happy, and that happiness is being taken from me. Life is a heartless bitch with no edges.
Stephanie crosses her arms. “Do I need to smack some sense into you?”
“Bitch, I said I’m scared. Smack me and see what happens.” I wish she would.
Her grin widens. “There’s my sis. We’re getting out of here. Sally is coming. He doesn’t play about you and is probably racking up felonies as we speak.”
It’s a miracle the ozone layer is still intact. Knowing Benny, he’s likely burned down at least two buildings and shot eighteen people. It shouldn’t turn me on, but I’ve always loved a man who protects the person he loves. My husband goes to the extreme, but he leads with action.
I hug my best friend. “I love you,” I say, squeezing her tighter.
“We don’t give up, even when we’re scared. Get those nerves out so we can fight. Mine are gone after taking a long shit while you were sleeping.”
“Steph,” I cackle.
“You know how my stomach gets in times of duress,” she says. “So what’s the plan?”
“Why do I have to make the plan?”
“You’re the logical one and a lot more patient. If I had my gun, I would’ve shot everyone in this bitch twice. I’m almost offended that nobody’s tied us up. Do they think we’re not dangerous?”
“They’re about to find out.” My eyes drift over the rolling lawn. “We don’t have weapons, but we can set up traps for when our kidnapper reveals himself.”
Steph follows me to the nightstand. “How do you know he will?”
I rip the metal table lamp out of the socket. “Because all arrogant pricks need the last word.”
“Well I know who didn’t kidnap us. Nary a washcloth was in that bathroom.”
We eye each other and say, “Mhm.”
“Today is a good day for me to catch my first body.” Steph touches her toes in a long stretch. “The tarot lady said I’m not dying until I’m ninety-four, anyway.”
I keep my mouth shut not to say anything about the fifteen-dollar reading she gets on Reisterstown Road. We need every assurance that we’re getting out of here alive.
“Help me fill the tub,” I say.
I suck in a ragged breath, pressing my palms into my eyes. Hunger from the lack of an adequate meal slides through the headache, pissing me off all over again.
The bedroom door creaks open.
“Steph,” I whisper from my position behind the bathroom door. She’d pulled two bobby pins from her wig to pick the room lock.
I shrink at the heavy footsteps that don’t match my best friend’s.
Shit.
