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A sign for a truck stop looms in the distance. My bladder could use a little relief, so I turn in. As I pull the truck to a stop, I eye the girl. She must have used a rag to wipe the dirt from her face, but her nails are still filthy. She’d probably appreciate a shower.
“I’m gonna stop here for a piss break and some food. Can I trust you to shower without running off?” I ask.
“I would love to shower, but how the fuck am I supposed to pay for it? You stashed my wallet, along with the rest of my shit.”
I ease my wallet from my back pocket and pull out a twenty. Her eyes light up as she reaches for it, but I pull it away before her fingertips can so much as graze the paper.
“Not so fast,” I say. “If you try anything, if you so much as think of?—”
“You’ll break my neck or put me in the freezer or both. Got it.” She leans forward and takes the money without batting an eye at my implied threat. “Besides, you don’t have to worry about me running off anymore. You might be more intolerable than a Kathy Griffin marathon, but I actually like hanging out with Jax and Tobin.”
With a smug smirk, she opens the door and exits the truck, leaving me with another mess of confused feelings. Knowing she prefers them to me is beginning to sting.
I stand and stretch my legs before walking to the back of the truck. A magazine rests on the bed, which is odd. It’s a vintage Playboy—one of Tobin’s prized possessions. I sure as fuck don’t have any use for it, and I doubt Jax would know what to do with it. He’d probably whine about it being so degrading to the women.
Picking it up, I look at the woman on the cover. She’s attractive, but she’s also heavily photoshopped, and her tits are lopsided. I laugh and shake my head. Only I would notice the asymmetry instead of getting a boner.
As I go to return the magazine to Tobin’s cupboard of pornographic wonderment, a slip of paper falls from inside. I bend down and pick it up.
Kane,
If you hurt one hair on that girl’s head, you’ll destroy all of us, including yourself. Call off the deal and save her. If we can’t keep her, take her home.
-Tobin
I crumple the note and shove it into my pocket. Against everything I am, I want to save her too. I just have to find a way to satisfy The Nameless. If I can find another girl as beautiful and clean as she is, that might be the answer to all of my problems, but the odds aren’t in my favor. They’re expecting a girl in the next twenty-four hours. It would take time to source another one.
It’s not like I can pull just any girl off the street. I have to play by the same rules I use when choosing a victim. No family. Unwanted. Someone who won’t be missed. I walk to the front of the vehicle and look at the parking area for the trucks. One lonely lot lizard crawls across the heated pavement, but she’s too used up to serve my purpose.
I’ve never felt so conflicted in my life.
“Stay put,” I say to Pup as I exit the truck. After I get this pressure off my bladder, I might be able to think more clearly.
A blast of cold air and gospel music rushes toward me as I enter through the truck stop’s glass doors. A teenage boy sits behind the singular register. He’s too busy scrolling on his cell phone to look up and acknowledge me. I walk past him and head for the restroom to the nauseating country rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
After relieving myself and buying a few bags of chips and a couple of sodas, I head back to the truck. I’ll wait for the dropout before I head into the diner. She’s probably famished. Digging a grave is hungry work, and if anyone would know that, it’s me.
If I hadn’t taken her, I’d be as happy and murdery as always. Now I’m miserable because she’s upended everything. Jax and Tobin may have benefited, but I sure as shit haven’t, and getting some kind of drive to be around her only hurts me because she’d rather be around anyone else. Women have caused enough hurt in my life, and I’m not exactly eager to experience more of it.
I open the driver’s side door and climb inside. Pup is busy pacing back and forth, a low whine shivering out of her with every few steps she takes on her three tiny paws. She does this if I’m gone for too long, but she usually stops once I’m back in the truck. This time, she just keeps pacing and whining.
I pat my leg, and Pup hops into my lap. “No need to worry. She’ll be back,” I say as I stroke her head. Do I say this to reassure the dog...or myself?
I’m not sure.
If I were her, I’d have taken this golden ticket and hopped on the first train to pull into the station. I just made her bury a body, for fuck’s sake. And that was after locking her in the freezer and treating her like absolute dog shit for days on end. I really didn’t think this through.
I look at the time on the dash clock. She’s been gone for almost twenty minutes now. That’s more than enough time to shower and throw on some clothes. I’m about to head inside and beat down a shower door when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, and my chest immediately tightens. It’s a text from The Nameless.
Did you find the girl?
No, not yet.
The lie rolls so easily from my fingertips. Too easily. These men hold too much power for me to deceive them like this.
Are you sure about that, Three Amigos?
My mouth goes dry. I’ve never told them my CB handle. I thought it was a little odd that someone radioed yesterday while we were preparing to bury that body, but I chalked it up to a trucker being nosy about why a reefer unit was turning off at a heavily forested area. Now?
