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“I loaded it up with cream and sugar, figured some extra calories are a good idea.”
“This is how I take it,” she told me, taking another sip, eyes closed, a ghost of a smile playing with her lips.
I vowed right then to never take the simple shit for granted again. Because I don’t think I’d ever enjoyed anything as much as she was enjoying that cup of coffee.
“What’s your brother like?” she asked, her gaze watching the trickle of cars on the road in the distance.
“The opposite of me in a lot of ways. He’s more extroverted and fun-loving. Doesn’t take much seriously. Always after a good time. People always love Raff,” I told her. Then, just to make sure she knew it, “You have nothing to worry about with Raff. I promise.”
“Do you look alike?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I told her. “We look a lot alike, but we aren’t identical. He’s got more ink,” I said, rubbing a hand up my arm where mine were. “And he has no scruff on his face. Otherwise, though, pretty damn alike. We used to be able to trick the teachers in school.”
“Trick them how?”
“Raff was always more of an… underachiever in school,” I told her. “He’s smart, just unfocused. So on big test days, I went to his classes and he went to mine, so I could get him a decent enough average grade to keep moving up with me.”
“No one ever caught on?” she asked.
“Once. But it’s not like they could prove it. Even our old man couldn’t tell us apart back then, so when they called him in, he ended up backing up our story. Though we both got the belt when we got home anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because he had to leave work to deal with the principal. Big no-no in our household.”
“Your mom was okay with that?”
”Our ma fell into a bottle, then a pipe, when we were small. Our old man kicked her out. Only ever saw her on occasion when she was in town trying to score or get more booze.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, eyes sad for the kid I’d once been.
“Seemed like every other family had the same story back in our hometown. Meth came through hard and fast, fucking up the whole area.”
She nodded at that but said nothing for a long moment as she kept sipping her coffee.
“What kind of car should we be watching for?” she asked, gaze on the road.
“Big sedan. Looks like something a grandpa might drive,” I told her. It was specially outfitted with panels that came off, so we could hide guns inside the frame of the car itself. But she didn’t need to know that. “Silver,” I added.
“Do you know how far away he was?”
“I don’t. I had almost no battery. Just had enough time to tell him where to find us. He would have stayed somewhat in the area. So I don’t think it will be more than another ten or… actually, that’s him,” I said, hearing the thump of music in the distance, knowing he would have done that to draw attention to himself. “Ready to head down?” I asked, gathering our things.
She said nothing, but got to her feet.
Her body tensed as we walked, though, clearly not trusting Raff as much as she trusted me yet.
I didn’t have a lot of worry, though. He would put her at ease. He was much better at that shit than I was.
Raff must have been scanning the woods for movement, because he slowed as we descended, waiting for us to make our way to him.
“Thank fuck,” Raff said, jumping out as soon as we got near the road, rushing up to me to throw his arms around me, thumping me hard on the back.
There was no denying the relief that flooded through me too.
“Raff, this is Vi—“ I started, but Vienna was suddenly not beside me anymore.
I whipped around, finding she’d thrown herself behind me as Raff had approached.
