Page 130 of Hounded
“This is one of your favorites.” I waved the case so Indy could see.
He gathered his blanket from where it had piled around his ankles and returned to the couch. I heard the crinkle of the Pop-Tart wrapper opening while I fed the DVD into the player.
The opening credits rolled, and I dug through the menagerie on the floor till I found the remote and set it on the coffee table beside the glass of milk.
Then I stood, surveying our tossed trailer, our home, and trying to memorize this moment. A lump formed in my throat when I caught Indy watching me instead of the TV. My perfect, beautiful boy. My treasure.
“You’ll be right back?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Not like last time,” he said.
I shook my head. “Not like last time.”
Sucking a breath, I moved toward the door. The bags of charms Sully had made to ward our lot at Trailer Trove were heaped beside the kitchen cabinets, and I scoopedthem up. I would stop on my way out to place them around the entrance of this campground in case any hellhounds tried to sniff Indy out in my absence. With his spelled bracelet, he should have been safe, but I would take every precaution I could.
When I grasped the door handle, Indy called my name.
I glanced back and watched him swallow, set his jaw, and swallow again. “Be safe,” he said at last.
I could have kissed him. I could have held him but, if I didn’t go now, I never would. So, I nodded and stepped out of the trailer, then locked the door behind me.
46
Loren
I stopped at aservice station on my way out of town, about twenty minutes after I left the campground. It took every bit of that time to work through the emotions that plagued me the moment I stepped out of the trailer, and to convince myself this desperate plan wouldn’t get us both killed.
Why hadn’t I told him I loved him? I’d tried to explain everything, meant to cover it all, but left out the most important part.
I knew why I didn’t say it. It made this feel too final, too grim, and that scared me. It was better to pretend our parting was casual and that we would pick up again tomorrow morning. After I made the longest drive of my life.
Climbing out of the truck, I paid at the pump, then opened the gas cap. After unhooking the nozzle and feeding it into the truck’s fuel tank, I pulled my cellphone from my pocket. The battery was nearly dead after days without a charge, but I was glad I hadn’t destroyed the thing after I broke out of Hell. It came in handy now.From the recent calls, I selected Sully’s name and dialed.
I was nervous to reach out considering I hadn’t left things with her on the best of terms. Our last encounter had been at the gallery after she gave Indy the memory charm. I’d lost my temper. I may have even frightened her because I’d been frightened, too.
The phone rang while gas flowed and the numbers on the pump ticked. On the third trill, Sully’s voice came across the line.
“Hi, honey.” She sounded tentative. “I’m glad you called.”
My head bobbed while I debated what to say, where to start, and how to explain. After a handful of seconds, I mumbled, “I’m sorry.”
Sully made a sorrowful sound. “Me, too,” she replied. “You have to know I would never hurt your sweet boy. Not ever.”
I nodded again, and Sully cleared her throat.
“Hey, you wanna get something to eat?” she asked. “I can be at Neighborhood Nosh in ten.”
My lips pursed. I ground the toe of my boot against the parking lot grit, trying to arrange my thoughts before I announced, “Sully, I’m not in New York.”
“Where are you, then?”
“Pennsylvania.”
Traffic whooshed by on the highway, along with semis that made the earth shake. It was loud and quiet all at once.
“Loren, what’s going on?” she asked, knowing me too well not to wonder about the reason for my first ever trip out of Brooklyn. When I didn’t respond, she tagged on, “Is Indy with you?”
