Page 6 of Reno

“Left my phone inside,” he said, his head hanging low. “Can you let me in, so I can get it?”

I glanced at El Pollo and then at Reno. The bitter taste of fear rose in my throat. I swallowed against it. “Sure.”

In a daze, I turned toward the door.

Upon entering the dining area, I began my breathless plea. “Ohmygod I can’t believe this is happening,” I sputtered. “I need help—”

As if he hadn’t heard me, he brushed past me. I paused, and then stammered to find the words to continue.

Reno picked up his phone and turned around. “Guy standing beside the truck?” he asked without looking up from his phone. “With the all the homemade tattoos?”

“Yes.” I nodded frantically. “He’s crazy. Insane is more like it.”

His remained focused on the phone. “Is he your ex?”

I frustrated me that he found his phone more interesting than the life-threatening dilemma I was in. Sidetracked or not, there was no way I could survive the night without his help. He was my only hope.

I needed to convince him to intervene. The only way for him to understand—and to trust me—was if I told him the truth.

“No, he’s not my ex. It’s complicated. I broke up with my ex more than eight years ago.” As the words passed my lips, tears welled in my eyes. “After we broke up, he kidnapped me, beat me, and threatened to kill...I can’t go back. I just can’t. There’s not anything that…you can’t understand. No one can. Imagine…it’s…he used a broomstick to…I’m not going. I’ll die…I’ll kill myself before I go back…That man…the guy beside the truck? He’s planning on kidnapping me and taking me back—”

He lowered his phone and looked up. “What’ll happen if you tell him you’re not going?”

“If I said that?” I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. “He’d beat the hell out of me and toss me in the back of the truck. If I ran and managed to get away? He’d find me, eventually. Then, he’d torture my family…the sick son-of-a-bitch. He’d make me watch. After that, he’d kill them and kidnap me.”

He steadied my shoulder with a firm hand. Upon realizing I was scared to death, he released me. “Lock the door behind me and stay in here until I come back, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He strolled toward the door as if he didn’t have a worry in the world, messing with his phone the entire way.

“He’s got a gun.” I shouted. “And, he’s not afraid to use it.”

Still typing on his phone, he hesitated, and then turned around. “It ought to be a fair fight, then.”

“What are you going to do?”

He shrugged. “Convince him that leaving is in his best interest.”

“What if he says no?”

“I’ll give him a long list of reasons to change his mind.” He turned toward the door, took a step, and then glanced over his shoulder. “If I make this little problem go away, you’re coming with me.”

“What do you mean, coming with me?”

“Going for a ride on my bike.”

It seemed like an odd time to be asking me on a date. I was so tense I felt like I could vomit at any minute. Reno, on the other hand, looked like he was going on a casual stroll.

“You don’t mean,” I stammered. “Are you meaning…You’re thinking, like, on a date? Do you have any idea what’s getting ready to happen? This isn’t going—”

“I don’t go on dates,” he replied. “Heartbreaker. Remember?”

I wasn’t worried about him breaking my heart. It was already broken.

Permanently.

I swallowed my nervousness. “If you make them go away,” I said. “I’ll do whatever you want.”