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I pocket the phone and huff, hand pulling the nozzle out of the tank. Fucking asshole. She'll barely have enough cash to buy more booze, let alone fix the place up. I'm sure as shit not lending her it, but I can do something about the problem if I’m willing to travel that road again.
“Hey,” Mariana says from behind me. “This is amazing. Thank you. I’ve never been on a bike before, and you ride like a genius. Haven’t once felt scared or worried. It’s the perfect place to think.” I screw the cap down and keep thinking about what I should do versus what I can do. “Everything okay?”
“Not really.”
“Oh. Anything I can help with?”
“Also no.” I leave her and go inside to pay for the gas, grabbing a pack of gum while I’m there. I wish the thought of just ignoring Ash was plausible, but it isn’t. I know that because of the guilt eating me up inside when I look back at the bike and Mariana perched on it. I can do something to help, and should. Trouble is, I wouldn’t put it past Jonny to have done this purposefully to piss me off. He knew she was just about the only thing that meant anything to me back in Houston, and this would be a fine way of him trying to pull me back into the trouble he calls life.
“Do you need to be home tonight?” I ask, as I make my way back to her.
She smirks and shifts her shoulders around. “Now I thought we weren’t doing that again.”
“I need to be somewhere,” I state. “Don't know how long it'll take.”
“Okay. Well, I’m fine with a change of plans. What gives? You’ve turned moody.” Moody? She doesn’t know me well enough to even begin understanding my moody. “And it doesn’t sound like a you and I thing. Trouble brewing?”
“You could say that.”
“Well, that’s nothing new to me. Try living with my family. We’reallabout trouble.”
I look back at the road, searching it for the right way to do this, because I sure as shit don’t think taking a Cortez woman to a brawl is the right thing to do, regardless of the situation. For a start, brothers. Big fuckers if Abel’s anything to go by. Also, what am I going to do with her while I’m dealing with Jonny? But then, she shouldn’t even be with me in the first place, should she? I’ve already screwed that up.
“Kai?” I look back at her over my shoulder. “Whatever it is, just do it. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my brothers, it’s that hesitating doesn’t work. Own it. Go with your gut.”
“My gut, huh?”
“Yeah. You learn a lot about yourself from what your guts say. Right and wrong. Good and bad. Who to protect and who to not give a damn about. It’s something we learn young in our family, and the rest comes with experiences. Everyone has a gut reaction to things.” She looks at the floor. “For all their faults, my brother’s guts guide them. They’re pretty good at that. Everyone stays safe that way.” Her foot scuffs the ground. “Well, mostly.”
“You’re pretty smart when you’re not being stupid.”
“Stupid? I’m never stupid. I am, however, a little confused sometimes. Especially when I’ve done something I shouldn’t have.” She scuffs at the dirt with her boot, and I know there’s more to that.
“What have you done that you shouldn’t have?”
She looks up and me and smiles. “I told you, that’s for after a long drink. We haven’t had that yet.”
Nodding, I swing my leg over the bike and kick the stand up, holding my hand out for her. She grabs on and slides her helmet into place. Everyone stays safe, huh? Let’s hope that’s the case.
~
Over an hour later, we hit the outskirts of Houston, and I’m still trying to talk myself out of, or into, what these guts of mine are telling me to do. I pull down through Sunnysideand ease through roads I know well, until we’re cruising around places I think he might be. I swing past Ash’s place first and notice the doors locked and lights out, so head over to some old places the gang used to meet at. A few go by with nothing other than cars I don’t know, and after a few more, I’m done searching. There’s only one place he’s gonna be if it’s not out here, and that’s at his house.
I spin the bike and head back the way we’ve come, eventually leading myself straight where I’m still unsure I need to go. Clear as fucking day, his car sits there in the drive when I arrive. None of the other guy’s cars are around it, and low lighting is coming from inside the place.
Easing up to the sidewalk, I run the bike into an old street off to the left and put my feet down. Mariana stays tucked in tight, as if even she knows I’m not convinced of what I’m doing. So I stare at his car, still checking out the area for any others that might cause me problems. None that I can see, so I keep going a little further down away from his and park behind an old dumpster.
I tap her thigh to get her off the bike and kick the stand out as I get off myself. She instantly pulls her helmet off and looks at me, questions obviously going through her head.
“What's your number?” I ask. She reels it off, and I input it into my phone. I ring it once, making sure I hear hers ringing.
“What's going on?”
“You see that cut through?” I ask, pointing behind us into the dim streetlights. She nods. “There’s a bar out the other side of it. Decent one. If I’m not back here within fifteen minutes, get yourself down there and call someone to come get you.”
“Wait, what?”
I tuck my phone back into my pocket. “I’m about to go make a point, and there’s shit in there that might not behave itself, so, you know, this is the best I’ve got for you at the moment.”
