Chapter 114
"Now salt," he insisted with a growl.
I shook the salt shaker on the back of his hand and licked. He actually moaned.
"Now the shot." He held the gla.s.s up to my mouth and pushed my head back, dumping it in. Unprepared, I gagged. Daniel held a lime wedge up to my mouth. "Suck on it, baby."
It took everything in me not to vomit there at the table. By the time I got through the remaining two shots, the room was definitely spinning. Between not being used to the alcohol, my vertigo, and fear, I knew I would lose my stomach contents soon. I grabbed my purse and stood, nearly falling over with the sudden movement.
"I've gotta throw up." Apparently tequila worked like beer on my internal censor.
Daniel burst out laughing. "The restroom's back that way." He waved toward the hall. "Don't keep me waiting, baby." I wobbled in that direction as I heard Daniel ordering more shots. I was going to die of alcohol poisoning.
I made it down the hall, to the bathroom and barely made it to the toilet before I threw up. I didn't know how I was going to go out there and drink more. I leaned over the sink and rinsed my mouth out with water. When I raised up, I saw Joe's reflection in the mirror behind me. Before I could scream, Joe covered my mouth with his hand.
"Shhh."
I tried to ask him a question but his hand m.u.f.fled my words. He removed his hand. "What are you doin' here?" I whispered loudly.
"Shh," he said, "You're a funny drunk at home, but right now I need you to focus."
"You said to use my head, and I'm tryin', but it ain't so easy. He wants me to go back out there and do it again."
"Do what again?"
"Tequila shots."
"How much have you had to drink?"
"A gla.s.s of wine and three shots."
"s.h.i.+t, why are you drinkin' so much?"
"He's makin' me do it." I felt myself weaving and bobbing around.
Joe grabbed his head in his hands, like his head hurt and he was trying to squeeze the pain out. "Okay," he finally said.
I concentrated on watching him, so his words startled me and I jumped. "Okay, go back?" I started for the door, feeling even fuzzier than when I came in. I turned to Joe and waved a finger at him. "Oh yeah, he ain't followin' the rules."
"What rules?"
"The rules of drinkin'."
"Yeah, Crocker isn't one to follow rules. I'm tryin' to figure out how to get you out of here."
"Can I go home now?"
"No, not yet. I hate to do this to you, but I need you to go back out there. You've been here too long. He's gonna come lookin' for you and we need more of a head start. Go back out, do one or two more shots and say you have to throw up again, and I'll be waitin' for you here. But leave your purse at the table and don't slip up and use my name. It's a secret, okay?"
I nodded.
"Okay, do what I say and I'm gonna get you out of this." Then he shoved me out the door. I grabbed hold of the wall to hold myself up.
Daniel was excited to see me appear and didn't waste any time getting to the shots.
We did the first round, with some sloppy kissing after. I wondered if anyone had told him that his technique needed some work. I considered telling him he should take some lessons from Joe, but remembered I wasn't supposed to say Joe's name.
As I started licking the salt off his hand, I felt a vision coming. I saw Joe, in what looked like a mechanic's garage, carrying a package. I heard Daniel's voice say, "Where is she, McAllister?"
When it finished and I was about to say "You're looking for me," Daniel stuck a wedge of lime in my mouth. I had no problem excusing myself from the table this time, and I honestly forgot my purse, barely making it to the toilet. Joe waited for me, hiding in a stall.
"How many did you have this time?" He asked as I rinsed out my mouth again.
"Two."
"We're gonna have to hurry, we don't have much time." He walked over to a window and opened it.
"I get to climb out a window again?" I asked in a whisper. "That'd the second time in..." I tried to think how long ago it was. "Only a few days."
Joe looked outside the window and then climbed out, one leg at a time. He made it look so easy.
"When did you climb out a window?" He pulled me closer and lifted one of my legs through.
"The night after you hid the gun in my shed."
He pushed my head down and out and pulled the other leg through. We stood outside next to
"How can I trust you?" I asked, searching his face for something to convince me.
He put on the other helmet. "Rose, you either trust me or Crocker, which one do you pick?"
It didn't seem like a none-of-the-above moment. "You."
"Good girl." Joe climbed onto the bike and pulled my arm. "Now climb on behind me."
I did with a bit of difficulty.
"s.h.i.+t, I hadn't planned on you bein' so drunk. Hold on really tight, okay? Don't let go."
Before I had a chance to answer, Joe started the motorcycle and tore out of the parking lot.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR.
Joe drove like he was trying to drive into yesterday. I felt my grip slip a couple of times and Joe would jerk on my arm and remind me to hang on. But I was drowsy, the vibration of the bike lulling me to sleep.
I recognized our neighborhood, but Joe didn't drive home. Instead, he pulled up to an old detached garage on the street behind our houses and shut off the bike.
"Where are we?" I asked, falling off the bike onto the gra.s.s. The garage hadn't been used to store a car in years and the gravel driveway had long since been invaded by the lawn.
Joe knelt down and took the helmet off my head. "I rent this, to store things."
"Like a motorcycle? I didn't know you had a motorcycle." I lay on my back in the gra.s.s. The stars in the sky were spinning around me. I felt like the center of the universe.
"That's me, a man of mystery." He lifted the garage door, an old-fas.h.i.+oned kind, a panel that tilted out and back.
"Tell me about it..." I mumbled, closing my eyes. The spinning stars were making me dizzy.
I heard him roll the motorcycle into the garage, then shut the door and padlock it. He pulled me up. "Come on."
I had trouble standing and wearing heels in the gra.s.s wasn't going to work, especially in my state. Joe realized this before I did and knelt down to slip them off. He held my shoes in one hand and pulled my wrist with the other. "We have to hurry. We don't have much time." He pulled me to the trees that lined the rear property line and ran between them. Well, I tried to run. It wasn't working out so well.
Joe hunched down. "Climb on my back."
"Why?"
"They're gonna come looking for you. We have to hurry and get home."
I didn't really want to hurry so they could come find me, but Joe seemed to have a plan so I climbed on. He ran through to the trees behind his house, then slid me off. As he tried to help me over the fence. I saw my shed out of the corner of my eye.
"Hey! Why'd you put a gun in my shed?" My words sounded more indignant than I intended.
"I'll explain it all to you in a little bit. We just have to get through the next hour first." He led me to the back of his house, pried open a screen, then lifted the window. "Sorry, I don't have time to be gentle."
He shoved my head and body in through the window. When my top part was in, he pushed the back part of me through and I landed in a heap on the floor. I looked around to orient myself, realizing I was in Joe's bedroom.
He climbed in, replaced the screen, and shut the window. "Okay, time to hide you."
"I'm not so good at hide-and-go-seek."
"Lucky for you, I already picked out a place for you to hide. Your job is to stay quiet."
Joe took me into the hallway and pulled down the attic steps. When he started to push me up, I froze. Joe was making me hide in the attic. "Are there any windows up there?"
"No."
I shook my head so violently I almost fell off the ladder. "No, I can't."
He climbed higher, so that we stood on the ladder side by side. "Rose, I know you're scared and this is gonna be hard. But you can do this. You have to do this. Your life depends on it. Now go." He pushed me up and I scrambled up the steps, trying to stave off the fear.
The attic was unfinished, and the floor joists were filled with insulation. Joe pulled a cord and a single light bulb lit up the s.p.a.ce. There were several boxes in the corner to the left, toward the front of the house.
"You're gonna hide behind those boxes. It's gonna be tricky since there's no floor and you're drunk as a skunk. But try to keep alert and you can do it," he said, guiding me toward the boxes. I told myself hiding in a dark attic was better than being dead. Joe got me situated the way he wanted me, my b.u.t.t on one beam, my feet on another and hidden behind the boxes. He tossed my shoes in the insulation then knelt down, his face in front of mine.
"No matter what happens, you do not come out. Got it?"
"What's gonna happen?" I asked in a whisper, my voice quivering.
"They're gonna do whatever they can to find you. But you stay here. Do not come out, no matter what they say. Okay?"
I nodded, tears blurring my vision.
Joe smiled, but his eyes looked sad. He kissed my forehead. "It's gonna be okay. Just sit tight and be quiet." He scrambled to the attic door and clicked off the light, throwing me into darkness. The door shut and I found myself trapped, alone in the dark. I told myself I wasn't trapped. I was hiding. There was a difference, only I couldn't find it at the moment.
It wasn't long before I heard pounding on the front door. My stomach tightened and my heart took off like a racehorse.
"McAllister! Open the door!"
"Hold on!" Joe shouted.
It sounded like the door crashed into the wall, followed by shouting and a lot of scuffling. The muscles in my back and shoulders locked.
"Where is she?" I barely made out the words.
I heard more voices, too soft to understand, followed by more sound of household objects thrown about.
"I hope you're not that stupid, McAllister. Where are you, b.i.t.c.h?" a man yelled.
My stomach rolled and the drinks from earlier churned in protest. The walls below me shook, causing the wood beams to vibrate. I gripped the wood to keep from falling over.
"Where is she?" The voice echoed into the rafters.
My breath came in shallow pants.
"How the h.e.l.l would I know?" Joe sneered. They were in the hall, directly under the attic door.
I choked back a sob, covering my mouth to m.u.f.fle the sound. I could only imagine what they'd do to Joe if they found me.
"It ain't no secret you had a thing for her. Where is she?"
The wall shook with a bang. A groan followed behind it.
"I told you. I'm not stupid." Joe's words sounded strained, as though he was in pain. "I sent her to Crocker, told her to be smart, and give 'em what he wanted. Didn't she show?"
My breath stuck in my throat. Joe was getting beat up because of me. My consciousness became fuzzy and I forced myself to suck in air. I couldn't afford to pa.s.s out.
"Yeah, she showed, then she disappeared into thin air."
"What? Is she a magician?" Joe said.
Another slam into the wall and another grunt, long and low. "Look here, Mr. Smart a.s.s. We know she's here."
"I don't know where she is and you obviously haven't found her here. Is her car in her driveway? Have you checked her house?"