Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 115964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Jesus. Lucky break for him. Or not, considering his circumstances.
“What were your instructions if you found us?”
“I was supposed to call it in.”
“Did you?”
He didn’t answer, which was a wrong answer.
Thud!
I tensed. Please stop lying.
He started moaning, but choked out, “I did, but man, we’re long gone. Estrada will never send men this far north.”
There was silence after that. A long silence.
The guy asked, “What are you going to do with me?”
Raize came over and touched my arm. “You can go inside.”
I nodded, suddenly exhausted. He brushed some of my hair back from my forehead and leaned in. I felt him give me a soft kiss to the forehead. “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t respond. I knew what he was apologizing for, and without responding, I left the garage.
It was dark when I stepped outside.
I realized I didn’t know when we’d arrived here, what time it was now, or even what day it was anymore.
Then, I stopped wondering. It didn’t matter in this life.
Going back into the house, the aroma of food was like culture shock after what I just left.
“I didn’t know how long everyone would be out there.”
More culture shock.
Raize’s sister was standing in the kitchen, an apron tied around her waist, her hair pulled up into a bun, and she was looking normal. She was speaking normal, too. No sobs. No hysterics. No nothing. Her eyes were so big, so dark. They were Raize’s eyes.
I blinked, jerking myself out of what dazed spell I was in and walked farther inside.
I stilled.
The table was set for six people.
Gus was laying on the floor, on his back, and his tail going back and forth. His tummy was exposed, his feet in the air.
I was guessing Verónica had just been rubbing his belly.
She smoothed a hand over her apron. “I—uh—I found some food in the cupboards. And that other man had brought some food from a gas station.” She waved to the coffee machine. “And that, too. I noticed you all enjoy drinking your coffee, or most of you. The big guy doesn’t as much. Clay doesn’t either, not that much.”
“Clay?”
She frowned at me. “Raize. You guys call him Raize.”
In the span of an hour, I knew of two other names Raize went by. His first name and The Scooper.
I didn’t know what to do with that information.
“Do you want to sit? I put it all together in a soup. There were crackers in the cupboard.”
Soup?
I couldn’t remember the last time I had soup, but I sat and she poured me a bowl, bringing it over to me. There were already crackers set out.
She poured herself a bowl, coming to sit across and down a few spaces from me. Her back wasn’t totally toward the doorway this way and she kept looking over her shoulder.
“They’ll be a while.”
Man. I had soup and a guy was being tortured thirty yards from here.
I didn’t know what to do with that information.
She moved to tuck some hair behind her ear, but it was all pulled up so her fingers finished the motion anyways before falling back to her bowl. She hunched over it, her head down.
“You’re fluent?”
She looked up. “I went to boarding school. Private tutors, too. And then when Raize came, he and I practiced both languages. He knew Spanish, but it was choppy. He got a lot better fast. I like to think I helped him.”
Right. The time he went down in search for his mother.
“I’m sorry about your mother.”
She didn’t look up, and she didn’t respond. She stirred her soup.
I stirred mine, too.
Then, fuck it. My stomach growled and I decided then and there not to let what happened in the garage get in the way of me eating. I needed to eat. Raize would be pissed if I didn’t so I forced that out of my mind, the smells, the sounds and I focused on where I was. Right here.
In this kitchen. Which was lovely smelling.
With Raize’s sister. Who had cooked for everyone and was so shy, I was having a hard time knowing how to react around her.
I tasted the soup. It was made of beans and vegetables. I was guessing both came out of cans since there’s no way there would’ve been fresh vegetables here or that the guys considered picking any up. It was delicious.
My stomach growled even louder.
Verónica heard and she looked up. “You guys eat a lot of fast food.”
“This is a novelty. Gracias.”
She gave me another shy smile. “De nada.”
We both ate in silence for a bit longer.
“You and my brother are close.” She lifted her head a bit higher, sitting up, and added, “I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Like what?”
I was suddenly desperate for anything she had to say about how her brother was when she knew him. I knew he wasn’t the same, but it was like a thirst was just teased and I realized I was dying for it now. My mouth was almost watering.