In to Her

“She doesn’t want us to know where the kid is,” Logan says.

I nod my head again. Because he’s right. “Which part do you think is true?” I ask.

“You tell me,” Logan says. “I feel very… cynical right now.”

“Damon’s father. I think that’s true. There’s really no other explanation for how she got away.” Logan nods his head. “And the tribe stuff. This bar, those people. Her second baby. All that stuff is true. But the adoption?”

Logan is shaking his head nope.

“Why lie about that?” I ask. “Why just that part?”

“Because she doesn’t trust me,” Logan says. “She thinks even if she takes those pills or we kill her, I’ll go back to Damon and tell him where the kid is.”

I just… glare at him. “And you’d do it, wouldn’t you? You’d tell him.”

Logan shrugs. “What’s the point, AJ? I mean, we’re so fucking stuck here. I’ve been trying my hardest to find a solution, I swear to God, I have. But I can’t see any other way.”

“We could run,” I say. “Just get in the truck, take her with us, and go to your stupid island. I’ve got money stashed away. I’ve got a lot of it, actually.”

“It’s not about money. I’ve got way more money than I need too. He’d find us, AJ. I already told you that.”

“So we’ll go somewhere else. There’s a million places to hide on this earth. Millions of places to get lost. We can’t kill her, Logan. I won’t kill her so you’ll have to kill me too. And I know you won’t do that so yeah, you’re stuck.” Then I force a smile and waggle my eyebrows at him. “You’re stuck with us.”

He doesn’t smile. Not even a hint of a smile. Just says, “We need to convince her to trust us. Come up with a reasonable plan.”

“Like… run,” I say. “The only other way is to kill Damon and that just brings a whole bunch of headaches along with it.”

“No,” Logan agrees. “We can’t kill Damon. He’s got too many cousins and his stupid little brother watching his back. And even though they all want him dead, no one’s got the balls to actually do it because none of them could take over the business the way he did. None of them are strong enough to hold shit together afterward, so what’s the point? They won’t do it just to get Yvette and her baby out of danger, that’s for damn sure.”

“Look,” I say, pushing my stool back from the table. It makes a sickening scraping sound on the tiled floor. I put both hands on the table and lean over, staring into Logan’s eyes. “Running is the only plausible option. It’s either complete the job or don’t complete the job. And I’ve already decided we’re not completing the job. So you’ve got two options here, OK? Kill her and me, and go back to Damon. Or leave with us. Which is it?”

He looks at me and he looks tired. He looks like he needs a nice, long island vacation. One that lasts a lifetime.

“Are you gonna kill me?” I ask.

He hesitates. And I swear to God, I get a vision of Logan pointing a gun to my head and pulling the trigger. Because that’s what Logan does. He follows orders. That’s who Logan is. No loyalty to anyone but himself.

But finally, he says, “No, AJ. I’m not gonna kill you.”

“Then it’s settled. We run.”

I turn away and walk towards the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To check on the fucking weather and see if the highway’s open yet.”

I go upstairs to get dressed. Yvette is in the shower, so I don’t bother her, just get what I need and go downstairs to find my coat.

The highway is not open. It’s still fucking snowing.

Like… I’ve grown up in the snow. I know what a blizzard is. I’ve lived through many of them. But this is fucking ridiculous. And it’s way too fucking cold. I’m not sure we could even get the damn truck started, even if the parking lot was plowed and the highway cleared. It’s that cold.

There’s at least three feet of snow in every direction. I trudge through it—and believe me, I’m a tall man. Three feet is less than half my height, but it’s hard as fuck to make my way out to the road and stand there, desperate to see if anything is happening. If anyone is coming.

But we’re literally on the top of the mountain in the middle of a long switchback. So my line of sight is only about fifty yards in each direction. And even if it wasn’t still snowing and I could see past the wall of falling flakes, I still wouldn’t be able to see any farther than a hundred yards.

If the trucks are out plowing they’re starting from the bottom on each side and going up until they meet in the middle. Which is pretty damn close to where we are. So that means we’ll be the very last part of road to be cleared.