“Yes,” she said.
She quickly logged into her accounts. We went searching through this guy’s stuff for a while but unfortunately came to a bunch of dead ends.
“Ok, well looks like Tyler was able to keep this part of his life very secret. But he owed a lot of money to some very bad people, so we need to find out who and why. I’m not so sure this is about student loans. He isn’t bragging about that sort of thing. It’s a big deal to pay that stuff off. I see people all the time posting that they are done with it. That’s like the final nail in the coffin of their early student life they are so eager to leave and then so eager to do all over again once the real world starts kicking them in the face.”
She stared at me for a moment. “Wow, you have a very interesting outlook on life. Tell me where that came from? It can’t be from ordinary living. Something hard must have happened to you.”
I looked up at her and shrugged. “Yeah, it’s true. I’m not the run of the mill guy. I fought in Iraq. And you probably don’t need to hear much more about that to explain my bubbly personality.”
“Yeah, that’s rough. I want to thank you for helping me,” she said.
I nodded. I showed her to the guest room of my house and then we doubled checked outside that there was in fact a squad car there for her. She scoffed at it, but it was still nice knowing that someone out there was being paid to protect you and they had a gun. But I quickly showed her that I in fact had more and I didn’t have to remind her that I’d most likely clocked a lot more time with a gun in my hand and I’d actually used it more.
But that would be comparing two very different jobs and two different men.
“Goodnight, Zion,” I said as I left her room.
“Goodnight.”
I walked back down the hall and then into my den where I sat down in front of the television with another cold beer in my hands. I was tired but I didn’t feel like going to bed yet. This woman was on my mind and she was in my house. I wasn’t sure what had spurred our paths to cross tonight but I’m not the kind of guy to believe in such things as being purely coincidental.
And it scared me a bit. I wasn’t sure why, but this woman brought with her all of the stuff I’d sworn to myself to leave behind in my life. I had to stop chasing this type of thing. I couldn’t let myself fall in love with a woman like this again. But I wasn’t sure I could really help it.
There was something about her that I just couldn’t stand to let go of. The thought of her just going on about her life and me never seeing her again was something a bit horrifying. I’d just met her and I was already in this frame of mind. Dammit. I had some work to do to contain myself.
I finished the beer and then went into the kitchen to pour myself a whiskey. I needed something stronger. After the whiskey I shut off the television and went into my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and then stripped myself nude. I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment. I always took time to admire the physique I’d worked so hard to achieve, not for vanity purposes but because it reminded me of how good it felt to be in great shape. I could do whatever I wanted physically with my body and it would never let me down no matter what was coming at me. That sort of thing was very comforting to me.
I laid down on my silk sheets and closed my eyes. I let the air conditioning wash over the nooks and crevices in my body.
Chapter 3
Zion
Bill was interesting.
That was the best word to use to describe him I felt. Or was it just the most convenient word? My head was in knots at the moment. I felt like I was shaking to death. I just couldn’t calm down enough to steady myself. It had been about four hours since the incident had occurred, since Tyler had been killed right in front of me and I was still cracking from the inside out. I felt like I was going to vomit almost constantly.
But at least I’d held it together in front of Bill. He was so nice, so warm, and yet so hard. I could see he was a troubled man and not really keen on helping people out. I could see the mistrust in his eyes, the harshness behind every word he spoke. It spoke volumes about himself and his personality, who he was in the world, and who he wanted to be.