Losing Me, Finding You(73)

“I was supposed to go with them, but Kent said he'd changed his mind. I thought he meant that he'd changed his mind about everything, but I think he just meant for me. He'd changed his mind for me. He doesn't want me dead; he wants me to suffer.” Melissa lets these words spill from her lips like a fountain, drenching the room in panic and confusion. This is not good. Mireya ignores her and dials another number. Same problem, only with Kimmi's voice coming through instead of Austin's.

“You're talking like a friggin' crazy person, Diamond. Spell it out.”

“They rob banks, Sawyer, did you know that?” Melissa continues, not even pausing to take a single breath. “They rob banks, always have. That's where we get our money from. I was supposed to join them, but I think that Kent only asked me to do that to get rid of me. First, the cops and now this … ”

I stand there in stunned silence while Mireya starts to shout again.

“Melissa, what's going to happen to Austin and Kimmi?”

Austin is a bank robber. My first image is of him in a black mask with a pistol in one hand and a bag with a big, green money sign on it in the other. That, of course, is completely ridiculous and entirely illogical, but I can't seem to sweep it away. It just sticks there while my pulse races harder and my hands get sweaty.

My father, maybe, would pass judgment on Austin, call him a sinner and a thief, but to me, this bit of information only helps me to understand who that sandy haired stranger is and why he does what he does, even if my imagery is a little bit off.

“I think you should be more concerned with what's going to happen to us,” she whispers as tears start to roll down her face. Mireya pulls back and slaps her hard, making me cringe. Again, I glance at the phone. Unfortunately, if Austin is in the process of robbing a bank, I can't exactly call 911 and tell them he's in trouble. If Austin were to get arrested and put away, I don't know what I'd do. I'm just starting to learn to lose myself, and he, he's just learning to find himself. We're not ready to be separated yet. If we ever are.

“Kent wants to make more money, Mireya. He wants more things, better bikers, hotter women.” She spits this last bit out on the end of a harsh laugh. “And he isn't going to get that from running weed and robbing savings and loans.” She flicks some of her blonde hair behind her ear and looks for the briefest of moments like the Melissa I met a few days ago, flirty, arrogant, careless. That fades again as quickly as it comes. “So he made a deal with Walker.” Melissa shrugs and reaches down to her belt, undoing the clasp and sliding it out of the loops. For what reason, I'm not sure, but when Mireya sees this, she takes a step back and gets a little pale. “To run some high paying ventures and combine the two MCs.”

“Besides telling me what I already know, that your f*cking husband is a piece of shit, what does this have to do with anything?”

“Can you see Austin running coke, Mireya? How about Kimmi luring girls into the sex trade?” She stares at Mireya's pursed lips and then glances over at me. I remain stone still, and I feel like the blood in my body is draining across the floor and leaving me dry. “Yeah,” she laughs. “Neither could Kent, so he arranged for Walker's boys to put Kimmi and Austin down. Beck and Gaine, too, probably, if they don't step in line.”

A knock sounds at the door, making Mireya and I jump.

Melissa doesn't seem surprised though. Instead, she grabs an ashtray and slips it in her pocket along with a handful of pens. She then backs up until she's got nothing but the wall behind her. I wince as she snaps the leather of her belt.

“Grab a weapon,” she whispers, and I notice that Mireya doesn't hesitate, reaching under the mattress and pulling out a knife. My head spins slowly, like I'm running in slow motion, my eyes drawn to a little, automated click as a key card is inserted into the door. And accepted. The handle twists down slowly.

“So they're here to kill us, too?” Mireya says, scaring the crap out of me because she sounds so resigned to it, like it's an inevitable conclusion for things to come to.

“No,” Melissa says, voice so low that she's almost impossible to hear. “They're here to do much, much worse.”



Chapter 54

I realize as I'm fighting that this is all a trap, a setup if you will. Kent was playing us right from the very beginning, from the cops in Amy's hometown, to St. Marlin's, to this bullshit right here. He's trying to get rid of us. I duck another punch and try not to let that bother me. Hey, I was waiting for Kent to screw up all along and he goes and does it. I should be glad. But I'm not. Ten years of sharing the road with me and this is what I get: deceit and a bunch of backstabbing bullshit.

My fist moves up and slams into the jaw of another man, crumpling him to his knees next to the guy with the knife. I hope the son of a bitch isn't drowning in the muddy water, but I don't have time to check on his f*cking ass. Somewhere to my left, I can hear Kimmi screaming.

I duck down to avoid another hit and go stumbling blindly forward, trying to follow the sound of her voice and separate her from the other shadows nearby. Losing Kimmi would be like losing my right arm. I might still be alive, but things wouldn't happen quite the same way anymore. It'd be like I was always off balance, always trying to feel with something that wasn't there. If I lose one of my best friends, somebody else is going to die tonight.