Through A Glass, Darkly (The Assassins of Youth MC #1)(46)
“Tazmin,” I said with disgust. “She’s incredibly immature. I hope nothing comes of this. Should I talk to her, do you think? Does Allred know you’re here?”
“Nope. I just took off on my bike once we were done meeting with people. Yeah, maybe try talking to her. Get the lay of the land. See how much she saw, what she plans to do about it.”
I sighed deeply, trying to retain my dignity by sitting cross-legged with spine straight. “I’ve been horrified at God’s lack of intervention between me and Allred.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, the usual dilemma. What sort of God allows women to be beaten? If it’s us who had a hand in creating this world, shouldn’t we take responsibility for the evil as well as the beauty? Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the bad things I see, Gideon. Look at poor Dingo and his friends.”
“Oh, don’t I f*cking know it.” As though he’d just had sex—which he sort of had—Gideon took a cigarette from his cut pocket and lit it. I didn’t mind it outdoors. It even had a good aroma some of the time. He looked like a youth with his hair mussed from rubbing against my thighs. “He keeps telling me about these groups of Lost Boys up in Salt Lake and elsewhere, Park City and Bountiful I think he said. In a way, I think it’s uplifting to know we participate in creating events. It means we have the power to fix them.”
“Yes, you helped Dingo. He was going through trash cans and now he has a regular home.”
“And a regular job to do. When I get out of Cornucopia I’ve got to bring him down to Bullhead to meet Papa Ewey and the rest.”
The silence that fell then was heavy with the question. How was I to get out of Cornucopia? Gideon could just ride off, no harm, no foul.
He seemed to pick up on this. He tore apart a piece of grass, his face tight with concern. “Burning Man.”
I frowned, too, picking up my sandwich he’d smashed earlier. The roll was kind of squashed to one side, but my stomach was growling. “I’ve heard of that. That Breakiron guy used to always talk about it. Some kind of hippie get-together in the Nevada desert.”
“Exactly. They’ll never find us in that crowd, even if they send someone looking for us. I was given three tickets by one of those riding club guys at the High Dive. The three of us can go there, you, me, Vonda. It’ll be like a honeymoon for us, me making you my mama. I’ll hold off on getting you a ‘Property Of’ patch after what you’ve been through.”
Of course my instant reaction was to balk at the idea. A hippie commune, really? But after my initial thought, suddenly it started to make sense. “We could hide out there for however long the festival goes on.”
“A week, I think. Breakiron always talked about wanting to go to his first ‘burn.’”
“I can see that. Isn’t it all about naked, muddy orgies?”
“I get that impression, but I think that’s easily avoided. Family values and all.” Gideon quirked that grin that always melted my heart. “Breakiron said it gives everyone ‘complete personal transformation.’ I think we can steer Vonda to the enlightening and spiritual aspects of the place, don’t you?”
“Oh, yes.” Vonda had only briefly met Gideon, while knocking on the cottage’s door and suchlike, although she knew we were plotting something. “We can expose our genitals to the full moon, and maybe even smoke marijuana.” I giggled. I’d smoked it once with Field and it knocked me over. Maybe just a puff or two this time.
“That’s my girl. By the time we come back, Allred will have had a chance to get used to you being gone. You can store your personal effects in my house. I can’t see him breaking in to get clothing, and Dust Bunny and Dingo will be there.”
“And Kimball and Rayd and the others?”
“Yeah. We might as well move them in at the same time. I’ve got my old roommate Sledgehammer on standby, waiting for the moment something happens. And after seeing that woman in the bushes just now, I have a bad feeling it might be imminent.”
“Yes. Tazmin has always been sort of a jealous person. I might as well go talk to her right now.”
Gideon stood with me, taking my hands. “Good. And don’t worry. I’m not going to let the woman I love come to any harm.”
My heart was fit to burst. He’d finally said it, even if indirectly like that. When I kissed him, I just wanted to turn into liquid energy in his arms. But I had to go talk to Tazmin. What she planned to do would directly affect the rest of our lives.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
GIDEON
While I was completely expecting the visit, I wasn’t really ready to act upon it.
I had to wing everything when Allred Lee Chiles came knocking at my cottage door.
Actually, he didn’t knock, of course. I left the door open in case Mahalia wanted something. She was only sixty yards away in that weird train-like saltbox house of hers, dozens of tiny bedrooms side by side upstairs. I could see her window from mine, and a few times I’d caught her looking down at me. I’d waved, but since it was daytime and no lights were on inside the cottage, she hadn’t been able to see me. But it’d warmed my heart.
She loved me. I had hoped as much. I knew she was steeped in the Stockholm Syndrome, with Cornucopia being her only way of life. It’d be difficult for her on the outside, and who knew for how long? If I got to keep the mine as I was angling to do, maybe she could do the books. Dust Bunny had found very encouraging signs of gold on the Streaked Wall Bench, and he’d only dug for two days.