Captured by the Mafia Bad Boy

4

My mind is a blank darkness. There’s a lot of activity, and a need to move, but no mental connections being made.

My mother grabs my hand and pulls me through the trailer, and I let her, following like the child I suddenly feel like. We get to the front door, and she turns to look at me. “I’ll call you. Don’t call me. I don’t want Marcus to find out that I know where you’re at. Head south, but not to Mexico. Please, anywhere, but Mexico. Marcus has a lot of connections down there. Go east. No, on better thought go west, the weather’s better. You should take this time to learn to surf. You’ve always wanted to learn to surf, right baby?”

I stand there, shaking my head. Surf? What is she talking about? Does she really expect me to head to California with very little money and no real plan? I’ve no idea where to go. Panic reaches up like a fist and squeezes. “I don’t. I don’t.”

She grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me. “Get a grip. Pull yourself together. You can do this. You’re an adult. It’s past time for you to be on your own. I’ve babied you long enough.”

Babied me? What? I’d been making my own dinner and getting myself to school since I was six years old. If anything I’ve been the one to take care of her these past years. A bolt of rage explodes in my chest. “Where were you? Where were you? Why did you leave me alone? How could you have left me with alone him? You promised!”

Her green eyes fill with tears. She even lets one fall and ride her cheek like a pioneer blazing a wet trail across unknown territory. “I didn’t think… I didn’t…” She shakes her head hard as if shaking all guilt off like a dog would water from its coat. “You need to listen to your mother right now. You need to get in your car and drive away.”

With that she pushes me through the front door, down the cement blocks that we use as steps, and to my car.

I hobble on bare feet across the sharp stones, somehow not feeling the pain. I grab my shoes on my way to the car, and my backpack is thrown into the passenger side, courtesy of my mother.

I start the engine, the roar of the V8 filling my head, blocking out the noise, making me forget I hadn’t said goodbye to my mother as I speed down the dirt drive. I hadn’t asked her what I was supposed to do. Hadn’t taken the time to slow down, breathe, and realize I’ve murdered a man. I’m now a killer.

I’m a killer and a wanted woman. There’s a price on my head now. A price that comes at the cost of body parts sawed off and scattered throughout the desert. At the cost of being wanted by the most notorious and sadistic man Grove Oaks has ever seen.

And I can’t help but wonder if the cost of keeping my virginity was worth the price.