Page 100 of One Filthy Kiss

Miraculously, we pass no other cars on the way into town, which gives me permission to drive in the middle of the road all the way.

“Mountain Road, second lodge, thrift store.” I repeat themantra in my head, although they’re only words until I spot the road sign I’m looking for, lit up by a streetlamp.

Second lodge on the left.

Amato Thrift Store.

I swing the vehicle left, narrowly missing the white sign announcing that everyone is welcome, and screech to a halt around the back of the whitewashed lodge.

I hug the steering wheel, my heart trying to batter it through my ribcage.

We made it.

I don’t know how, but we made it, and we’re safe now.

Nikki is dead. The thought flashes into my head.What about Ric?

I try to swallow, but my throat isn’t cooperating, and my brain is throwing all this bad stuff at me like it’s accusing me of abandoning them.

I peer down.

“Amber?” She is curled up into a ball with her arms around her bloody knees. “Are you hurt?”

“N-no.”

“We’re getting out now. Stay there until I come round and open the door.”

My legs give way when I climb out, and I cling to the door to keep myself upright. I stagger around to the passenger side and help Amber, who wraps her arms around my neck and refuses to let go.

Hoisting her into my arms, I turn around to face the back of the thrift store, my hopes plummeting through the ground when I realize that it’s in total darkness.

Before I can consider our options, a door opens, and someone hisses urgently, “Over here.”

I try to follow the sound, but I’m disoriented after recent events.

“This way!” An old man appears out of the shadows.

I don’t get a chance to look at him before he turns around and heads back inside. I follow him, still carrying Amber, who is clinging to me so tightly, it’s hard to breathe.

The old man closes the door behind us using deadbolts top and bottom and a chain to reinforce the regular lock. He switches on a flashlight and uses it to gesture to another doorway on the opposite side of what appears to be a utility room. Cabinets line the walls, sacks of clothing piled up high on every counter.

“We’re going down to the basement.”

He has an accent that reminds me of Gio although this man’s voice is coarser around the edges like it has been scraped with sandpaper. He is barely a couple of inches taller than I am, with bowed shoulders and a bald patch on the top of his skull, but from the muscles bulging out from beneath his sweater, I’d guess that he still regularly hits the gym.

No introductions. He doesn’t ask if we’re hurt. Whatever arrangement he has with Ric, it only extends as far as hiding us, and that suits me just fine. Too many people have been dragged into this situation without me having another victim on my conscience.

On the other side of the interior door is a narrow hallway. Unlit, I can’t see where it leads to, and I don’t ask. The guy walks a few steps and stops, sliding a hand down the wall on his left. A crack appears. A secret doorway, and he gestures for me and Amber to go inside.

“You can use the flashlight to get you down the stairs. Find somewhere to hide, kill the light, and stay there until I give you the all-clear.”

I nod.

He hands over the flashlight and closes the door behind us.

I don’t move. Casting an arc of light around us, I discover that we’re standing at the top of a steep stone staircase, slick with damp. Down below, all I can see is blackness.

22