Page 99 of Ricochet
Was that my heart trying to get out of my chest? Oh shit, was this how a panic attack felt like?
“Can you see it?” She looked at me full of hope.
Oh I could see it. I could see me buying more knives for my collection, but I couldn’t see myself with kids. That was never in the cards for me. I knew that from the time I came back from Siberia. This life wasn’t meant for kids, and I didn’t want to bring them into a world where they could end up dead because of who I was.
Nope, nope, nope.
It was one ginormous nope.
“Almost, Ava. Almost.”
I couldn’t shatter her dreams. We were different, her and I. Ava dreamed about white picket fences and having the love of her life with her. I dreamed about staying alive and being able to wash all the blood from my hair.
You know, priorities.
However, if my saying I could see us growing old together calmed her, I could live with that.
“But, back to the plan. Nathan is out of town, correct?”
“That’s right. He shouldn’t be back until the day after tomorrow.”
“Okay.” I pondered. “Okay, that could work. Storm left me his number, and I’m going to tell him to have everything ready for the day after tomorrow. Tell Nathan to meet us at the Old Theater on Wednesday, at eight p.m.”
“I got it.” She nodded. “Old Theater, Wednesday, eight p.m. Anything else?”
“Yes. Please don’t pack everything. Just something light. We will be buying you clothes once we reach Santa Monica. Leave everything behind, unless there’s something you really want to take.”
“Um...” She made a face. “What about my memory box?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, you can give it to me and I will take it. You will tell your father and brothers we are going out, and I’ll pick you up. That way they won’t assign any guards to you.”
“What about your guards?”
I laughed thinking she was joking, but looking at her face, I realized she was serious.
“Oh shit, you really think I have guards?”
“Well, don’t you?”
“Ah Ava, I am my own guard. Don’t worry about that.”
I looked at my watch and realized I was almost late for the meeting with my father.
“I gotta go now but remember, Wednesday, Old Theater, eight p.m. Talk to Nathan tonight, tell him not to ask too many questions, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Okay?”
“Got it. And Phee,” she pulled me back just as I was heading to the door, “thank you.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for, Ava. I know you would do the same for me.”
Now I just hoped we would manage to get out of this mess unscathed.
Present
Isit possible for blood to boil, because mine definitely was.
The audacity that Disappointment 1 and Disappointment 2 had was pissing me off. What did the two of them think, that they could juggle me between them as if I was some sort of a toy?
What the fuck?
