Page 26 of Rune
“Because I don’t live in a fantasy land where I can just go outside and pluck money off a tree.”
He ignored that. “Is that why you’re expanding? That way someone else can do the cleaning, and you can… handle paperwork?”
“Yeah, I guess. If I live long enough, I guess. Did you follow me from my house?”
“Yep. You’re completely fucking oblivious when you’ve got a tail, you know. I was on my bike and everything.”
I’d been lost in my own thoughts. And several guys in the neighborhood rode bikes too.
“Well, that worked out for you in the end, didn’t it? What do you want from me? I’m trying to work.”
“We gotta finish talking.”
“No, we really don’t.”
“Says the person who held a gun up at me.”
“To the man who held me captive on my own couch.”
“Baby, we both know you could have made a fuss about that if you wanted to. Had your sister call the cops. But then you’d have to fess up to baby sis about what you’ve been up to.”
“Please leave Sofia out of this.”
“How did you expect her to stay out of this when you live with her? Did you think no one would come looking for you with questions?”
“I thought someone would come with a gun.”
“I did,” he said, reaching behind him and placing one on the counter. Not just any gun, though. My gun. “Where’d you get this?”
“The store,” I answered without thinking.
“The store.” The words were flat, like they weren’t computing. Then, with pinched brows and an incredulous edge to his voice, “You used a legal gun registered in your name to come and shoot me with?”
“Gee, sorry. I’m not an outlaw biker who knows how to get black market weapons to do my crimes with.”
I wasn’t prepared for the impact of this man’s smile, the way it stretched wide to reveal not only annoyingly perfect white teeth, but two deep dimples.
“Yeah, baby, then maybe you shouldn’t be trying to do crimes if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Objectively, he was being kind of playful. Which was gracious when he’d had a gun pointed at him by me not long ago. The smart move would have been to lean into that, to try to keep things light.
That wasn’t what I did.
“Yeah, well, you would know a thing or two about getting away with your crimes, wouldn’t you?”
“What do you know about what I’ve done?”
“Oh, I know a lot.”
“Like what? Maybe I can clear up some shit so we can move past this.”
“I don’t want to move past this. I want you rotting in a shallow grave somewhere.”
A few days ago, that would have come out a lot more convincingly.
“No, I don’t think you do. See, the funny thing about killing is, it’s a lot easier in your head. Before you actually see someone as a person. It’s not easy when you’re face to face with someone and really see the weight of what you are about to do.”
“You would know,” I said, turning away.
