Page 31 of Laying Low

Anthony and Marcus were both covering their eyes with their hands, and Ed grunted.

“Son, you do know there are times for subtlety, don’t you?”

Dean stared at his father.“No, Dad.I have never known how to do subtlety.I don’t want them to get hurt, and I don’t want to be on the hook for the extra car payments if that thing ends up going into the ocean near Seattle.”

He gazed soberly at Reg.“Don’t drive into the ocean near Seattle,” he said, quite literally.

Reg nodded, because Dean hadalwaysbeen literal, and nobody expected him to stop now.

“Priorities,” he said, perfectly serious.“The boys and Anthony first, me second, the car third.I got it.”He hugged his brother, not noticing the slightly stunned expression on his face, and then went to hug everybody else, including Connor, who had gotten up that morning with the boys, the better to take Catherine for a walk before driving to Anthony’s house, which was closer to the gun range.

The sky was starting to lighten, though, and Reg had been running through what they’d need and what they had over and over in his mind since he’d gotten out of the shower (and remembered how to breathe), and now that their route had been revisited, Reg couldn’t think of one more thing.

It was time to go.

The boys had already been cautioned to keep their phones in airplane mode, particularly after Reg’s adventures on the computer the night before.Phone games and music only, although Reg kept a worried eye out for Ilia.It wasn’t that he thought the boy had active ill-will toward them—certainly not toward Reynaldo—but the day before had been exciting, an adventure.

The boy was facing the possibility of leaving his mother and everything he knew behind, and Reg knew that, especially for somebody so young, seeing the consequences of that action might not be so easy.What could be a simple reach out for reassurance in this case could prove very dangerous for everybody else in the car.

“Stop looking at me like that, Mr.Royal,” Ilia said thickly after the first few minutes.“I do realize what we are doing.”

Reg swallowed, wishing he’d had more time with the boys the night before.He and Dean had been understandably preoccupied with logistics, but geez—this was so haphazard!

“I hate forcing this choice on you,” Reg murmured.“I… I keep thinking of something else we could have done, but—”

“But my uncle Lem pointed a gun at us,” Ilia said, suddenly very adult.“I have seen what guns do to people, Mr.Royal.They make choices like this one very, very clear.”

“Wow,” Reg muttered.

“You are surprised I understand?”And there was hurt there; Reg could hear it.Somebody had treated this young man like a child when it mattered.

“No,” Reg answered back.“I’m sorry that you know that so well.It’s… it’s an awful lesson, Ilia.I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.I want you to be safe.”

Ilia shrugged.“And you are trying to make me so.”He glanced at Reynaldo, who had fallen asleep, it seemed.“He is sweet,” he said softly.“We are not so stupid as to think, ‘Hey, it shall be love forever!’But you do not betray lovers.I haven’t had one yet, but I can’t believe that is so.”

This kid had apparently seen too many hard things.“I’ll hope, for you, that it never has to be,” Reg said softly.“I’ll take you at face value, Ilia.Just… tell me.Tellusif you need to go.Reynaldo has no choice, but if you feel like you need to take another path, let us know so we can get you both to safety.”

Ilia nodded.“Yes.It is a promise.”

“Okay.Get some sleep.We don’t get out of the car to take a leak for another two hours.”

“Ooh… maybe some chocolate?Your mother is good woman, but I think there needs to be more sugar in this little trip.”

Andthatsounded like the kid who’d been deeply invested in Reg’s love life the day before.“Of course,” he said, trying not to think about his small cache of savings and how it was about to go bye-bye.

There were other priorities.

After a few moments, Ilia dropped off, and Anthony—who had been doing business on his phone, Reg figured, after watching him text madly for a good twenty miles—put his phone on the charger and slumped back in his seat.

“Hard leaving the shop?”Reg asked.

Anthony grunted.“Not really.Connor apparently knows his shit.He’s been on the phone all morning as he commutes, and Violet said he’s fitting in nicely.”

“Then what’s the problem?”Reg was good at troubleshooting.

“My dad and I—basic business disagreement.I was remembering what you said about not being able to own the shooting range with a felony conviction, and I realized the range was vulnerable.I wanted to put it under an LLC so if one of us was arrested, the other could take over management.I should have done it earlier, but, you know, you don’t count on basic human decency suddenly being a felony, you know?”

“Oh God,” Reg muttered.“Anthony, I could drop you off, you could take an Uber back to my parents’ place—”