Page 30 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
“Unless you’d like your brains to decorate that expensive dash, you’re going to tell the girl you’ve changed your mind,” he growled out, his voice promising the man’s demise if he didn’t cooperate. “If you’d like to test me, then by all means, warn her. I will kill you both, and I will gut you like a pig before I do.”
Slim Jim nodded, his hands tightening audibly on the steering wheel, squeaking on the leather. Slim Jim opened the drivers-side window, and as he did, Kes pushed the gun firmer into his neck.
“Not tonight. I have other business to attend to.”
“But, you called me.”
“Listen, bitch. Not tonight. Now get out of here.”
“Fuck, alright. I’m going,” the girl said. Kes could just make out the word ‘prick’ as she walked away, and he smirked.
The window hummed as it rose into position once more. “Good boy. Now turn off the vehicle and put the keys on the dash.”
Kes was happy as Slim Jim’s hand shook, placing the rattling keys on the shiny black surface.
“What do you want?”
“I want to play a game,” he murmured in Slim Jim’s ear and then laughed as the man shuddered. He was going to shudder a whole lot more before he was through.
* * *
Kes yawned as he made his way to his tent. It was blessedly quiet, with only a few souls still awake. It had been a few nights since he’d slept in his spot, but he was going to need rest for what tomorrow was going to bring.
His stride faltered as he made out a shape in the dark shadows outside his tent. His hand slipped inside his coat, his fingers wrapping around the handle of his knife, but as soon as it moved and looked up at him, he knew it was Zumi. He let out a sigh and released the handle. The girl was sitting like a little sentinel keeping watch. Her dark eyes searched his face before she jumped up and ran to him. He let out a sharp breath as the girl practically rammed him in the gut with her head. Zumi’s arms wrapped around his body and held his waist tight like she was part-python.
“I thought you were dead and never coming back,” Zumi said, her voice soft.
Kes wasn’t sure what to do, so he patted the girl’s shoulders like she was a dog he wished would sit.
“Why the hell would you think I was dead?” he asked.
Zumi’s face turned up to his, a shimmering of tears in her eyes. “Cause you never stay away so long. You always check on everyone, and…” and she gasped in a breath as she released his body and stepped back.
“And?” he prompted.
“Just…trouble seems to find you,” she said.
Kes raised an eyebrow at the proclamation. He wasn’t sure what trouble she was referring to but was way too tired and hungry to be bothered questioning it. “As you can see, I’m not dead. I’m going to go to bed now, unless you’re planning on questioning me some more, Mommy?”
Zumi rolled her eyes at him with the standard sauce that accompanied her sweet approaching-teenaged snark. “Jerk.” Kes stepped around Zumi and then paused as she spoke again. “I made you beans—they’re still warm.”
His hand gripped the tent flap and pulled it aside like he didn’t care, but he couldn’t stop the rumble with the word beans. “What kind?”
“Brown with bacon.” Zumi grinned as she bent over and pulled the can out of the small makeshift warmer, consisting of a tiny fire and strips of metal he’d shaped to make the pointed top. Placing a spoon in the can, she held it out to him.
“Thanks, Kid.” He expected her to head home or sit down, but she simply stared at the ground.
“Where is your mother, Zumi?”
“Off with another guy, doing whatever it is she does. I mean, I know what she does, but I don’t want to say it out loud.”
Kes rubbed his eyes, wondering when he’d gone soft. “Come on, Kid. You can have my tent. I’ll eat and then sleep outside to keep watch.”
“That’s not why I came over here. I don’t need you to protect me all the time.” She crossed her arms over her chest as she lifted her stubborn face to his.
“And yet, I would feel better all the same if you’d simply shut up and get in the tent.” He pulled open the flap for the second time, making a dramatic movement with his arm like he was inviting her into a palace, not a tent on its last legs.
Her small shoulders folded in on her as she walked on past him. “Thanks, Kes.”
