Page 95 of Malice and Surrender
“You two, man. Terri, this is Raine.” I nodded in her direction. “She is staying with Avro and me. So if you get a message from her, could you do the same thing?”
“For my best customer? Of course.” He held out his hand for Raine to shake.
“Nice to meet you, Raine.”
“Likewise.” Raine shook his hand and offered a very business-like smile, and I picked up on the change even though most never would.
“Oh, Jace, I put the milkshakes in this cooler and packed it with ice for you.”
“See, this is why I love you. Thanks, and the money is sent,” I said.
“You’re always way too generous, mon ami,” Terri said, shaking his head as he backed away.
“To keep you in business, it’s worth it. Who else is going to make my pizza the way you do and then deliver it to my car?”
Terri laughed. “Given how you’re now a fancy rock star, I’m sure every restaurant in the state, but I appreciate your loyalty. Have a good night, and nice to meet you, Raine.” Terri closed the door and was heading to the front doors before we could even say goodbye. He’d treated me in the same friendly and efficient manner the first time Avro and I walked through his doors.
“You’re a conundrum to me, Jace,” Raine said as I pulled out of the parking lot.
I smiled at the comment. “I like to keep you on your toes.”
The last few miles felt like a chain slowly tightening around my throat. The memories flashing before my eyes had my heart pounding hard and my hands squeezing the life out of the steering wheel just so I didn’t whip the car around and say fuck it.
Raine touched my shoulder, and I was startled by the soft contact.
“You okay?” she asked, her eyes filled with worry.
“Yeah, totally fine.”
“Now who is lying?” she quipped.
“I’m so going to fuck that sauce right out of you later,” I said, and I meant it.
If this unknown friend and Avro got a taste, then I sure as fuck wasn’t standing on the sidelines with my cock in my hand like a good little boy. I’d never been one, so if the shoe fit, as they say.
She cleared her throat and mumbled something I was sure would’ve turned me on if I wasn’t so distracted by the house we were approaching. I shut the car off on the quiet street, so we didn’t draw attention, and I sat there trying to control my galloping pulse.
“Where are we?” Raine asked and looked out her window at the dark and boarded-up home. The caution tape was faded and torn but still hung on and flapped in the breeze like a warning sign that something evil had happened inside.
I wet my lips and looked straight ahead, not daring to glance at the house. “This was my home,” I said. “Avro lived just down there, the second house on the left.” I pointed to the house lit up with pretty little lights, the yellow garage door practically glowing in the dark. “His family is no longer there, though. They moved a while back and never gave us a forwarding address.” I rolled my eyes. “We told them we were more than friends. Let’s say it didn’t go very well.”
“Shit, poor Avro. I didn’t know.”
“He doesn’t like to talk about it, but he will if you ask him to.”
My leg started to bounce, and I couldn’t sit there for another second. I started the car and pulled away from the curb. I could feel Raine’s eyes as she silently asked what had happened.
“I just need a minute,” I said through the pain constricting my throat.
In reality, I needed a lot more than a minute. It had been six years since my family was taken from me, and the only two things that got me through it were Avro and my music.
There were just some things you were never meant to forget.
Jace
A last-minute decision made me pull into the big old cemetery and follow the driveway to the back. Killing the lights, I reached into the back and grabbed our pizza.
“You want to eat here?” Raine looked out at the tombstones that were illuminated by the bright moon. “In the cemetery?”
