Ain't Shady Baby, I'm Hot

87

I followed Rafe to the truck. I willingly got in as he shoved Sarah back into her seat. It was quiet as Rafe drove. I had my bag at my feet as I stared at my hands. My mind trying to figure out a way to get out of this.

One day you're going to run into somebody who doesn't like being beat

Murphy had been talking about the underground scene. He was worried I'd get into trouble there. But now it applies to this.

Ward would either spin this and pin it on me. Or he'd use my family or friends as blackmail to keep me quiet. Sarah was in a similar situation. Except she wouldn't have to suffer Ward's wrath half as much. But truthfully, she's got more to psychologically deal with. I hadn't looked at her since we left the airstrip. Too in my own head to offer her any forms of comfort.

Not only did she watch her brother shoot someone. But I know she knows that John B was telling the truth last night. Ward killed his dad. Sarah's father was a murderer. And if Peterkin didn't get the help she needed, her brother would be one too.

My fists clenched. My side ached and burned. The flaring pain calling my attention as I carefully moved my jacket away to stare down at the patch of darkened cloth.

Fuck.

I definitely tore the stitches. Being in this truck limited my options severely. I just had to ride it out and hope I had only torn some as the darkened patch stayed constant and wasn't growing.

"She had the hammer back. You know that." Rafe's voice cut through the silence.

"No." Sarah spat out.

"She was gonna blow his head off." Rafe asserted.

"No, she was arresting him, Rafe." I heard the tears in her eyes. Her voice catching in her throat.

"Okay, I couldn't sit there and let it happen, okay? She was gonna kill him. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she was gonna kill him." Rafe's voice shook as he tried to convince the two of us. The car rocked side to side as he hyperventilated, my chin rising as I looked up.

Sarah and I locked eyes. Her wild gaze unsettling as I willed myself to convey a source of strength. Of comfort. I just hoped it didn't look empty.

We're gonna get through this.

I said the words internally. Hoping I could manifest a better outcome for us.

Sarah's eyes shifted from me to Rafe. Her panic overriding her rational thought as she turned cracking the door open.

"No!" Sarah cried out as Rafe's arm shot across the console.

"Hey! Hey!" I moved from my seat behind Rafe worry in my actions as Sarah struggled against her brother as he yanked her back into the truck. I pushed the back window open as I wrapped my right arm in the seatbelt.

"Hey! Get back in!" I lifted myself out of the window, my lower half still inside the car as I pushed Sarah back inside the cab.

Two shouts of my name came from the siblings. The wind whipping my ears as I reached out and caught the door before it could open all the way and slammed it shut.

"Ow! Rafe! No! Ow!" Sarah screamed as she tried to break Rafe's hold on her. My body carefully slipping back into the cab as I leaned back against the seat. My breathing coming heavy as I glanced down back at my side. The spot bigger than it was.

Fuck, I'm just gonna bleed out here. I'd deserve it.

"Get off of me!" Sarah cried out.

"Swear to God, alright! I've had it with your bullshit! You need to focus. You understand me?" I slumped backwards in the seat. My legs coming up to rest along the bench.

"Do you realize what you've done?" It was silent as I watched Rafe pant. His hand running through his unkempt hair. His chest rising and falling.

"I saved Dad." He tossed his head, sniffling as he tried not to cry. My eyes stuck on him as I watched his face. "What was I supposed to do, okay? Sit there, hope for the best? Alright? Listen, I'm a proactive type of person. Sarah," he lunged across the console grabbing Sarah behind her neck. My eyes followed his hand and passed it to the road, "I'm a proactive type of person."

"Get off me." She flung his hand free but he wasn't watching the road, neither of them were. "Don't you ever touch me." Despite the burning pain in my side, I found myself over the console and headed for the wheel.

"Hope is not a strategy, okay?" He continued to yell at Sarah as she tried to get his attention. My movements interrupted them both as I pushed Rafe backwards and grabbed the wheel.

"Car!" Sarah was shouting as I yanked the wheel. A horn blaring as I jerked us back into our lane. A cry slipping my lips as I realized I'd stretched myself too far. The chance of only a few stitches being pulled at now were up to ten.

"Get back in the seat!" Rafe shouted

"Then fucking drive, asshole!" I shouted as Rafe grabbed my hands and pulled them off the wheel. A hiss leaving my lips as I dropped back onto the seat. Both hands flying to my side.

"I'm the problem solver in this family, okay?"

"Okay." Sarah was so quiet I didn't hear her. It wasn't enough for Rafe.

"Okay?" Rafe shouted turning.

"Okay!"

The cab got silent again. Figure Eight in sight as I focused on one thing in front of me. My eyes drifting from the windshield to the rear view mirror to the dash, the console, the seat, until finally I was staring at the one thing I didn't want to be staring at.

The burning in my side faded as a new pain hit me like a tidal wave.

Anguish.

And I couldn't stop staring. My eyes traced the lines I could see. Mapping the image over and over again, hoping for a different result. A different outcome. A different feeling to emerge.

But it was the same formula. The same calculation front and back.

And it terrified me.