You'll Never Be Alone

Uncle Eddie's Final Case

Uncle Eddie's Final Case

Seth sped down the road, night fully taking over. My eyes staid ahead, Santanico's past words still hanging in my mind.

"You okay?" Seth asked from the driver's seat. I didn't answer, causing Seth to glance over at me and the road a few times, "Katherine-"

"I'm fine," I said, my eyes finally looking down at my hands.

A sigh left Seth as he slowed down. "What the hell happened back there?" Seth asked, clearly upset.

"I pushed her buttons and caught her in a lie," I said, tugging on my jean jacket.

Seth looked over at me, clearly confused by my words, "What lie?"

"That she'll actually wait for us," I said, looking over at him. "Seth, she's ready to jump ship and do this on her own. Richie might be able to hold her back for now, but I can't promise that'll last."

Nodding, Seth said, "Yeah, I know. Which is why we're skipping this job."

My head quickly turned towards Seth, shock written on my face, "What? Seth, don't do this because of her."

"This isn't just about her," Seth said, looking over at me. My voice ran silent while my mouth opened slightly. When Seth looked back towards the road, nothing more was said.

Seth was the one in charge, he was the one making the final decision on whether we staid or went. He wanted my impute, but he knew the second he walked into the bathroom and saw Santanico holding me by my neck, that this wasn't ours anymore.

We both headed back to Uncle Eddie's, tired from the long day. By the next morning, when Seth told Eddie that it wouldn't work, you could bet we wouldn't be able to sleep there for a while again.

"What the fuck you mean, it won't play?" Eddie practically yelled as he looked at Seth who sat next to him at the table. I leaned on the counter, holding a cup of coffee in my hands as I listened.

"I'm telling you, it won't play," Seth said again.

Eddie looked at Seth with a stern face, "It won't play, or you won't play with your brother?" Seth sighed, looking down at his hands. "Thought you guys were supposed to eat about it. What, do I gotta sit you two punks down again and talk about family values?"

Seth tried to reason with his uncle. "Eddie, we cannot work with him and that psycho girlfriend of his. For Chris' sake, she attacked Katherine."

Raising an eyebrow and gesturing over to me, Eddie responded with, "So what? Katherine is very capable of taking care of herself."

I nodded, "Thank you." Although I knew Seth was just trying to protect me, he was keeping me away from them. Away from this case. And away from death.

Returning his attention to Seth, Eddie came back to the subject at hand. "All that money is sitting there waiting for us and you're just going to throw it out the door because of a girl?"

Seth sat his hand on the table roughly, "Listen to me. It's not. These people that you're tryin' to rob, they're not just some banditos from down South. Okay? They're degenerate killers."

"Yeah, well, they ain't never met Eddie Cruickshank," Eddie says with a laugh. Seth sighs and stands, starting to pace as Eddie sighed, "Come on."

There was a moment of silence as Seth continued to pace. He suddenly stopped and sat his hands on the back of the chair in front of him. "When's the last time you pulled down a job?"

Eddie looked at Seth confused, "What the hell has that got to do with anything?"

"Things are different now."