My Funny Valyntine: Book One - The Pull

Chapter Nineteen - Bird Gets the Worm

i.

"What happens next?" Valyntine asks, unable to stop staring at the smooth, white bone between her fingers. "Where do we go from here?"

"Don't know," Taboo says, shaking his head. "I'm not good at making plans on the fly. Haven't had enough time. I don't have friends. Don't know where my family is; couldn't trust them if I did."

Valyntine holds her tongue. Latin has at least three schemes and plans operating at any given time. No matter the obstacle, he always knows where to go and what to do next. Seeing Taboo's ineptitude, she wonders what Tunisia saw in him, and then immediately feels a stab of shame for these thoughts.

She tries to see past her notion of weakness and cowardice in the young man. He was a boy taken from his family and placed in a situation more aggressive than his nature. What the Strutters did follows her like a cancerous shadow – a shadow always there, no matter how dark or bright the room. The same way the years Taboo spent with his brothers working for the Compass Families follows him.

Softening, Valyntine considers the bravery it must have taken for him to get this far. The guilt and responsibility he feels for Tunisia's death is not beyond her ability to understand. In his sorrow and pain, he went looking for her, for Valyntine, to try and make what amends he can. Skylark and Sugar Plum would have delivered her to the Good Man by had Taboo not chased the LongShore. He saved her life, brought her to the only place he thought would be safe, and told her everything. He also betrayed his brothers by stealing the bone. And he gave it to her.

In Valyntine's hand, she holds tight to what might be the end of the Pull. If Taboo told the truth (and she could not find a valid reason for him to lie), this is what his brothers need to get to her and force her around the city. And so, if the Pull is over, why doesn't she feel relief or even the smallest sense of vindication? She doesn't have to fear the rain or thunder anymore, might never be forced to wander through the streets of Porter City, never again go through what she experienced in her building's lift or the Nest's sitting room. But why doesn't she feel anything?

"Uh oh," Taboo says, straightening in his seat, alert, one hand gripping the steering wheel, the other grabbing the shifter. Valyntine follows his gaze out the windshield to headlights brightening and dimming in the distance, bobbing up and down from the rough terrain. They don't have long.

"What do we do?" Valyntine asks, panicked.

"Get out."

"What?!" She can't believe it. After everything, he's giving her up at the first sign of trouble.

"Quick!" He turns to look at her with fierce eyes, speaking fast. "Get out, stay low, make your way to the dock and hide in one of the boats. It's dark. They might only see me driving away and give chase. Go! They're still far enough away they won't see you! Go! Get out!"

Valyntine turns back to the approaching headlights, she has less than ten seconds. Taboo reaches across her lap, opens the passenger door, and shouts at her one last time to get out.

Heart pounding, her whole body shaking, she turns from him and exits the Standard. He doesn't wait for her to shut the door, slamming the shifter down and stomping on the accelerator. Valyntine, staying low, runs toward the dock, wincing at the rocks from Taboo's spinning tires pelting her in the back and ricocheting off the boats.

Passing the first boat she chooses second for her hiding spot. It's a fishing trawler. She peers out of a heavily streaked window and watches the approaching three autos abruptly change direction, chasing after Taboo. Valyntine waits until the last of their taillights disappear into the black before emerging from her hiding place. She is alone for the first time in days. The air hangs still with cold as the water laps against the boats and shore.