The Kingpin

•21•

Amelia

The fan spun above her head all day and all night as she fixed her gaze on it long enough to grow dizzy. Her skin stuck to the sheets, as she had refused to move in days.

By some miracle though, her wound was healing almost decently and the pain was washed away routinely with crushed pill matter. She had red rimmed eyes and muscles that burned with the smallest movement but last night, Amelia arrived at the decision she had been avoiding.

She needed money. She needed money because the prescription bottle was becoming dangerously empty and each time she glanced over at it, her heart tightened up in her chest in anxiety.

  Amelia pulled herself out of bed that day and made slow work of changing her clothes for the first time since Rafael had stopped by. Or she thought at least, the days got more muddled together the longer she stayed in bed.

••••

She figured her reward for making it down the stairs and out onto the street would be her next high. This thought alone fueled her even more down the street.

Amelia made it the two blocks she needed to get where she was going and practically threw herself against the nearest wall for a breather.

It never seemed this far away before, she thinks as her eyes look around the alley. She decides it's been long enough and makes her way over to the three stairs leading into the apartment building.

The elevator greeted her in kind as she stepped into it, reveling in the air conditioned awfulness of the planked walls. As quickly as she had entered, the doors opened onto the second floor and she had to step out to the hallway.

Apartment number 210 beckoned her to draw nearer and she couldn't help herself as she did so. She knocked weakly on the door and the energy she had used on her trip here seemed to overwhelm her at once.

A few long moments passed and had Amelia thinking that Rafael lied to her but when the locks on the other side could be heard moving, she knew better. The door opened slowly and the man before her stood open-mouthed in shock.

  "What are you-"

  Amelia pushed past him and into the apartment, leaving him to close the door and stare at her as she walked into the kitchen. She immediately opened the fridge and got a bottle of water to drink, still not having said anything to him.

  "What the fuck are you doin' here, Amelia?"

  "I needed to see you." She replies after taking a break from the water. Coming out of her mouth, it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world.

  "Why? Where is Rafael? Are you okay?"

  He met her in the kitchen and stared at her as she sat on the countertop. Upon a closer look,  Daveed knew right away that she was not okay.

  "I'm sorry that I put you through all that shit, you didn't deserve it. I-"

  She pulled him toward her space before he could even process it. She was so close but everything else was so far away.

  "I don't care. It can be like old times or whatever the fuck you used to want."

  "What are you talking about? What happened to Rafael?"

  She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him in even closer, making the heels of her feet brush the back of his legs. "I can't stop thinking about us." Her cool breath fanned against his face and made his heart clench.