Jesus, he had his entire life to be a jerk and make childish jokes, couldn’t he take a day off? I sighed and inwardly chastised myself for thinking so negatively about him. He was only trying to cheer me up. Give me a much needed pep-talk. He was endearing, in an annoying, older brother kind of way.
Cill started messing about with the stereo and flicking through radio channels.
“I don’t have my mobile, so I can’t hook us up with mySpotifyplaylists. We’ll have to go old school,” he said, searching the radio stations for something that caught his ever wandering attention.
Placebo’sRunning Up That Hillstarted playing and he sat back in his seat.
“Good tune. Very… apt.”
I closed my eyes and let the words wash over me. The haunting melody matching my mood perfectly.
If I only could, I’d make a deal with God.
But I doubted there was a God, after the hell I’d lived in.
I’d beenmy usual asshole self and tried to make jokes on the journey to the safe house. Trouble was, most of my attempts at humour were either highly inappropriate or just downright lame. I was starting to waffle on, so I’d turned the radio on to drown myself out. Then I spent the rest of the drive reminding myself not to keep second guessing everything I said. That wasn’t me. I didn’t sugarcoat shit, I wasn’t Willy Wonka. I said what I thought at the time. That was my charm. Well, I liked to think so. Jesus, this little girl next to me was tying me up into all sorts of knots. Why did I care so much about what she thought of me? Usually, I couldn’t give two shits what people thought. Fake people have an image to maintain; real people don’t give a fuck. I’d always lived by that rule.Iwas real.
About three hours later, the flag on the GPS indicated that we were getting closer to the safe house, and the sexy voiceover in the car announced the very same thing. After driving down a dirt track, we came upon a set of huge reinforced steel gates. I clicked the car window down and leant out to punch in a code on the keypad at the side of the entrance. It triggered the gates to open and reveal what our home for the foreseeable future looked like.
It was a two-storey beach front house. The exterior walls were white and the doors and windows looked modern and high-tech. No doubt, Luca had installed all the latest gadgets to keep the occupants safe. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was just a holiday home. The topiary decorating the outside area and to the side of the front door was immaculate. I bet Luca’s wife, Chloe, had chosen those. I didn’t see Luca as the green-fingered type.
I parked the car right next to the door and hopped out. Wednesday didn’t give me a chance to go and open her door for her, she was out and creeping round to my side of the car before I’d even shut my door. If she could have spoken, I’d guess her first words would’ve been, ‘Wow’. She looked over-awed, glancing up at the property with wide, innocent eyes.
“Home sweet home.” I held my arm out for her to thread hers through, but she just looked at it then walked on, leaving me hanging. “I’ll bring the bags in then, shall I, dear?” I figured a bit of married couple role-play might put her at ease. Not that I was planning on taking that any further than a bit of banter.
She ran her hands over the leaves of the well-trimmed cedar trees that flanked the shiny gunmetal grey front door. Almost as if she was connecting with nature for the first time. Lost in her little world, loving that she had the opportunity to be free, to feel something, anything other than hurt and pain. I dragged the suitcases from the car and tentatively came to stand next to her.
“I hope you like gardening, because I can’t garden for shit and those trees are gonna be wild by the end of the month if it’s left to me.”
She smiled, and holy shit, did that do something to me.
“Mmm hmm,” she said, a sound that if spoken by anyone else, I would’ve dismissed in a heartbeat. But from her, it was the sweetest fucking sound I’d heard in a hell of a long time. It was asound. An acknowledgement that she’d liked the idea of something. She wanted to tend to the gardens; the thought of it made her fucking happy. It probably sounded like the lamest thing, but that noise, from her, made me want to do fucking cartwheels across the driveway.
“Cool,” was all I could manage in response. But my heart just swelled to double its size.
* * *
We stepped into the hallway,which was light, airy and clean. The staircase in front of us was a glass and chrome masterpiece. The Contis could’ve done with hiring Luca’s interior designer. The place was much more to my taste than their baroque shithole. I was gonna enjoy hiding out here. Sure, I’d miss other things, but it was no hardship being hauled up in a state of the art beach house, with a challenge all of my own. I loved a challenge, and getting Wednesday to open up to me was going to be the ultimate.
I left our cases in the hallway and strolled into the main room which overlooked the bay. It had an open-plan kitchen-living area space, perfect for all the parties we wouldn’t be having. The windows ran the length of the room and a pool with sun loungers was just outside the patio doors. The glitter of the moonlight bouncing off the water made it look magical, ethereal. I didn’t suggest a dip though. It was enough that I’d got her here and through the front door.
“Let’s check out the bedrooms.” I felt like a kid on his holidays, racing around his temporary home for the weeks to come, unable to contain his excitement. She just shrugged and stared out the windows. I guessed nature was her thing. I’d have to take her onto the beach in the morning, maybe even get her into the sea. Who knew? Maybe this could turn out to be better than I thought.
The house had four bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom. I offered Wednesday the biggest room at the back with a balcony leading off it, but she took one look at the double doors leading to the outside area and shook her head violently. The easier access into the room from outside probably spooked her out, so I took that room. She decided to take the one farthest away from mine, with a simple single bed and one small window that even a toddler would’ve had trouble climbing through. It was her choice, and if it made her feel safer then I was all for that. I wheeled her case into the room and left it in the middle of the floor for her.
“Well, it’s been a long night.” I fake yawned and stretched my arms above my head. “Think I’m gonna unpack and then hit the sack. Are you good?”
She nodded and gave me a small smile. Not as bright as the one she gave on the doorstep, but I’d take what I could.
“Try to get some rest. They won’t find us here. We are one hundred percent safe, okay?” Another nod and then I left, closing her door.
Not two seconds later, I heard the scraping of furniture from inside her room. She was putting something in front of her door, barricading herself in. All my reassurances and she still didn’t trust me. I supposed I should’ve expected nothing less, but it still hurt. I was one of the good guys. Hadn’t I shown that?
* * *
I boltedupright in my bed, the howl of a blood-curdling scream echoing down the hallway and into my room.
What the hell? Had they found us?
