It didn’t take me long, and I used the plastic bag that went over the motel’s hair dryer. Cavers was still in the bathroom when I showed it to Raize. “Done.”
His eyebrows pulled in. “There’s nothing in there.”
“I don’t have anything to start with.”
He gave me a look. “What do you have?”
“Two pairs of underwear, one pair of socks, a sports bra, and two changes of clothes.”
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“Money?”
“Whatever you give me.”
He shook his head. “That’s it? You don’t have anything extra on you?”
“You’re the only boss that’s paid me.”
His eyes went flat at that, and he ran a hand over his face. “There’s nothing in here. There’s no point in even doing this bag.” He nodded to the bathroom door. “He comes out, you tell him I went to get food.”
I glanced to the door, but felt Raize move up behind me.
My shirt lifted.
I stiffened, holding my breath.
He pushed something cold and firm into the back of my pants and returned my shirt to its proper place. “You sit. If he moves at you, you shoot him. Got me?”
Fuuck. My mouth was so dry, but I nodded. “Got it.”
He was gone in the next second, and I was left with the shower running in Cavers’ bathroom and my heart pounding in my chest. It was deafening.
I heard Cavers come out of the bathroom and walk through his room. He came to the doorway of my room with a wet head and new clothes on.
He glanced around. “Where’d they go?”
My mouth was so dry. I could feel the weight of that gun against my back. “Raize went to get food. Jake’s doing an errand.” I didn’t know if I was supposed to share that last bit, but lying came naturally to me—another skill I didn’t like, but needed for survival.
Also, I didn’t even know if I was lying. Raize might’ve actually gone for food.
He nodded, blinking. I noticed the deep bags under his eyes. “Good. I’m fucking tired and hungry. Mind if I close this so I can take a nap?”
“Raize doesn’t want that closed.”
He narrowed his eyes. I tensed, expecting a fight, but he only nodded again. “Okay. Ignore my snores then.”
I nodded, but didn’t move—not even when I heard him collapse on the bed I couldn’t see. A minute or so later, when I heard his snores, some of my stiffness loosened. There’d be no fight, no sudden… I didn’t know what I was expecting. Still, I sat in the same position until forty minutes later when Raize came through the door.
It opened soundlessly, and he paused, taking everything in.
He didn’t speak. I didn’t speak. He came in, shut the door, still silent, and moved to glance into the other room.
He had another two guns on him, both handguns. He also had food with him and he tossed the bag of food on the table in front of me. He put one of the guns on the dresser and disappeared into the other room for a bit. When he came back, he had all the bags with him. He set them in the corner before going back and returning with Cavers’ personal bag and phone. He put everything on the counter before closing the door and locking it.
After that, he closed his eyes, resting his forehead to the door for a millisecond. Then his neck straightened, his back went rigid again, and he turned, skimming his dead eyes over me before going to the bathroom. He kept one of the guns on him, while he washed up.
“Do you need to take a shower?” he asked after a moment
It was then that I felt like I could relax, as much as I normally could.
I stood and pulled his gun from my jeans.
He waved at me. “You need to keep that.”
“I don’t know how to shoot it.”
He narrowed his eyes, his head cocking to the side. “You don’t?”
I shook my head. “It was my line. Before.” I handed him the gun.
He took it. “Your line?”
“You know, we all have a line we won’t cross. Shooting a gun was mine.”
His eyes darkened, and he gave me the gun back. “That’s a seriously stupid line. You need to learn how to shoot.”
I was aware, but I just didn’t want to tell him that. Or, not yet. I’d wait until Jake became a pain in my ass about getting Raize’s approval before he taught me to shoot. I didn’t know why I was doing this, but I dunno. Maybe it was a new line?
I yawned, lying down on the bed by the door.
“Switch.”
“What?”
Raize took his bag and the guns he’d put on the other bed, the one closer to the bathroom. “Sleep here.” He put everything on the end of the bed I was currently lying on. “I’ll do watch until Jake gets back.”
I was not going to argue with that. My head was now bobbing since I’d given myself permission to let the exhaustion seep in. It came hard and fast.