“Well, it’s not the Ritz, but it’s the best we can do in our current location,” Antonio says, opening the door to the local truck stop. It’s the only place besides the motel diner to get food around here.
The place is like I pictured it when Antonio said we’d eat at a truck stop. Old leather booths and a long countertop where guys eat wearing baseball caps hunched over a plate of food. There’s a bathroom to the side and at least four pots of coffee brewing behind the counter. I’ve never been a person to drink coffee in the afternoon, but my years of hospitality have shown me I’m the odd one out. People drink the brown sludge any time of the day.
Antonio and his briefcase pass me as he slides into the booth first. The corner of the leather box bashes me in the knee. Everyone sure is going to a lot of trouble for this outdated piece of luggage that’s older than I am.
As soon as the three of us — me, Antonio, and the aptly named Gooney — sit, a waitress plops down three menus and asks for drink orders.
“Just water for me, please,” I order, nervously opening my menu and trying to find something to eat if Antonio lets me order for myself today.
Under normal circumstances, there’s no way I’d be out with him again, but I want to get this briefcase for Lukis. The problem is, I don’t know how. The cool leather rests against the outside of my calf, but it’s not like I can grab it and make a run for it. I don’t have a car here, and I’m not dumb. My odds of making it out the front door with the briefcase are slim to none. I should have given my plan a little more thought before I agreed to meet Antonio. With more time, I could have concocted a great escape rather than spending my afternoon locked in the room making googly eyes at Lukis.
I suck at this spy business.
The waitress gets Antonio’s drink order, and he smiles in my direction a little too hard. “Water for me as well. And also, a jar of peanut butter.”
“Peanut butter?” the waitress asks.
“Yes, the entire jar.”
“We buy in bulk so it’s a big jar.” The waitress taps her pen on her order pad, annoyed at being held up.
Antonio smiles deeper. “That’s okay. I need a lot.”
The waitress stares at him for another second or two and then lifts her shoulder and turns, walking back to the kitchen.
My knee bounces, the heel of my foot tapping against the tile floor. “So, have you been here before?” I ask out of sheer nervousness.
Antonio runs his hand over my shorts and stops on my uncovered knee. His fingers dig into the sides, pressing into my skin and my knee stops jiggling.
He leans closer, and his breath whispers against my ear. “You know, Bella, if this had turned out differently, I would’ve loved fucking you. It’s a shame.”
My head whips in his direction. “What?”
He squeezes my knee harder, the bones rubbing together. Antonio slides closer, the leather of the seat squeaking. He stops once our bodies touch, lining up from hip to leg. The leather briefcase the only thing between us. The mobster smiles, but as we stare at each other, the tips of his lips fall down and his expression becomes evil — a look of pure terror I’ve never seen on anyone in my life. It’s like looking at the devil sitting beside me. My heart beats faster as my breath stalls. If I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, I’d make a joke about him sprouting horns. All earlier thoughts I had about living an adventurous life and being a cool spy like Lukis come rushing back. I wanted adventure but I’ll get a death sentence.
“Yesterday, all I wanted was to take you home with me. Screw around a little before I put you in with the rest of the them and pass you out to my friends. But now I know you’re working with Lukis Thompson, that’s not possible.”
“Lukis who?” I ask.
“Don’t play dumb,” Antonio says, squeezing his fingers together against my knee. The pain is so thick, I reach down to move his hand but it does no good. The tugs don’t affect him at all. “You look hot when you’re scared like a little rabbit. I like my women feisty. Lukis should know that. I’m disappointed he would send someone like you to get past me. You’re not my normal type at all. He’s gotten sloppy.”
The waitress stops at the table, carrying a huge bucket that must be at least five pounds of peanut butter. It’s so heavy, she uses both hands to carry it. Antonio stops sneering to look up and smile in her direction. The waitress, Jasmine written across her name badge, smiles back as she scooches the peanut butter to the middle of the table.
“We need a few more minutes before we order,” Antonio says, like we’re in the most normal situation in the world.
The waitress smiles and nods, tucking her order pad back into a fold of her apron. And then without a second look in my direction, she turns and walks away, leaving me here at a table with two madmen. One is grabbing my knee and threatening me, and the other is sitting across the table pretending he doesn’t hear any of it.
“Do you know my favorite way to kill someone?” Antonio asks leaning into my ear again.
I swallow hard and shake my head.
“We kill them,” he says, his smile growing, the evil look stretched across his features. “Then we cover them in peanut butter and leave them for the animals in the woods. Also works for the desert, if you’re in a pinch.”
My heart stops beating. Really, it just stops beating. Antonio taps the side of the jar of peanut butter, his fingernail not making a sound against the plastic container.
“I like to call it a teddy bear picnic. We consider it our own special little way to give back to the wildlife. Conservation efforts are important in America. There’s so much urban sprawl going on, I like to think we do our part to keep the animals fed.” His eyes widen, waiting for me to look at the jar of peanut butter, but I can’t move my head.
Across the table, Gooney laughs.
“I could scream,” I say. Sure, it’s a feeble defense but I don’t have anything else going for me.
It doesn’t seem to faze Antonio at all. “Yes, you could, but no one here cares. Have you seen the police force? There’s a reason I put up with staying at the shitty motel. The place has a cop but I’m sure he’s related to Barney Fife. Just like all worthless pigs. He couldn’t stop me if they caught it on camera.”
“Lukis will come after you.” I don’t know if he will or not, but I like to think he’d care at least a bit. Enough to avenge my death.
Antonio laughs . . . He doesn’t care. “Maybe, but you’ll already be dead so what does it matter to you?” He pulls the briefcase off the floor and sets it on the table. “I know you’re after my baby, but you’ll never get it. I watch this thing like a hawk.” He laughs again. “I love it more than my children.”
Antonio unlocks the case, and the top pops open. Inside, the papers sit as he put them when I watched on the camera earlier. He pulls a few pieces off the stack and lays them across the table. I get a good look but the font is tiny and my brain can’t focus. It’s a bunch of times and dates listed beside random places across the country. Towns I’ve never heard of before. Shepherdsville, White Grass, Westford, they all blend together on the page. I skim the top page over and over to work the towns and at least one time a day into my head, but it’s no use. My brain is frantic trying to find a way out of the booth before Antonio can do whatever he does with the peanut butter for a teddy bear picnic.
“Now I want you to pull out your cell phone and call Lukis to tell him goodbye for me.”
“You want me to call Lukis?” I ask, pulling my phone from my back pocket with shaky movements. I use my fingerprints on lock the screen, missing the first two times because I can’t line it up correctly. The screen lights up with notifications every time it doesn’t work.
I’m bumped hard on the right side of my body, a heavy force pushes me further into the booth against Antonio as I slide over to make room. The bodyguard across the seat tenses and tries to stand up, but he’s stopped by the tabletop.
“No need, Sugar Lips. I’m right here,” Lukis says staring down Antonio over my shoulders. “All under control, huh?”