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Zella and I were an opposites-attract sort of thing. We just clicked. I always felt so lucky to have my cousin become a best friend. I would have struggled in Minton without her guidance.
Just like I would have struggled the first month in Elko if not for Amity. The other girls are nice enough, sometimes catty, but never mean. The Overlook felt like a fun place, but I was homesick, worried about my mom, scared about telling Lowell he was my dad, and pretending to be someone I wasn’t. Amity’s calm, rather passive personality comforted me. Within days, I was attached to her.
But I worried Needy and Amity wouldn’t mesh. My mom doesn’t trust overly soft people. Aunt Immee acts docile, but it’s not her natural state. Needy and Immee grew up fighting to survive. Yet, they both learned to soften up their exteriors to make them pleasing to people, especially men. This is why my mother doesn’t trust soft people. She figures they’re hiding their true colors, just like she did.
Since she left Elko, my mom never had any real girlfriends. I was the only person she trusted. So, clearly, I had a good reason to worry over what she would think of Amity.
But I stressed over nothing. My roommate is super laidback and always submissive. She just wants people to chill and have a good time. For too long, Needy was trapped with a man who constantly berated her over every little thing. Her idea of a good day is to burp loudly and fart freely. If she also gets to listen to decent music and eat without counting calories, Needy considers life blissful. She and Amity get along easily. They’ve both happily lived the bunny life. Needy also understands Amity’s crap childhood made her weak.
“Life was too complicated too early for her,” Mom said one day when we were alone. “It fucked up her coping skills. Some people get hard and create a shell. Some never learn how to protect their hearts.”
“Were you hard?” I asked.
“For a while. I loved being a bunny because it offered all the fun and none of the responsibility. I never really wanted a man. I’m glad you found Conor, but I didn’t have it in me to open up like that with anyone. Until you,” she said and hugged me tightly.
I admittedly cried. Though I’m not usually emotional, I went from feeling alone in the world to being surrounded by my favorite people.
“I don’t like crying,” Amity says when she, Needy, and I are out for lunch at Bambi’s Bar & Grill. “It feels like people can poke at me since I’m defenseless.”
“Then only cry when you’re alone or with people you trust,” Needy says, stroking the brunette’s back.
Amity grins at me, and I’m hit by the loss of Zella again. Back in Minton, I dreamed of running off to somewhere warmer. Needy, Zella, and I could start over together. When the three of us were out shopping or at a movie, I’d imagine us living somewhere else. That dream felt so real.
And it sorta came true for Mom and me. Zella’s gone, but we have Amity. While Ohio isn’t the beach, it offers my dad and the sexiest man on the planet. Plus, Elko comforts my heart. I often hear the roar of motorcycles in the distance and find myself smiling. These are my people, and I’m home.
But I’m not untouchable in Elko. As we walk to my car, I spot fear in Amity’s eyes as someone approaches us from behind. Not so long ago, we stole Needy away from Dumpster, Kansas. Did that trouble find us here?
Swinging around, I’m ready to fight Francis’s assholes until the Executioners can show up and finish them off.
Except these dillweeds aren’t from Kansas.
“David Clive?” I gasp when I find my tall, beefy, dark-haired cousin grabbing for me.
“Don’t be a cow, eh?” he mutters as his meaty hand grips my arm.
Without thinking, I kick David Clive in the balls. “Why are you here?” I scream, shoving him away from me as he groans in pain.
“I shoulda wore a cup,” he mumbles to his approaching brother, Brian Clive.
Needy elbows the older McNamee boy and yells, “Run!” to Amity and me.
Before we can return to the restaurant's front doors, Brian Clive swings his big hand after us. He snags Needy’s loose hair, and my mom ends up on her ass at his feet. Hearing her pained grunt, I stop moving between the cars and return to help my mom. Unable to stop herself, Amity follows.
“Get off her,” I growl at Brian Clive, who rolls his eyes. I slap his face and then yank at his dark beard. “Leave us alone!”
David Clive stops comforting his balls and walks over to help his brother. His first move is to punch me in the side of the head. The world nearly goes dark as I come crashing down on the asphalt. Gasping in horror, Needy twists around on her butt and kicks David Clive’s legs.
“Stop being cows and just get in the fucking car,” David Clive mutters as he lifts Needy by her hair. “We don’t wanna pop you in the head.”
“You already hit your cousin!” Mom yells while throwing punches that he mostly dodges.
“She hit me first,” he whines.
Needy must remember where I hit David Clive because she immediately knees him in the balls.
“Block that shit,” Brian Clive growls at his little brother. “You’ll lose a cheese puff if you can’t dodge a lady’s knee.”
“Don’t hassle me. Just get them in the car.”
“I’m doing that,” Brian Clive says, dragging me toward one of Uncle Clive’s many black SUVs.
I wait until I have leverage against the vehicle before I turn to punch and kick at Brian Clive. My cousin rolls his eyes and slams me hard against the side of the SUV. My breath comes gushing out from the impact. Rather than inspiring me to submit, the pain sets off my temper.
“Stop rolling your eyes,” I mutter as Brian Clive opens the door and tries to shove me inside. “Chicks hate that shit.”
“Chicks love me,” he says, reverting to the version of him that must argue with me over everything. “They think I’m the bomb.”
“No, they think your wallet is,” I say, wedging myself against the doorjamb so he can’t shove me inside the SUV.
“Stop fighting.”
“Stop fucking with me, Brian Clive.”
“Get in the car!” David Clive yells so loudly that he even startles his brother. “Or I’m shooting this cow!”
First, I see Needy on the ground, hurt but still ready to fight. Then, I notice David Clive’s mouth is bloody from Needy’s punches. Finally, my gaze focuses on the way his gun presses against a passive Amity’s head.
“I will fucking kill her if you don’t get in that fucking car!” he screams, and I wonder if his damaged balls short-wired his brain.
“She’s Zella’s age,” I tell Brian Clive, who keeps my back shoved against the SUV as he studies his brother.
“Yeah, but she ain’t Zella.”
“Think of how much life your sister lost. Are you going to let him kill that innocent girl? She didn’t even hurt you. Threaten me, not her,” I ask, fighting tears. “Please, Brian Clive.”
Despite being the older, gruffer brother, Brian Clive is also a huge mama’s boy. He loves when Immee pampers him. The fucker is like a big kid when it comes to his mom’s tender touch. I think that’s why he’s got a soft spot for crying girls. Now, he sees me almost in tears and Amity whimpering as his stupid brother shoves a gun against her pretty head.
“Look,” he tells me, “we gotta take you back. That’s what Pa decided. You can get in the car and deal with shit, or you can let that innocent girl deal with it. I don’t have many options here. Now, what’s it gonna be?”
I look at Needy for the answer. Leaving Elko with Clive’s boys could seal our fate. He might just want us back under his thumb, and Conor can fix things later. Or we might end up dead as soon as we reach Minton.
I look at Amity’s timid face and imagine whatever horrors she suffered years ago. They’re dripping off her now. She’s just a girl wanting to feel safe. That gun is against her head because she chose to be my friend. I can’t let her die.
“Zella died with her eyes open,” I whisper, and Brian Clive tightens his grip on my arm. “She died afraid.”
“Quit talking about my sister.”
“Tell David Clive to stop pointing that gun at her head before he accidentally pulls the trigger. We’ll go with you. No more fighting.”
Brian Clive gets close to my face, doing that thing his dad does where he sizes up if someone’s lying. Except Clive McNamee is a smart guy with a natural bullshit detector. His sons are just watered-down versions of the man they want to be.
“Fine, get in the car,” he mutters, and I climb into the SUV. Once he sees I’ve behaved, he says, “David Clive, ease up on the cow. Needy, get in the fucking car with your kid. I want to get out of this godforsaken state.”
Needy says something to Amity and strokes her cheek tenderly before hurrying over to me. Brian Clive binds our wrists with plastic ties before shutting the door. David Clive waits until we’re secured before he lets Amity go. She doesn’t even look back before hurrying toward the restaurant.
“It’s okay,” Needy promises me as my cousins take the front seats. “I told Amity to get a ride home from her husband, Conor.”
Nodding, I don’t smile at Needy’s signal to Amity. I play everything calmly. But there is no fucking way I’m behaving for a fifteen-hour drive to North Dakota. Somewhere between Elko and Minton, I’m kicking my cousins in the balls again.
However, my initial plan is to remain patient and wait for Conor to find us. The Executioners know Ohio. We’ll never get out of the state. My cousins were also stupid to grab us at the club’s restaurant. Soon, the Executioners will bear down on Clive’s boys. I just need to be patient while the local badasses do their thing.
Then, I catch sight of the highway overpass, which looms large in Elko. Despite my rational planning, I also sense my new life slipping away. Worse still, what will Conor feel when he learns I’m gone? Every morning, when he wakes up, he looks to make sure I’m nearby. Conor needs me, and my dillweed cousins are stealing away our future.
Rather than wait patiently to be saved, I lean over, rest my back on Needy’s lap, and aim at the window. Both feet make contact, shattering the glass and scaring the shit out of Brian Clive, who swerves the SUV.
“Fucking cow!”
My mother looks down at me, and we share a smile. Yeah, today will likely end badly, but letting our new life go without a fight isn’t an option.
Brian Clive pulls off the main road onto a smaller one and slams the brakes. I know he plans to tie us up better or hurt me enough to behave. I’m ready for him, kicking at his beefy face as soon as he yanks open my door. His dark eyes meet mine, and I feel the same rage as I see in his gaze.
Then, we both hear the roar of approaching motorcycles, and our moods shift to very different places.
