Page 109 of The Sound Of Us

“I won’t be an invalid. And yes, he would.”

“No, he wouldn’t. He has a whole life up there. I checked him out on the internet. Lots of boyfriends, none of them like you.”

“He cares about me.”

“Everyone cares about cancer patients, Axel. It’s nothing to brag about.”

“I want to leave, Frank. Open the door and let me go.” I’ll walk out with the clothes on my back. My beloved beaded bracelet and my mother’s letters lie scattered on the floor. Yet another thing Frank has stolen from me. But I’ll survive that too.

He gets up and in two strides, he’s in my face. “You’ll fucking stay here. You move when I say you can move. And if you think you can so easily walk out on me and gallop off into the sunset with that deaf fuckin’ cunt, you’ve got another thing coming. I’ll fuckin’ shoot him while you watch. Do you understand me, you fuckin’ ungrateful cock-whore?”

The roar of a truck down the street reaches my devastated ears. Frank doesn’t hear it. The sound of Eli’s truck means nothing to him.

“My work, Frank,” I plead. “At least let me go to work.” Desperation finding new heights to climb.

He grins. “Say, I’m an ungrateful cock-whore first. Then I’ll let you go to work. I promise.” He flattens his palm on the wall next to my head.

The sound of Eli’s car lessens with every second that passes. I need to get to him. To the bookstore at least where I can get hold of my phone. I can’t tell which direction his truck went in. If he didn’t go back home, then I need my phone.

“I—I—I’m an ungrateful cock-whore,” I whisper.

“Yes, Axel. You’re right. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to put it. You’re not always dumb. You should believe in yourself sometimes.”

“I’ll tell Mrs Flannigan I had an emergency and that I’ll open the store late,” I say.

Frank pushes himself off the wall and straightens to his full height. If I wanted to look at him, I’d have to crane my neck all the way up. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of asserting such a power dynamic.

“You’re so stupid, Axel. You’re not going anywhere.”

“You said you’d let me go to work,” I breathe.

“No, I didn’t.” He smiles and flicks my cheek with his thumb and middle finger. “You’ll stay in this fucking room until I decide to let you out.”

Chapter 57

Eli

It had been my phone vibrating in my hand with an incoming text that had woken me up. I’d searched for Axel first before checking my phone. And then, my whole life fell apart.

I’m sorry to do this in a text, Mr. Saxon, but I struggled to get you on a video call. Your mother has been rushed to the hospital. She’s had a heart attack. Please return home as soon as possible.

There’s terror in my bones that I’ll lose my mother while I’m hours away from her and that she’ll be alone.

I need to get Axel and Pepper so we can get on our flight.

But I can’t find Axel. Frank said he’d left for the bookstore, but I don’t trust that motherfucker as far as I can throw him. He seemed too calm for someone who’d caught his husband cheating. Not that I care about how Frank felt or the fact that I’m leaving River Valley with his husband shortly, but something seemed off.

Maybe there was something of sentimental value at the bookstore that Axel needed.

I race to the bookstore.

It’s closed. It’s past eight, but that’s not unusual because today’s opening time is not until nine a.m.. But I hadn’t seen Axel on the way here. I drive around the back, the way he showed me the last time when we met here at the bookstore. The ride takes me back to the woods and past my house and then his house again. Nothing.

I turn my car back and head into town once again.

Calls to Mrs. Dalton go to voicemail. She must be in the air right now. And the same with Ben. He must be on his way to his exam.

I can’t think of anyone else I can ask. I’d try the police, but they don’t take kindly to adulterers over here. I park outside the bookstore and cut the engine. The street is busy with workers and residents, but the bookstore is deserted.

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