Page 27 of Pocketful of You

Jesus Christ.

Danger. I knew I was in it, surrounded by it, facing it. Problem was, I wasn't seeing the whole picture. I was blinded and at a disadvantage. Something was off. My whole damn life was off. Asking questions wasn’t getting me anywhere.

I needed a goddamn break.

No, I needed Romi.

Right fucking now!

"Who the fuck are you?" I managed to slur, vision blurring in and out.

"The name's Lucky. Your buddy the cowboy sent me." Smirking, the man inclined his chin towards me. "Hurts like a bitch the first time you get shot, huh?"

"Ah yes," another grizzly looking man mused fondly as he appeared in my peripheral vision, armed with a sawed-off shot gun. "I remember it well."

Shot?"What the fuck –" I was too hoarse and croaky to make sense of anything. Trying again, I cleared my throat, licked my lips, and released a pained groan. "Romi." I swallowed again. "Where's my girl?"

"Took me three days to locate you, fullback," the blond man said. "Your daddy did a mighty fine job at making you disappear." Grinning, he walked over to my bed and sat down. "Unlucky for him, I'm all too familiar with the underground Mexican healthcare system." He withdrew a big-ass syringe from the pocket of his hoodie and flicked the cap off. "You and I are gonna take a ride, fullback."

It was at that exact moment in time that I registered the man bound and gagged in the corner and the monitors surrounding me decided to go haywire, beeping and flashing wildly. Squinting, I tried to focus on the man's savagely beaten face.

Holy shit. "Dad?"

"Sleep well, kid," the blond guy said moments before he stuck me in the neck with the damn needle.

Motherfucker!

13

Romi

For the second time in my life, I'd watched somebody take their last breath.

For the second time in my life, that person had been of significant importance to me.

First, Chris.

Then,my mother.

Numb.

I couldn’t feel a thing.

Not anymore.

Not ever again.

Having spent most of the night vomiting and dry-heaving, I collapsed on the plush, queen-sized bed in the luxurious room I'd been shown to.

Rolling onto my side, I curled up in the smallest ball I could and just…stayedlike the good girl I was.

Stay, Romi.

Run, Romi.

Quiet, Romi.

Forgive me, Romi.

---