Page 20 of Kingpin's Secret Baby

Unfortunately, the food is settling like rocks in my stomach. The last words I said to Piers are on repeat in my head. The future he wants for me seems even more hopeless than the path Achilles set me on.

I need to get out of here. Alone. Somehow, I need to find my own way.

I don’t realize how much the wound in my side has settled until I push myself out of the booth and pain flares through my side again. I ignore it, striding with purpose toward the door. I hear Piers call after me, but I don’t stop. The light outside is blinding, but I ignore it and barrel down the sidewalk, my ears ringing with the sound of traffic and the screaming in my own mind.

Do I have any idea where I’m going? No. Am I going to get there anyway? If it’s the last thing I do.

“Fantasia!”

I shake my head, as if that will be enough to deter him. Realistically, even trying to kill him didn’t drive the man away. Piers catches up to me in seconds, cutting me off before I even make it to the corner.

“Where the hell are you trying to go?” he demands.

“That’s none of your-”

“Business, right, of course,” he interrupts with a huff. “Except it is. You wanna know why?”

“I don’t, actually-”

“Because I fucking care about you,” he snaps, losing his patience with me at last. “And Achilles might have given up on you, andyoumight have given up on you, but I haven’t. And honestly, I think that’s just what you like. Why else would you try to stop me from leaving earlier, hm?”

I have no argument against that, just like I didn’t when we were both facing each other in the den. Luckily, it seems Piers doesn’t expect a response. “Really, I’m just doing what you wanted. I’m staying. I’m going to make sure you’re okay.”

What if I don’t want to be okay?I think it, but I’ll never say it. “You’re wasting your time,” I tell him instead. “And mine. Just leave me alone, Piers.”

I try to get past him, but he steps in front of me again. “Fine, we won’t go back to London-”

“Thereis.No.We-”

“Can you listen, please?” Piers demands. I jut my chin out at him defiantly, but he goes on. “You’re hurt, and I’m tired, and we both need showers. Let me get us a room at a motel. That way we can get some rest, and we’re not trying to have this conversation on the side of the road.”

The thing about Piers is that he’s an opportunist. If you give him an inch, he’ll take the whole mile. I know that if I agree to a motel room it’ll be that much harder to get him to leave later.

But at the same time, the moment my brain catches on the idea of laying in a bed with sheets and pillows and blessed silence- my resolve crumbles to pieces.

My jaw still painfully set, I give Piers a single nod.

And just like I knew it would, his face lights up in a smile. Mile, taken.

Chapter 11

Fantasia

The motel Piers finds for us is the single most disgusting place I’ve ever been in my life- worse even than the diner we just left, if that’s possible. The wallpaper is peeling in jagged strips, revealing water-stained drywall beneath, and the faded pattern is mottled with brownish stains I don’t want to identify. Thin, grimy curtains hang limp over the window, allowing streaks of hazy light to illuminate dust particles swirling through the stale air.

A damp, musty smell clings to the air, undercut by a sickly-sweet scent, as if someone tried- and failed- to mask the odor. There’s a suspicious stain spreading across the ceiling, the water damage forming dark, swollen bubbles that look ready to burst.

In the bathroom, mildew curls around the sink’s drain in fuzzy green-black patches, and the mirror above it is fogged with age, streaked with fingerprints and water spots. A single dim bulb flickers overhead, buzzing faintly like it’s struggling to stay alive. I feel dirtier just standing here.

“Cozy,” Piers remarks as he locks the flimsy door behind us. At least there is a lock, though I can’t imagine it’ll hold up under even a stern glare.

Speaking of glares, I fix my best one at him. “You grew up in an orphanage. Forgive me if I find your taste lacking.”

He responds with his new sharp-edged grin. “I saw what you did with Wesley Hall when you had it. You didn’t even finish updating the wiring.”

I turn my back on him, but the room is too small to escape him and I don’t want to spend time in the bathroom unless I absolutely have to. There’s no safety outside, no peace in here. My own body feels like a cage around my soul, tightening more and more until I want to scream.

“A hot shower might help,” Piers says behind me.

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