Page 10 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

The clerk jumped.

Riley looked away. “Is the card reader working?”

“For now.” The clerk slid my candy into a paper bag, eyeing me like I was going to pounce on him.

If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have used cash. But the machines were usually down so I didn’t bother putting all my earnings into the bank.

Riley hurried over to pay for her wine as the lights above us flickered again. “Sorry. I just don’t want to be a burden.”

“You’re never a burden.” I grabbed her by the shoulders, staring into my reflection on her sunglasses and searching for her eyes underneath. “I want you to promise me that you won’t think that about yourself. You’re a badass bitch who doesn’t deserve anything that’s happened. We’re done with Drew and we’re getting out of here.”

The ground started to shake beneath us.

“Not again,” I whined.

We both ducked down under the ledge of the counter, waiting as the earthquake rocked the gas station.

The light bulbs went out all at once. Shelves that were bolted to the floor rattled, but they stayed upright. Wood dust came down from the ceiling, but the beams remained in place.

“At least six points,” Riley said as she held my hand. I nodded in agreement.

By this time in our lives, we all had a general idea of the magnitude of the various earthquakes. And they were getting more frequent. Bigger. Scarier. I wasn’t sure how much longer the world could keep patching things together.

The aftershocks eased. Riley and I both stood, leaning on each other to get up.

The clerk switched on a lantern and returned to his calculator. “The card reader is out. Cash only tonight.”

∞

“I’ll pay you back,” Riley said again as we grabbed the bags and Dobby’s crate out of the trunk of the Bronco.

“It’sfine,” I stressed the word.

But no amount of me telling her that eased her discomfort. I hated Drew for what he’d done to my friend. She used to be so vibrant. So bold. In college, she was the first to jump naked into the icy lake. The sarcastic one with all the crazy plans.

Now every step she took was on eggshells.

Part of me wanted to sneak back over to the trailer park and burn him alive. But being a good friend sometimes meant standing back and picking up the broken pieces. I needed to be there for her when she made her choices.

She wanted to leave. That meant I had to get over my own shit real quick.

I sighed as I closed the tailgate, heading to the darkened house.

Willow lived in a cul-de-sac of single-story homes in the suburbs outside of Portland. She and Sam had gotten it dirt cheap years ago, before inflation shot interest rates through the sky.

I’d been crashing on her couch for the past month. Robberies in the area were getting worse and she’d wanted some extra eyes on the place. Since I got off late and had decent aim with my pistol, it all worked out.

Giving up my studio apartment felt like one step closer to this inevitable day, but it wasn’t like I’d been attached to it anyway. I’d moved so many times that none of the places I’d rented over the years felt like home.

“What took you so long?” Willow stood in the open front doorway.

Dim candlelight flickered in the living room. Her straight blonde hair was tied into a braid that fell down the front of her silk lavender pajama set.

Even without makeup, she had a regal face that would’ve been better suited to a royal court than a PTO meeting.

“Did you message her?” Riley tossed an accusatory look over her shoulder.

I put my hands in the air. “I did not.”

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