Page 49 of Whiskey Shivers

“Where did you get off to?” she asked me, and I was pleased to see she was smiling. Seems the rest of the boys and Alina had kept her spirits up in my absence and I was grateful.

“Oh, Louie and I went on down to the school and brought your car home for you, for when you get to feeling like you can drive it,” I said, and the corners of her mouth lifted that much more.

“You think of everything, don’t you?” she asked. I slid into the seat beside her, my thigh along hers, and gave the top of her knee a squeeze.

“I try, baby. I try,” I said.

She tucked into my side, and we enjoyed the rest of our Wednesday night, cuttin’ up with the boys and having a ball, tellin’ stories and the like.

Thursday night, the plan went into motion. I got home, took my shower, and had some dinner with my lady when she brought up the fact that Alina had invited her out to see her business over the weekend.

I played it cool, leaning back in my seat and sayin,’ “You mind if I take you on out there tonight?”

“Tonight?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said simply, and let myself drink her in, patiently waiting to see how this was gonna go.

She set down her fork and asked, “Club business?”

I nodded and she sighed quietly and leaned back in her seat. Her smile was both wan and brittle, but she was brave and good about it. She said, “Yeah, tonight sounds good.”

“Might not be able to pick you up until Monday or Tuesday,” I told her gently and she nodded.

“That should be okay. I don’t have any appointments until Friday.”

I nodded and said, “Finish your dinner for me, baby, and we’ll go pack you a bag.”

“Alright,” she murmured, but I could tell that her appetite had fled.

“You alright?” I asked a few moments later when she’d been too quiet for too long.

“I’m worried,” she confessed. “About you. Promise me you’ll be safe.”

I chuckled and shifted in my seat.

“Safe as can be, I promise you,” I said.

She nodded slowly but still wrestled with it; I could tell. I helped her pack some bags – one with clothes and the like, one with some books and crafting shit that I had no idea what it was or how any of it worked, and finally, her laptop.

She’d set her worry aside for the time being and now was asking a million questions about where we were going and what it was like. Questions that I just laughingly put off with a “You’ll see,” and a “Just wait ‘til we get there, darlin’.”

She was adorable. Right before she got up into my truck, she captured my hand with hers. I looked her in the eyes in the dim light of sunset and she had such a sincere look in them.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

I bent and kissed her. It was as sweet and true as the first time every time she let me do it.

“You don’t have to thank me for nothin’ any time I do it,” I said, and she smiled. It was almost serene.

“That’s precisely why I do,” she said. With a little smirk, I jerked my head in the direction of the open doorway. She climbed up into the truck and got herself seated. Even though she didn’t need it, I stepped up on the runner board and belted her in. I liked caring for her, and it was probably a thing I would continue to do.

She smacked a kiss on my cheek before I could step back down, and I loved the sound of her giggle.

I drove us out to La Croix’s family place on the edge of the swamp out there, east of the city. The headlights swept his shadowy figure standing under the big ol’ tree in the house’s side yard, the Spanish moss hanging over him, his black eyes glittering in the sudden illumination. I felt my Fable stiffen momentarily, her leg muscles coiling under my hand where it rested atop her thigh.

“Well, that belonged in a horror movie,” she said flatly, and I laughed.

“Leatherface eat your heart out?” I asked and she shook her head.

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