Page 85 of Judas
“I saw your room. Cheer and what else?”
Settling next to me, she looks over confused. Taking that as a hint, I lay out what happened after my release.
“The Franklin newspaper posted a missing persons report for you before my release. Instead of going to the halfway house, which I may have a warrant for my arrest for not reporting, I went to your house. There was… a lot going on. Do you remember what happened?” I’m probing, she’s talkative and there are unanswered questions. Might be able to get a few of them answered while she’s like this.
“Lucien abducted me. I fought him but don’t remember much after he hit me. I came down the hallway and saw him standing over Father and knew he was dangerous.”
“Did you see him hurt anyone?”
“No, just you and me. The men at the cabin, well, one was already dead and—“
Practicing what Kace preached, I wait for her to continue. My impatience, and need to know immediately, fuels me to keep the conversation going. I hate the idea of her not talking more because I’m too engrossed to give her time to put together what she wants to say in order to keep going. Eventually, she continues.
“The… the other guy I killed.”
“Alright, coffee and Madeline cookies,” Kace announces when he comes into the room, cutting that part of our conversation short. In one hand he’s holding the bottom of both cups while the other mans the door and closes it with a firm thud. From his teeth, however, hangs the bag of goodies we loaded on him prior to coming back up here.
“Put in an order for a fresh pint of ice cream that they will have finished tomorrow. Sweet tooth about kicked me in the gut when he told me cinnamon roll is a flavor option. Couldn’t resist.” The man can talk his way through anything, swear by that. It makes me smile seeing a little bit of the ‘old’ him resurfacing. Not this hunt-’em-down-and-kill-’em-good fucker.
“You two good? I’ve got to get back to work.”
“We’re fine,” I respond to him, pulling my attention away and giving it back to Sadie.
Looking at him hurts. The way he looks disappointed when I don’t hold his gaze for long makes me think it hurts him too. We will get through this shit, it just takes time. There’s no point in rushing, I’m not going anywhere, and if his dedication is any indicator then neither is he.
His attention moves over to Sadie. “Hey Jarvis, you good over there?”
“Ew, did you just call me Jarvis?” She shoots back.
Kace snaps his head in my direction and I shrug.
“Do you know who Jarvis is?”
“Tony Stark’s artificial intelligence, duh.”
Ohhhhhh, I love where this is going.
“‘Duh?’ Baby… did…. Now hold on a damn minute. What do you mean by ‘duh?’”
“Everyone knows who Jarvis is. Now… if you wanna talk about Alfred, then we can.”
“Oh fuck no.”
He’s scowling at me now, like this was my doing. I can’t help but roll my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing at his dismay.
“Paternity test as soon as we get back to Pennsylvania."
“Don’t think that’s called for, since the resemblance is uncanny.”
“I’m insulted.”
“As you should be,” Sadie notes and I about lose it.
“Who the fuck is this kid?”
“Your daughter, Kace, congratulations.”
He was out of the room shortly after that, acting like it’s the end of the world. Gave me a good laugh, had a hell of a time holding it in honestly. Sadie and I sink into the rest ofSmokey and the Bandit, making it to the finale when I noticed she has slipped into sleep. She does that a lot too, fall asleep randomly—I wonder if it’s a side effect of her medication. I know those who take it have disrupted sleep patterns and abnormal changes when they start taking it. Now that she's gone weeks without her pills, it’s very likely she could be experiencing the changes again.
