Page 71 of Here for a Good Time
Leila purses her lips. “Do you also want to run a hot bath while you’re at it? Check out one of the suites? Take a dip in the infinity pool?”
The voices belong to two new cousins, who come to flank her on either side.
My heart skips several beats when I clock the four red gasoline cans they’re carrying. Judging by their posture when they place them on the floor, those cans are all full.
“Sure, if you’re offering,” one woman says. She’s got a buzz cut and is the largest out of the five of them, her tank top and leggings highlighting some serious muscles.
“Fuck me, Faith,” Leila sighs. “We’re so close to the end. Can you please stay focused?”
I recognize the other one’s bleached hair, and, remembering the earlier conversation, place her as Andrea. “Yes, I agree, can we get this over with?” Andrea nudges one of the cans with her toe. “The smell is starting to make me sick. Wha—” Her expression turns to confusion when her gaze lands on me and Zwe. “Wait, what’s going on? Leils, why are they being tied up?”
“Because we’re going to put on a show for them.” Garima flashes a sarcastic smile. “Why do you think?”
Andrea’s brown eyes widen until she looks like a cartoon character. Blindsided, she stutters out, “No, that wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Plan’s changed,” Leila says.
“And you’re all okay with this? We said no one would get hurt.” Andrea looks around at her other three cousins, who all glance in different directions to refuse eye contact. Nita gives my rope a final tight yank, and, satisfied, starts backing away.
Leila’s the only one who talks. “They know what we look like,” she says, gesturing at each of them.
“But—”
“They know you’re my cousins,” she adds. At that, Andrea shuts up. “If we let them go, all ofusgo to jail. Think of Raj. You guysjustgot engaged.”
Andrea’s throat bobs as she gulps. “But we can’tkillthem,” she says.
“Wewon’t,” Leila says. “The fire will.”
I don’t hear anything after the word “fire.”
This whole time, I had been turning my fists inward like Antonio had demonstrated and trying to free my right thumb, but as soon as I hear thef-word, it’s as though someone’s injected a paralytic drug into my veins. A fog settles over my skin and seeps under it, turning my muscles ice cold. I look over at Zwe, whose eyes have also glazed over.
Fire.Fire. Fire.It’s echoing in my head in Leila’s exact inflection.
Another puzzle piece slots into place.
There’s nowhere to hide or run, apart from right in the ocean.
She had told us their plan. Right to our faces. There was always going to be a fire.
“Why are you doing this?” Everyone’s heads whip in my direction. I blink, barely registering the tear that rolls down my cheek. “We didn’t do anything! Please let us go!” I yell, moving from denial to anger to bargaining in the span of five seconds.
Leila doesn’t even flinch. “You just have bad luck, I guess.” She hands two cans to Nita and Garima. “Start pouring.”
They take one each, walk to opposite corners of the reception area, and begin pouring gasoline all over the floor. The smell takes a second to hit, but once it does, it overpowers everything else.
“Leila, please, don’t do this. Let us go, please,” Zwe also begs.
But Leila acts as though he hasn’t said a word. She picks up the third can and hands it to Andrea.
Andrea.
“Andrea, you don’t want to do this,” I say, straining my neck so I can make eye contact. She squirms at my using her name, and when shedoeslook at me, she looks terrified. Maybe even remorseful. “Please, our parents are waiting for us at home.Wehave cousins and siblings, too. They’ll all be wondering what happened. Andrea—”
“Andrea.” Leila steps right in my line of vision, eyes narrowed into slits, jaw hardened, furious that I’ve addressed Andrea directly. When I strain my neck to try to see Andrea again, Leila swiftly shifts the gasoline can still in her hand so the spout is pointed in our direction. “Say my cousin’s name one more time, and I will douse both of you. I dare you to test me.”
I’m so desperate that Iwantto test her, but then I look at Zwe, and remember that I’m not the only one at risk here. So instead, I lower my gaze to the floor and helplessly watch a small trail of gasoline from one corner of the room snake its way parallel to my feet.
