Page 54 of Broken Queen
Zira
Outside, a landscaper’s leaf blower whizzed as he cleared up a few fallen leaves, and a golf cart zoomed across the lawn with my father in the passenger seat. An aching tension swelled in my chest. I bit my nails. It wouldn’t take long for my father to find out about Ernest. In fact, there was a good chance that he already knew. And I was supposed to know every detail so that I could use it to my advantage.
But I didn’t know anything.
Carter Care had called me the night before to confirm that everything went smoothly. Hazard had picked up Ernest, and had probably brought him to his motel room outside of the city. But I had called him multiple times and even shown up at his motel, and Hazard was still missing.
I let it go. I mean, I tried to let it go, but the need to control him prickled inside of me. He wasn’t like other people. With anyone else, you could tell them the parameters and they would listen because they were obedient little sheep, pining for that reward on the other side. But Hazard wasn’t like that. He refused to stay in his lane, even if he knew that there was a prize in the end. If he knew he could have something over me, he would jump on it.
But I needed Hazard on my side.
The next day, I raised my chin as I knocked on Hazard’s motel door. An insect buzzed in the trees behind the motel shacks. I shifted on my heels, listening for any sort of life from inside, but it was quiet.
I knocked again. What was taking him so long?
When the door finally opened, Hazard rested against the doorframe. Shirtless, his chiseled chest flexing from his posture. Jeans hung on his hips, and though he seemed casual, there was something off about him. A rigidness shifting in his bones. His skin was pale, his eyes bloodshot. He must have been up all night.
I peered to the side of him. A dark spot stained the carpet and the fresh stench of flesh stunk up the air, almost like Hazard had been playing football with a raw steak.
But Ernest was nowhere to be seen.
“Did he keep you awake?” I asked.
“Something like that.”
I went past Hazard, checking the bathroom and throwing back the thin shower curtain. Nothing. I plopped down on the bed, the squeaking coils like nails on a chalkboard right then.
“Where is he?” I asked.
Hazard ran a hand through his hair, then lifted his shoulders in an exaggerated way. He was hiding something.
He leaned back against the wall. “Don’t know, really. Could be anywhere by now.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re lying.”
“We all lie, don’t we, little bloom?” he asked, his yellow teeth dripping with violence. “You seem to be the best at it.”
My stomach churned. I didn’t have time for this. “If you have something to say, get to the point,” I said. “This isn’t a game. I want to see him.”
Hazard strolled forward, then used his hands to spread my knees until there was more space for him. Tucking a finger under my chin, he forced me to meet his gaze. With the blood vessels trailing across the whites of his eyes, he reminded me of an apocalyptic sun.
“You want to see him,” he said. “Is that right, my queen?”
“You know what I want, Hazard,” I said, holding back the frustration swelling in my chest.
“Then I’m going to need something from you first.”
My veins constricted. He was using those same words I had used when we first met. Hazard was playing a game with me, and this time, I wasn’t ahead of him. He had what I wanted.
“What’s your problem?” I asked, my upper lip curling. “We made a deal.”
“No, we didn’t make a deal, love. You gave me instructions, and I completed them. Mostly,” he said, a flash of amusement crossing his lips. “That’s not a deal, is it? When you tell someone to do something while you sit back and watch, and you, my little queen, dictate all the details, that’s homework. And honestly? I’ve never been a good student. I always hated listening to teachers. Thought of them more as dictators.”
I huffed through my nose, rolling my eyes. He was getting on my nerves. But I had to play nice, didn’t I?
“We both want the same thing,” I said. “What’s so difficult about that?”
“You want to make this a deal?” He pinched my cheek. “Then I’m going to need something in exchange from you, Zira.”
