Page 18 of Double or Nothing
“No fucking way,” Seven says. “There’s no way in hell we’re leaving you here after the state he was in last night. We won’t even consider it.”
“I can take care of myself,” Jade says. “And Vulcan would never hurt me.”
“No, not intentionally, he wouldn’t,” I tell her. “But you weren’t here last night to witness what happened and honestly, I’m glad you weren’t. He unraveled into an insane state of mind, and we could barely drag him back out of it. You need to trust us on this. You can’t stay here.”
“Then Vulcan has to come back with us,” she says. “We can’t leave him here alone.Ican’t leave him.”
“Stop worrying about me.” Vulcan steps out of the RV with a six-pack of beer, instead of water. “I’m fine. No one needs to hang around here to babysit me. You’re all overreacting. I lost my shit with Ivan because I was worried sick about Jade. That’s all. It’s not like I’ve gone completely off the deep end.”
“Oh, really?” Seven says sarcastically. “You could’ve fooled me.”
“Jade’s fine, I’m fine, Ivan’s dead and buried, and we’ve all got plenty of shit to do today,” Vulcan continues. “All this hovering around me is starting to piss me off. We need to act normal today. Like nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Go to work and keep to your regular routines.”
“I’m not leaving you here all by yourself,” Jade says firmly.
Vulcan stares at her a moment before speaking. “As much as I’d love you to stay, for the time being, you’re safer at Kit’s. You should get some rest after being up all night digging a grave. I’ll be busy cleaning up the blood and any spare body parts lying around, and you shouldn’t be involved in that. We don’t have time to waste talking about this. All of you need to get out of here. Go change into the clean clothes you brought, and I’ll burn the clothes we’re wearing now.”
“He’s right,” I say. “We should keep to our normal routines and not draw suspicion in any way. Let’s load up the limo and head back to Vegas. Leroy can drop us off at my place and I’ll bury the shovels somewhere on the ranch.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Vulcan agrees. “Before you leave, I need my gun back. Where is it?”
“Hell no!” I reply, shocked he would even ask. “You’re not getting the gun back today. I can’t believe you would ask me to give it to you. Have you lost your mind for good?”
“You realize I have plenty of other guns, right? What’s one more?”
“Where?” I ask.
“Everywhere,” Vulcan replies. “Do you think I’d live out here alone in the desert without guns hidden everywhere?”
I let out a long sigh. Of course he does.
“Besides, that gun is special, and it means a lot to me,” Vulcan explains. “If you won’t give it back to me, then give it to Jade. I taught her how to use it, and I’d feel better knowing she has a way to protect herself when she’s alone. Are you okay with that, Jade?”
“Sure,” she replies. “I’ll keep your gun with me. Thank you. I will feel safer being armed.”
A look passes between them I can’t quite decipher.
“Be careful with it and remember everything I told you,” Vulcan says. “Everything.”
She nods back at him. “I will,” she says.
Vulcan goes over to start a fire in his pit while we all quickly strip off and change into the clothes Jade brought for us.
“Here you go, Leroy,” Jade says, handing him the sweat suit she brought for him and a pair of sneakers. “I brought you a change of clothes, too. I found them in Seven’s room at Kit’s house. I hope they fit.”
Leroy snatches them from her and heads up the metal steps to the RV. “Is it necessary to burn our clothes? I’m wearing one of my favorite outfits.”
“You’re the one who said we should burn them,” Seven reminds him. “Something to do with DNA.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Leroy says wearily. “We’d better burn everything we can, but I’m not stopping anywhere on the way back wearing this stupid red sweatsuit. And you owe me a new set of clothes, Seven, so add that to my next paycheck. A pair of new shoes too, since these have smashed body parts on the bottom of them.”
We can still hear him grumbling to himself inside the RV while he changes clothes. When he returns, he’s carrying an unopened bag of marshmallows.
“Hey Vulcan! You got any chocolate? Or graham crackers?” He holds up the marshmallows. “I was thinking smores might taste good for breakfast. We might as well make some if you’re building a fire. I’m starving after all that grave digging.”
“Fuck no! I don’t have ingredients to make smores!” Vulcan mutters. “This isn’t a goddamn picnic. If you want to roast the marshmallows, just poke a stick through them and catch them on fire until they melt.”
“Alright,” Leroy says, squatting down beside the fire. “That’ll work. Hand me a stick. You haven’t started burning our clothes yet, have you? I’d hate to think my marshmallows were getting flavored by burning blood and guts.”
