Page 50 of Night So Silent
“Wantassumes uncertainty.”
“Again, doessheknow that?”
“She knows enough.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like me,” he gloats.
“After this long, I suppose I can’t completely ignore your influence.”
I’ll let him think that. I have a soft spot for Lutz, after all. Other than my parents, he and the two Barreras are the closest I have to family.
“And here I was thinkingIwas the one,” Lutz scoffs. “A few days in that house with you, she probably knows more about you than I do.”
“I assure you that it’s no slight against you.”
“It’s alright, I’m sure she’ll tell Brett all about it, eventually. I’ll find out all the shit you’ve been keeping under wraps.”
Barrett seemed pleasantly surprised by the things I keep under wraps.
“After tonight, she can tell Brett whatever she wants,” I declare.
“You don’t waste time, do you?”
“One shot.”
I can’t see Lutz’s face, but I know what it looks like, just like every other time I remind him of how I would have expedited the dispatch of that waste of flesh, Garrison. And the same is true in this situation. Now that I have Barrett here, I won’t give her a chance to leave, especially since I know that she doesn’t want to. But she’s a professional and she has integrity, which I respect, so I understand her dilemma. Which is why I’m about to take control and force her hand.
She will thank me later.
“Oh, yeah, I sent you that information you wanted. Did you get it?” Lutz asks.
The text notification is still on my screen, I just haven't opened the message yet.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Pretty bold of you.”
That's rich, especially coming from Lutz. I helped him secure his woman, it’s only fair that, now, he helps secure mine. We have known each other for years now, and he's like my brother, but even he doesn't know everything I'm capable of.
“You don’t approve?”
“I didn’t say that,” he argues. “Again, it seems like something I would do. And I can’t wait to hear about it.”
I smile as I scan the terrain through the windshield. “Won’t be long now.”
“Merry fucking Christmas,” he chuckles. “Good luck, brother.”
As soon as I end the call, I pull the black gaiter up over my nose and toss my blue coat onto the passenger side seat in favor of the black one I carry in the truck box. I have no intention of checking the roads into town tonight. I have more pressing matters to attend to, ones that involve making sure that Barrett remains on this mountain. She’s probably packing right now, waging an internal war with herself about leaving.
But she won’t. That part about her catching a flight tomorrow back to that god-forsaken flatland isn’t true.
None of it is.
She shouldn’t have taken one step outside the door last time, lest she find out what’s really out here. But I knew from the start that she’s not someone who blindly follows orders. Normally, I would find this an appealing quality in a woman, but nothing about the last few days is normal. That house is hers now. She’s the fire and the warmth that belongs here with me, burning silently until the embers pop every so often, only to return to a quiet inferno.
It's what I love about her, but based on this fact, I assume she’ll opt to be a pain in my ass about this request. But who can say? Now that she trusts me, maybe she’ll decide to listen to me tonight.
I don’t think she’ll want to witness what will happen if she doesn’t.
