Page 16 of Heat Haze
“Yeah. Sure.” I waddle over to her side, trying to be helpful. “I can… cut vegetables. Salad is good. What else are you making?”
She goes to hand me the knife, but hesitates.
“Toro.” The man perks up at her voice, looking over with half a peach hanging out of his mouth. She doesn’t say anything, eyes darting from the knife to me. Toro’s brow tightens, and he just blinks at me for a moment. With a smile he signals it’s a-okay for me to have the knife.
What the hell was I gonna do? Attack them?
The handle feels rough in my palm, fingers nervously wrapping around it as a shaky hand begins to chop at thetomatoes Alma was working on. Approximately five seconds go by before Toro is glued to me, arms snaking around my waist as his chin rests on my shoulder.
“We’re making sandwiches.” Alma calls, and from the corner of my eye I watch her pull something out of the little worn freezer. A large chunk of meat, wrapped in butcher’s paper. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before, but then she starts unwrapping it. “Meat’s in the oven. This is for dinner.”
I watch curiously as she handles the meat with care, setting the paper aside and beginning to slice through it like butter. The cuts are clean and precise, and for a moment I find myself admiring how skilled she is.
Only for a moment, though.
Time comes to a stop when I realize this isn’t just a piece of meat. This is an arm. Ahumanarm, with the hand still attached and everything. I stare, and just when I feel like I’m ready to turn away I catch the shimmer of silver. A silver ring.
Grant’s ring.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Toro notices the way I tense up, following my gaze to the arm. He tries to rub his cheek up against me, as if that’s going to make me forget what I just saw. The way his grip tightens is subtle, as though he’s trying to ensure I don’t run away.
Of course I wouldn’t, but I really want to. I can’t help the way I tremble, the disgustingly wet noises of Alma slicing through flesh making it hard for me to think about anything else.
“I won’t ask you to help prep the meat.” Alma says, although it’s hard to focus on her voice when all that’s on my mind is Grant. She looks up at me, and although her expression is stony there’s the tiniest bit of something else. Pity? Worry? “You gotta understand… It’s just what we’ve always done.”
I’m not sure how to respond to that, especially not with Toro snuggling me. “You kill people,” the words leave my mouth before I get to really process them, “and then you eat them…? You can’t… you can’t…”
“It’s just how it is.” Her tone is firmer now, like I’m teetering the edge of something I should leave alone. “We have other meat, too. No one’s gonna force ya to do anything ya don’t wanna do.”
The biter expression on my face is hard to hide, but I can’t bring myself to speak. My stomach is lurching, a tidal wave of pure filth washing over me. This is disgusting. This is all so disgusting.
The noise Toro makes is anything but a happy one, his face finding its way to the back of my neck. A hand moves to my chest to rest over my heart with another whimper.
“Don’t break his heart, Nico.” Alma glares at me, clearly not all that impressed with my little outburst. “You don’t understand how many lines he’s crossed for you.”
He’s sweet. I’ll never deny that. But these people arecannibals. I just want to forget what I saw, but I can’t. How can I forget that? Fuck—this is just horrible. Everything about this is wrong.
“You fuckingeatpeople!” I scream so loud my throat feels raw. They both seem surprised, stopping dead in their tracks to stare. “G-Get the fuck off of me!”
With a scowl I step back, pushing Toro’s arm off me. It lands limp at his side, and his expression is the grimmest I’ve ever seen it. Alma drops the knife on the cutting board, staring at me with this unsettling dead look in her eyes.
“Nico.” Her voice is low, and it’s obvious this is a warning. “You ain’t in no position to judge us. You don’t know what we been through. Ya think we like it? Think we do it for fun?”
Why doIfeel like I said something wrong? They’re the ones who eat people. Yet I’m being made out to feel bad? I can stillhearGrant’s voice chiding me, stillfeelhis arm draped around me whenever he used to come over. But instead it’s there, laid out across the table likefood. “That’s… There’s no excuse—”
Toro is in front of me again, but he just looks pathetic now. He timidly wraps his arms around me in a tight hug, almost animalistic whimpers doing exactly what he wants: making me feel like shit.
Of course I feel bad. But why thefuckdo I feel bad? That’s not fair. It’s not like I ever asked him to save me, at least not at first. But he did, he still did it. That means something—doesn’t it? But what?
Toro gently kisses at the side of my neck, and the tiny mewl that leaves him is so endearing I nearly forget about the entire situation. But I don’t melt into him. I don’t let himwin. I jerk away, watching as he retreats a few steps back.
“Like I said,” Alma’s gaze eases up slightly. “He likes you. He might be big, but he’smylil’ brother. So don’t you do something you’ll regret now, Nico.”
“Right.” My cheeks are now hotter than the sun outside, and my brain is totally fried. I force myself to keep on cutting the vegetables in front of me, averting my gaze to not look anymore.
She’s butchering through Grant’s arm like it’s nothing, the sound of her blade slamming against the wood filling the air each time brings it down to saw through him. It makes this disgustingly wet noise every time, and I feel like I might just snap.
