“No, this isn’t nothing, Raelyn. Don’t act like that. I’m just trying to make sure that what we do is right.”
I fold my arms across my chest and stare him down. “Right for who?”
“I called the ambulance, I did what I could for that guy. Even though he isn’t…”
A pain clutches at my chest. Carter is convinced that he’s dead, I know it. I really don’t want to hear him say it… mostly because I know it too and I don’t want to deal with it.
Carter heads into another room, leaving me on my own. I don’t know what to do, I don’t feel comfortabl
e in his house alone, so I eventually end up following him into the kitchen. It’s a massive kitchen, one so pure and white, filled with all the equipment that any one person could need. It’s lovely, but not enough to inspire anything
Maybe another time, when I don’t have the weight of the world on my shoulders.
“What exactly are you thinking, Carter? Because I really need you to make up your mind right now. I need to know if I’m leaving alone, or you’re coming with me. I’m getting dangerously close to giving up on you.”
“Raelyn, the reason I don’t want to go isn’t because I want you to go alone. It’s because I want the both of us to be alive. I am not about to let you out of that door by yourself. It’s too dangerous.”
I balk at his words. “You aren’t going to tell me what to do. I’m not like that.”
“To hell I won’t! I’m not going to let you do something stupid. I will take care of you.”
My hands rest angrily on my hips. “You are fucking joking, right? What I do is up to me!”
“I wouldn’t let anyone do what you’re proposing to do…”
“I’m proposing,” I shoot back sarcastically. “That I will get in a cab which will safely drive me to the police station, where I will be surrounded by law enforcement officers who are perfectly capable of looking after me, thank you very much, and I’m going to make a statement about what we saw.”
“And what about after then, huh? How will you get home?”
An ice cold anger soaks through me. “That really isn’t any of your problem, is it?”
“I care about you,” he replies, indignant. “Of course I care about you.”
“This is your way of showing that you care, is it? By demanding and bossing me around, huh? Because as far as I’m concerned, that doesn’t show anything other than you being a massive asshole.”
Regret instantly floods his expression; he knows that he’s made a mistake. He pants as he tries to adjust himself, shying away from a place of anger and taking that out on me. It’s good to see this hit him because it means he’s becoming more rational. I need him rational right now, so I don’t have to be. It’s too much weight on my shoulders, I can barely stand under the pressure of it all.
“Sorry, Raelyn, I didn’t mean to sound like a dick then, that wasn’t ever my intention. I’m just scared.”
I nod, accepting this as a valid excuse, because it is. We’re both full of fear here. “Okay, well that’s fine, but I don’t want to keep working against you. It’d be easier if we just faced it together.”
“I know it would, I do. I just don’t know what to do for the best.”
I step closer to him and take his hands in mine. “We need to find a solution that we’re both comfortable with.”
“I’m just asking for more time,” he assures me. “That’s all. I want some more time to come up with a rational solution. I don’t know about the organized crime just randomly; I have a guy who finds stuff out for me.”
“About organized crime?” I ask with furrowed brows. This isn’t quite adding up to me right now.
“There were a wave of threats against businesses a few years back. I needed to know who it was.”
“Were you ever threatened? By the criminals, I mean?”
“No, that never happened, but I was prepared just in case. That’s how I know about them.”
Okay, he sounds calmer now, this is good, I can actually get some serious talking done here. I can steer Carter towards the resolution that I want once we’ve gotten through all of this.
“Do you really think they have anything to do with all of this?”