Jamal shook his head. “Did you offer me a ride?”
“No.”
“How’d I end up here then?”
Santiago waved the question away. “Doesn’t matter.”
“If you knew who I was, why didn’t you turn me in?”
“I have my reasons.”
A smile appeared on Jamal’s face. “Ah, I see.”
“What’s that you see?”
Jamal wiggled his hips before licking his lips. “Untie me; I’ll make it worth your while.”
Santiago frowned. “Don’t do that. I’m old enough to be your dad.”
“Come on,papi. I saw how you looked at me when you took my shirt off.”
“Enough!”
“Sorry.”
Santiago sighed before revealing how the pair had crossed paths.
“I was driving home from a bar one town over, feelinggood. Had one hand on the wheel and another on a bottle of vodka then all of a sudden something appeared in the middle of the road. I hit the brakes but it was too late…”
“I remember! The truck, the blinding lights, the screeching!”
Santiago apologized. “When I realized I’d hit someone…and not something, I rushed out, and in a panic, scooped you up, moaning and bloody, and tossed you in my truck.”
“You didn’t call 911 because you’d been drinking?”
“It would be my third DUI…”
“I’m glad you didn’t call.”
Santiago momentarily disappeared, reimagining Jamal darting from the tree line so suddenly. “You were the deer in headlights…”
“…that you’re nursing back to health.”
“Yeah, before…”
“You turn me in?”
Santiago brought a hand up to stop Jamal. “I haven’t thought that far.”
Both became quiet, Jamal adjusting in the bed while Santiago got lost in his thoughts. A knock at the door caused Jamal’s eyes to widen. Santiago glanced at his watch and eased back in the chair.
“Do you think it’s the cops?”
“No.”
“Who is it then?”
“It’s not the police.”
