It’s a pretty nice truck, even if it hasn’t seen a showroom floor in sometime.
“How long have you had this?” I can’t help but ask him, cringing over why I feel the need to make small talk.
“My parents gave it to me when I turned 16. It was my dad’s. He got a new one.”
“The other one in the garage?” I ask about the much newer one I saw earlier.
“Yeah.”
“You going to keep them both, or the newer one?” I’m not even sure why I’m curious about it.
“Honestly,” it comes out in a whisper before he glances over at me. “I have no fucking clue what I’m going to do about any of it.” He sighs and I can feel the tension building up in the cab. I can feel his anxieties radiating off of him.
“What?” I smirk over at him as he meets my eyes. “You think because we’re getting rid of a body together, you can just tell me anything, and it won’t affect your tough guy persona.”
He laughs out loudly as he looks back to the road, easing him for a moment. “Oh, psycho, I’m positive that my tough guy persona doesn’t get past you.”
He reaches over, clasping my hand.
The only time we talk for the remainder of the drive is when I tell him to make a turn.
We pull up to the old collapsed mine, and he parks the truck. I push the door open and he stops.
“I’ve got it.”
“No, I’m coming with. You’re not getting all the fun.”
He chuckles to himself, shaking his head, before he nods towards the bed. “Come on, psycho.” He shakes his head as I stand from the seat and walk back to the bed. As I walk around, I watch him flip the bed cover back. “Push him out.” He nods.
“What?”
“More weight will be on this end.”
“I can handle it.” I cut my eyes at him.
“Oh, I know you can,” he says in something between a laugh and a scoff.
“So let me do—”
“Goddamnit, Tatum, I’m trying to be a gentleman. Just get up in the fucking truck bed and push the body out.”
“Yeah, right, gentleman…” I can’t help but laugh out. “You?” I’m bending over, having to hold on to the side of the truck to keep myself upright.
I let myself have a moment for a giggle-fit before I straighten back upright. Only when I look at Zane, he does not seem entertained.
“Ya done?” He nods to the truck, and I can tell from where I’m standing if he’s annoyed with me.
Lowering my eyes, he helps me as I hoist myself up into the truck bed and push the body out of the back as Zane tugs on what I think is, the feet.
Before what I can only assume is the shoulders, make it off the tailgate, I jump down, grabbing the head, and we walk towards the caved in hole.
“I’m just saying. I’m pretty sure that a gentleman wouldn’t have me out here the first night I met him, getting rid of a body.”
“I told you to stay back, that you didn’t have to come.” He shakes his head at me.
“Okay, by principle, I don’t think a gentleman would end up in this scenario.” I can see the smirk that he’s trying to keep off of his face.
We approach the hole. He nods to me as we toss the burrito’d-body down the shaft. Both of us stare into it, even though it’s dark, and we only have the light from the headlights of the truck to see. A distanced thud sounds up what feels like minutes after we let go, but in reality, it’s probably only seconds.
