“Depends on the buyer.” Blaze stares up at the ceiling. “I can ask. If she’s at a warehouse, we might be able to get her out… but we’d have to guarantee she won’t snitch. If she’s already with somebody powerful…”
“Snitches get murder,” River mutters.
I look sharply at him. “What?”
River shakes his head. “Something Pandora says.”
In the face of what’s happening, it’s not very funny because if Samantha did get out and “snitched,” that’s the least of what would happen to her. Unless I miss my guess, people like George Bouchard would never tolerate that.
I doubt he’d tolerate Blaze wanting to get her out to begin with.
“So.” Blaze sits up. “I’ll look into it. But that’s not going to fix whatever the fuck is wrong with Pandora.”
“No,” River says, “it’s not.”
“Then what is?” I ask.
“I don’t know!” he snaps at me. “I’m not the Pandora whisperer, okay?”
“Calm down,” I tell him. “It was just a question.”
“Yeah, well,” River says. “It was a stupid question. She’ll either come around or she won’t.”
“Great,” I say. “That’s a brilliant plan. Just sit around and do nothing.”
“It’s the best plan I have,” River says, slamming his beer bottle down on the coffee table. “It’s not like she’s predictable. Chocolate and flowers and heart candies won’t get you anywhere.”
“Violence, adrenaline, and snakes might,” Blaze answers blithely. He turns to consider River. “Don’t you have a boxing match on Saturday?”
River eyes him. “What does that have to do with anything?” he asks.
“Well, that’s violence and adrenaline all in one,” Blaze responds with a grin. “Then we take her on a date afterwards.” He pauses. “But she’ll have to make do with the snakes in our trousers, because I’m not getting near one of those disgusting things.”
I groan, tossing a pillow at him. He catches it easily and gives me one of his charming smiles, the kind I haven’t seen in a while.
“They’re not disgusting,” River retorts. “But I don’t think there’s space for a second enclosure, so snakes are out anyway.” He stares at his beer bottle. “Yeah. Invite her to the match, then we’ll see if we can corner her afterwards and fuck her brains out until she’s too tired to move when we talk to her.”
“Great. I’ll book a hotel room.” Blaze gets up while staring at his phone. “Asch, you can text Pandora about it. The boxing match, not the rest of it. River… Take a fucking shower and rest, you look like shit.”
River flips him off. “Whatever.” He gets up, grabbing his beer bottle to drain it before heading into the kitchen to discard it.
After he disappears upstairs, I turn back to Blaze, only to realize I don’t know what to say. All of this information has my brain in overload, and I need time to process.
Ihatethat he was right that I couldn’t handle the truth.
I hate even more that this is his reality.
26
PANDORA
Blaze’s Bitch
River’s got a match tomorrow. Join us. Date after.
I stare at the text. I suddenly don’t want to go to the match anymore, which is kind of bullshit. I like watching River get beaten up.
I mean, I like watching him beat down on others.
