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I pull into the parking lot hoping this is not a dead end. I’ve been working for Mr. Johnson during the day when I’m not trying to find Mitch. Yet, I can only do it when I’m sure Jeff and Katie or someone else can stay with Callie. That means money is starting to get tight. I need to make sure the threat Mitch is to Callie is neutralized and soon. I’ll need to start working again. I’m not going back to California. I’m not leaving Callie. She’s nowhere near ready for a relationship, but when she is, I’m not letting her slip through my fingers this time. There must be a reason the two of us are so drawn to one another. It sounds hokey, but I think we’re fated and I’m not turning my back on that. I had to do it once. I’m not letting it happen again.
I get out of the car, scanning the parking lot for Mitch’s old truck. I would have thought he’d gotten rid of it by now, but with Mitch, you can never be completely sure of anything. Regardless, I don’t see it. I figured it wouldn’t be that easy, but I kind of hoped it would be.
Walking into the dark club, the neon lights moving in rhythm with the music, I’d rather be anywhere else. Women are on the tables dancing, but I’m not interested. If anything, I just want to get back to Callie. Over the past week, she’s begun talking about things Mitch did—most notably making her wreck at the baseball field. I can’t believe he tried to burn her alive in her car.
I stayed calm while she told me. I held her and let her cry. The minute she went to sleep, though, I got up, went outside, and slammed my fist repeatedly into the side of a tree. I look down at my knuckles which are still tender and covered in cuts. If Callie noticed, she hasn’t said anything and I’m glad. I don’t want her to be afraid to tell me anything.
I grab a seat at the bar, ordering a club soda with lime. It gets me a weird as fuck look from the bartender, but he shrugs and fills my order just the same.
I take a drink looking around the room. It’s so damn dark that I can’t really make faces out, but none of the ones close to me are Mitch.
“Are you just enjoying the scenery or looking for someone in particular?”
I look behind me and standing there is a sexy woman with dark hair. She’s dressed in this skintight leather mini skirt and a shirt that is completely see-through. She’s got pasties on underneath, so you can’t see nipples, but that’s about all. I’m pretty sure she was dancing on one of the stages when I first came inside, but I can’t truly be sure. I wasn’t paying close enough attention. I mostly wanted to find Mitch.
“Looking for someone I admit.”
“She’s a lucky girl,” the woman says, and I let out a small laugh.
“It’s a man,” I respond.
“All the good ones swing the wrong way,” she mumbles, her eyes moving up and down my body.
“I’m looking for my brother. I was told he comes here pretty often.”
“Ohhh…. Is he hot like you?”
“He’d probably say he was. I have no idea. He seems to have better luck with women, though.”
“Damn,” she laughs. “So, you’re here feeling sorry for yourself?”
“I’m here looking for him so I can kill him,” I tell her.
I see her eyes dilate and then she shakes it off, obviously thinking that I’m telling a joke.
“Cute. What did he do? Did he steal your girl?”
“He did,” I admit.
“She must be a hell of a girl if she’s worth life in prison, honey.”
“She is, but that’s not the reason.”
“What’s the reason?” she asks, and I can tell I have her attention.
“He beat her daily the entire time they were together and made her think it was her fault. Then, when she finally decided to leave him, he chased her down, followed her car, and caused her to wreck.”
She doesn’t say anything. She keeps watching me, though, as if she is waiting to see if I’m just making up a big story.
“Then, he tried to set her car on fire while she was trapped inside of the wreckage.”
“Okay, so now I’m starting to see why you’re looking for him and I’m on the verge of offering to help.”
“That wasn’t enough for him. He then stabbed her, broke her wrist, beat her unconscious, and left her to bleed out and die.”
“You do know this isn’t normally how to have a normal conversation in a bar, right?” she says.
“I don’t have time for a normal conversation. I need to find him before he comes back and tries to finish the job.”
