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Chapter Five
I’ve always loved rooftops. So, naturally, this is where I take him. It’s cold and clear out, making the night sky feel expansive and endless. If it weren’t for the city lights, you could see stars for miles. The night is almost perfect, and still he cries.
“Show me,” I say. Whatever it takes—anything to shut him up. But no. The whimpering goes on and on. It’s quite pathetic in his half-hearted sort of way. “I said lie on the ground and show me.”
Reluctantly, he complies. Sort of. He goes through the motions before he even hits the ground, but then he falters. Again, with the half-assing. “No,” I said, making a clucking sound with my tongue. “Not like that. All the way.”
He looks back over his shoulder and meets my eye, even though he’s been warned not to do it again. “It’s freezing out.”
“You won’t feel it if you’re dead.”
I see it then, the flash in his eyes as he weighs his options. Same as they all do. He thinks he can overpower me, and perhaps he’s right.
Thankfully, we won’t have to find out because I brandish my gun.
The great equalizer.
“Fine,” he stutters. “Yes. Okay.” His knees shake as he lowers himself down.
“Now show me.”
He rests his cheek against the reinforced concrete and simulates sex. Then he peeks over his shoulder. “Was that good?”
“Get up,” I hiss. “And don’t look at me again.”
I order him to face outward. Toward the buildings, toward the night.
Next thing I know, he throws himself over the ledge and plunges headfirst seven stories to the ground. I close my eyes, and turn my back, but I can’t close my ears to the sickeningwhompof his body smashing against the pavement, the sound of his bones snapping and shattering.
I don’t mean to look down. But I can never quite refuse myself the opportunity, not after so much hard work. His body lies in the street just short of the curb, spread-eagle and faceup.
From this high up, his face is featureless, but even at street level, I gather that all the bones in his body have been pulverized. Blood will have begun pooling around his head, dampening the hair plugs he spent a small fortune on.
A small crowd quickly grows around him. A smattering of strangers, people whose night and perhaps beyond, he will have ruined, just the same as he did mine. Good riddance, I say.
As for the onlookers, they stare down at him, and then point upward toward the sky, toward where I am standing, and while I know they can’t see me at this angle in the dark, I also know I’d better get a move on.
Chapter Six
Ethan
Austin
There are a thousand ways to die, and as I sit in traffic on Loop One, I contemplate them all.Get eaten by a bear?
Nah. Too painful. Not quick enough. Bears are omnivores. The way they eat humans does not differ from the way they eat berries from a branch. They’ll rip your limbs off one by one and chew you to death while you’re still alive.
That very much sums up what my life has been like over the past eighteen months. But we’ll get to that.
Get caught in a mudslide?
I glance around. The chances of a mudslide in Austin traffic are slim. The rain has passed. There’s no mud. Just an endless sea of taillights. Up ahead, someone else’s mistake, someone else’s impatience, someone else’s inattention in the form of a fender bender is costing me an hour of my life. Horns sound as vehicles attempt to maneuver from one lane to another. Monkey see. Monkey do. Whether it’s the right move is anyone’s guess. God, I long to leave the city. I hate traffic. I hate confined spaces. I hate people.
Go down in quicksand?
Been there, done that. Bethany couldn’t see herself living anywhere else. Austin has always been home for her. It turns out you can’t take Texas out of the girl, or the girl out of Texas. And now, with the kids in school, and the fact that we share custody makes it hard for me to leave.
At nine and nearly six, I can’t say the divorce has been any kinder to my kids than it has been to me. Kelsey has withdrawn into herself while Nick acts out. Not that I’ve seen any of these behaviors myself, but the family therapy appointment in forty-five minutes is where my ex-wife and a court order assure me they will both get sorted out.
