Four
The slammingof a car door wakes me up, but when my eyes open Scott is still sitting in the SUV beside me. I look around. We’re at an old gas station that’s closed. At first glance it looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere on a dusty, tree shrouded corner. The two storey orange sign that I’m sure is visible for miles around—when it’s on—is dimmed. Only a single bright fluorescent street light illuminates the parking lot. The confusion only lasts a second before my stomach sinks. This is the kind of gas station where people go todie.
“Where are we?” I ask Scott. There’s no way. There is no fucking way Scott is setting meup.
“We’re meeting my brother. Just hang here for a second.” He opens the door and calmly steps out of the car, and when I look over my shoulder, the very large man charging toward us is anything but calm. Scott closes me inside alone. I can still hear his brother’s voice through thewindows.
“You got a lot of fucking nerve showing up here!” the brother says. I can’t hear Scott’s response, but I see his hands moving. He’s trying to get his brother to calmdown.
“Shit,” I whisper to myself. I turn in my seat so I can watch them. Scott is going on and on. I wish I could hear him. The brother is listening, and every so often he shakes his head. Whatever Scott is telling him is not going overwell.
“No! Fuck you! Are you out of your fucking mind?” the brother says. I still can’t hear when Scott responds. I see him gesture toward the car, toward me. His brother’s hands go to his hips and then up to his head. He pulls off his baseball cap and runs his fingers through his messy, dark hair. He shakes his head before he slams his hat back intoplace.
Scott is still talking, still gesturing. His brother seems like he’s starting to really take in what he’s saying, and his posture hasn’t eased at all. And even though his skin is deeply tanned, even darker than Scott’s, I can see a hint of red flashing up and down his arms and the bit of his neck that’s not in shadow. I don’t know what is happening here, but I know this is a mistake. I get out of the car. My legs are stiff and sore, and I carefully step toward them over the dirt and brokenasphalt.
“I didn’t say you owe me anything,” I hear Scott say before he stops himself. His brother isn’t looking at him anymore. He’s looking at me. As I get closer I can’t stop looking at him. Scott never told me he had a twin. I vaguely remember him mentioning a brother and him saying something about his parents and a second honeymoon. If, in the back of my mind, I ever thought about actually meeting any members of Scott’s family, this man is not what I would haveexpected.
His brother is just as tall as Scott, and he is fucking built. Where Scott is slender and a little soft around the middle, I can't help but notice the way this man’s New York Jets t-shirt is straining across his chest and around his biceps. Scott’s been clean shaven as long as I’ve know him, baby smooth. His brother has a full goatee and mustache, and he’s working what looks like three days worth of stubble along his jaw. He stares at me for a moment and then his eyes narrow. He looks back atScott.
“You know what? Fine. Whatever will get you out my face for another ten years. Did you both cook up this awesome plan or did you leave her in the darktoo?”
“Jesus, Si, there’s no fucking conspiracy against you here, and no I haven’t told her yet. We left the city in a rush,” Scott says. Something in his voice is off. Like he's afraid of his brother. All of my alarm bells are goingoff.
“Tell me what?” I say. They both ignoreme.
“So you thought you could stash her with me. Of all people,” the brother, Si?,says.
“Because no one knows you're here,” Scottreplies.
“How about this? Scott and I get back in the car,” I say, sidestepping between them, not too close. If things turn physical, I’m not breaking that shit up. I may be tall, but I’m not crazy. They both turn and look at me. “We leave you alone and don’t comeback.”
“No,” Scott says. “This is the perfect place for you.” He turns back to his brother. “Just give me some time. I’m not sticking you with a kid,fuck. She’s a grown ass woman. Plus she brought work with her. She’ll be out of yourhair.”
“You didn’t tell him I was coming at all?” I ask Scott. “I thought this was yourplace.”
I almost step back at the noise that comes out of his brother. Halfway between a laugh and a strangled, choking sound of disgust. “His place? What the fuck are you telling people downthere?”
More alarms bells. I grab Scott’s arm. “Let’sgo.”
“No, it’s fine,” he says as he shakes me off. “This isn’t about us. She is in realdanger—”
“Did someone really try to kill you?” he asksme.
That pain comes back to my chest and spikes up my throat. I’m so fucking sick of people acting like this is something I would even consider making up. “Yes.”
“Great. Do you have any bags in the car?” Si says, stalking off toward Scott’s Mercedes without waiting for me to answer. They may have their issues, but Scott hits the remote locks a second before his brother opens the trunk in a way that makes me think this is a kind of coordinated move they’ve practiced togetherbefore.
I’m so in awe watching Si move, I don’t realize until a moment later that he’s hoisted my leather duffle out of Scott’s trunk and has hauled it over hisshoulder.
“Well,” Scott says to me, with a fuckingattitude.
“Well what?” I shootback.
He rethinks his tone when he hears mine. “Look, our relationship is complicated,” he says, nodding toward his brother who’s stomping back across the parking lot, ignoring both Scott and me. I watch him as he puts my painfully expensive bag in the flatbed of his dirt and dust covered pick-up.
“This isn’t about you at all. The house is half mine and I’m telling you that you are more than welcome to stay there. And even if he and I aren’t the best of friends at the moment, he’s the best person to look after you. You are safe withhim.”
I turn back and look Scott directly in the face. “I don’t like being lied to. Especially with the week I’mhaving.”