by Cora Brent
The afternoon had been a busy one. After I returned with the samples Cord wanted we spent the day getting the production space ready. The machinery would be delivered next week and Cord was thinking it wouldn’t be long before merchandise sales could begin. Deck joined us mid afternoon and I had enjoyed spending the day among the easy camaraderie shared by the two Gentry men.
But no matter what I was doing, Tristan was never very far from my thoughts. Yesterday I’d wasted hours willing the phone to ring. It didn’t. Finally I drove Brecken to the mall and we wandered around, drinking sodas and watching people. It was a good way to escape the grim motel room for a little while. My youngest brother was quieter than usual and I could have sworn the reason he kept craning his neck around as we strolled through the busy mall was because he was kept searching for Tristan in the crowd. After all, that’s what I’d been doing.
I stayed just within the speed limit on the drive to get Brecken. When I got there he was standing outside, kicking pebbles off the curb.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked him when he climbed in the car. “It’s hot as fire outside. You should’ve waited indoors. I would have come inside to get you. ”
The kid shrugged and pushed his hair out of his eyes. He needed a haircut. He needed a lot of things. New sneakers. T-shirts without food stains. A math tutor. A real home.
I bought him a hamburger for dinner and hated that it wasn’t something better. He was thirteen but hadn’t quite hit puberty and its usual growth spurt yet. He should be eating multiple food groups instead of greasy filler but healthy food was expensive.
“How was your day?” I asked Brecken.
He wiped the mustard off his hamburger. “Boring.”
“How’s the math class?”
He grimaced. “I suck. I can’t do it. The teacher says I might have to repeat the class if I can’t pass summer school.”
“I’ll see if I can find you a tutor.”
Brecken frowned and scraped a clean napkin across the hamburger to remove the last of the offensive mustard. “Whatever,” he said.
I wasn’t hungry. I ate only because I’d already paid for my meal. I thought I was being discreet when I kept checking my phone under the table but the kid noticed.
“He hasn’t called,” Brecken said. It wasn’t a question.
There was no point in lying about it. “No, not yet.”
He took a bite of his hamburger, scowled and then set it down. “The food here tastes like ass.”
My head was starting to pound. “I can get you something else,” I offered.
“No.”
I coaxed him into taking a few more bites before we left. The last place on earth I felt like going next was the Empire Motel but it wasn’t like there were many alternatives. It was the only place nearby that accepted week to week tenants. We would have had to go deep into Phoenix to find anything similar and chances were the neighborhood would have been even worse than the one we were in. I consoled myself with the thought that we wouldn’t be here much longer. In three short weeks we’d have a real place and hopefully by then Tristan would be back.
My optimism faded when I saw that someone had pried open the door to our room. Whoever had taken the trouble to break in probably wound up being disappointed because we didn’t own much worth stealing. Thankfully they’d left our clothes, although everything had been tossed around the room like trash. The big hit came when I realized that my watch was gone. It wasn’t one of the top designer brands but I had paid a pretty penny for it when it was new. It held no sentimental value but I’d been planning to pawn it for some extra cash to hold us over until the next payday since I’d used most of my funds for the apartment deposit. That was no longer an option. And calling the cops over this would be about as useful as screaming into a hurricane.
“Fuck, this blows,” Brecken said as he kicked the clothes out of his way. I didn’t even have the energy to lecture him about using profanity. Besides, it did fucking blow.
The motel management didn’t answer their phone when I called down to demand an immediate fix for the lock. I walked down there but there was no one in sight except a hooker in a folding chair. She was passed out, looked like she weighed eighty pounds and there were angry tracks up and down her skinny arms. When I returned to our room I slid the dresser in front of the door since there was no longer a reliable lock and wished like holy hell I’d kept at least one of my handguns. Instead I’d sold off everything I could when my mother jumped bail and we lost the family home. We needed the money and anyway I hadn’t relished the idea of keeping guns around with two boys in my care.
At least the small television belonging to the motel hadn’t been stolen because it was bolted to the wall. Brecken and I refolded our mistreated clothes while an old Star Wars movie played in the background. He started yawning around nine o’clock so I sent him to bed. He didn’t say anything when I wished him good night.
I fell asleep in my clothes on Tristan’s bed. I would have been much happier sleeping in the chair if it meant my brother was here with us instead of out there in the unknown.
My dreams were full of noise. There were Fourth of July fireworks. They were everywhere. When I ran they chased me.
“Curtis!”
The bed was shaking and a frightened voice was next to my ear.
“Curtis!”
I opened my eyes to darkness and gunshots.
Brecken was clutching my arm and gasping. Without taking the time to think I seized him and rolled the both of us off the far side of the bed and onto the floor.
There was another burst of gunfire and I tensed, covering Brecken’s body with mine. He whimpered and covered his ears with his hands while I listened intently, trying to gauge the proximity of the shots. They weren’t far, but they weren’t right outside the door either. Still, I knew damn well the damage a stray bullet could cause and I had no knowledge of who was shooting or why.
“Curtis?” Brecken whispered.
“Shh.”
“What’s going on?”
“Quiet, Breck,” I hissed. “I don’t know.”
There was screaming now, a shrill, incoherent level of wailing that blended into the noise of the approaching sirens. In another moment the sole window was aglow with flashing red emergency lights that seeped through the curtain and danced around the room. I heard the crackle of police radios and voices right outside but I still wouldn’t budge from my protective position down on the floor. I couldn’t, not as long as the possibility existed that I was the only thing standing between my little brother and mortal danger.
“Man, this carpet reeks like old piss,” Brecken said but I could hear the shakiness in his voice, a kid trying to bravely make a small joke.
“Just a few more minutes,” I told him.
I had no idea how much time elapsed before I heard a series of staccato raps on the door.
“Police!”
“Stay down here,” I ordered Brecken as I cautiously got to my feet. I pushed the dresser away from the door and opened up slowly.
A clean-shaven uniformed cop was on the other side. He couldn’t have been on the force too long since he was only about my age.
“Everyone all right in there?” he asked in the loud, authoritative voice that every cop possessed, like it was a skill specifically taught in cop school.
“We’re fine,” I said. “Just me and my brother in here.”
The cop threw me a look and swept a flashlight around the room. “Hey, kid, you okay?”
I turned to find Brecken right behind me even though I had told him to stay on the floor. He winced at the glare from the flashlight but nodded.
“Yeah, I’m fine. My brother kept me down on the ground while the shooting was going on.”
The cop relaxed and lowered the flashlight. Maybe he was used to seeing so much bad shit he never knew what to expect when a door opened at a seedy motel.
“Everything’s all clear now,” he said. “Looks like a f
ight broke out during a drug deal gone bad. One dead and one guy who was just sitting in his room was shot in the leg but it seems he’ll make it. You guys take care.”
I shut the door the second the cop moved on to the next room.
“What now?” asked Brecken. He looked exhausted and frightened. The cop’s words kept bouncing around inside my head.
“Drug deal. One Dead. One guy sitting in his room shot in the leg.”
“Get your stuff,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
I didn’t have a plan for where we’d go right now. I just knew that my first call of duty was getting my little brother out of a hellhole where people shot one another over drugs in the middle of the night.
I’d prepaid for the rest of the week and I figured there was no getting that money back but I’d have to live with that.
Brecken was stuffing his clothes into his backpack with almost furious haste. Maybe he was afraid if he dawdled I’d change my mind. He must want to get out of here as badly as I did.
There were still some cops around taking statements and doing whatever cops did when there was a gunfight. A few inhabitants of the motel were mutely watching from the second floor balcony. They looked ghostly and grim. I wondered if one of them had my watch.
Leaving the Empire Motel behind in the rearview mirror was a relief.
The feeling of relief expired when I realized I didn’t know where to go next. The dashboard clock indicated the time was after two a.m. It was too late to get a room somewhere else. Reputable lodging establishments didn’t cater to cash customers in the middle of the night and I didn’t have enough cash on hand anyway. I could think of a few parks that would be fairly safe but they would be officially closed at this hour and I didn’t want to risk a run in with cops asking why I was trespassing on municipal property and sleeping in my car with a kid in the backseat.
There was only one place I could think of to go and it wasn’t very far away. No one would be there now. If I parked in the back the car wouldn’t be visible from the street.
“Where are we?” Brecken asked with a yawn after I parked and cut the engine. I took a sunshade and spread it out across the windshield so the morning summer sun wouldn’t blind us. We’d have to be out of here early or else face a bunch of questions but in the meantime we could get some much needed sleep. I couldn’t recall when I’d ever been this tired.
“Get some sleep,” I told my brother and listened to the sound of him stretching out in the backseat.
After cracking the windows a little to let in some of the cooler night air I pushed my duffel bag against the window to serve as a pillow and closed my eyes. Morning would arrive in a few short hours and I had no idea what we’d do then but I needed to close my eyes for a little while before I had the energy to deal with it.
The next thing that startled me awake was another sharp sound but it was different from the last one. This wasn’t gunfire, just a sharp knock on one of the windows.
When I opened my eyes all the way and managed to focus on who was responsible for the noise I saw the troubled face of Cord Gentry.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I didn’t know why Cord had come to work over an hour early but the reason didn’t matter. This was his business. He had a right to arrive any time he pleased and not find an employee sleeping in the parking lot.
Brecken rubbed his eyes and looked out the window. “Who’s that?”
I groaned and sat up. I felt like I’d been sleeping in a rock pile. “My boss.”
There was really no way to make yourself seem more presentable after your boss has just discovered you sound asleep in the parking lot. So I didn’t waste any time trying. I got out of the car and faced him.
“Sorry about this, Cord. I swear I was planning to be gone by the time anyone showed up today.”
He didn’t look angry. Just perplexed. “What’s going on, Curtis?”
I hesitated. Then I told the truth. “We needed a place to crash for a few hours. There was an incident at the motel we’ve been staying in. Gunshots, a man dead. I promise I won’t do this every night and I’ll get something else figured out today.”
Cord’s eyes went from me to the car and then to Brecken, who was just emerging.
“Cord?” said a woman’s voice.
I didn’t know how I missed seeing her before. She was standing right beside him, touching his elbow. She had long brown hair and a kind face that was still beautiful. There was sympathy in her expression. Then her eyes landed on Brecken and the sympathetic look deepened.
“Saylor,” Cord said. “This is Curtis Mulligan, the new employee I was telling you about.”
The woman smiled and I knew immediately that she was Cassie’s mother. Cassie had her father’s light hair and blue eyes but her smile, that brilliant smile, had come from this woman.
“Hello,” she said and gently shook my hand. “I’m Saylor Gentry, Cord’s wife. And who’s this guy over here?” She nodded to Brecken.
I pulled him over to my side. “My little brother.”
“Don’t you have two brothers?” Cord asked.
I swallowed, ignoring the lump in my throat. “I do have two brothers. Brecken over here is thirteen. Tristan is seventeen but I don’t know where he is. He ran off.”
Cord’s wife made a sad ‘Oh no’ sound and she looked up at her husband, nudging him slightly.
“I really am sorry about being here like this,” I said. “If you don’t mind letting us use the restroom real quick we’ll be on our way and I’ll be here for work later.”
“What about Brecken?” Cord asked. “And where are you guys going to stay tonight?”
I didn’t have an answer for that. I didn’t have an answer for anything. I felt like I was falling in slow motion.
“I don’t know,” I choked out.
Saylor smiled down at Brecken. “Do you like bacon?”
He smiled back. “Doesn’t everyone?”
Saylor laughed. “Probably. So how about we all take a walk down the street and get breakfast?”
I had to give her credit. She sounded positively euphoric over the idea, as if there was nothing on earth she’d rather be doing than entertaining her husband’s temporarily homeless employee and his little brother. It was impossible to say no, especially after I saw the way Brecken’s face lit up. He went right to Saylor and she started asking him questions about school and what grade he was in. They started to walk down the street together so Cord and I had to follow right behind them.
“Cord, I really am sorry,” I said. The thought occurred to me that I might be willing to part with the shirt off my back in exchange for a cup of coffee right now.
“Stop saying that,” he told me and patted my shoulder in a friendly, fatherly way.
In between stuffing his face full of food my brother talked more in that hour at breakfast than he had over the past three months. Saylor seemed genuinely delighted by him and I didn’t miss the way he kept staring at her with awed happiness. Brecken was still very much a child and I never really had time to think about how much he must miss having a mother. I tried to fill that role as best I could but I was also busy trying to earn enough money for us to live on and keep Tristan in line.
Throughout breakfast Cord had been listening quietly for the most part and sipping his coffee while I devoured my food and watched Brecken talk to Saylor.
While Brecken and Saylor were commiserating over their struggles with dreaded mathematics, Cord asked, “What about the new apartment you were planning to move to?”
I finished chewing and swallowed. “Still happening. But the lease doesn’t start for almost three weeks.”
“And you were staying at a motel?”
“Yeah. The Empire.”
I saw Cord’s eyebrows shoot up so he must have heard of the place, or at least drove by and wondered who the hell would spend even one hour in such a dive.
“I know that place,” he said. “Damn, it’s been around forever. My brothers a
nd I stayed there for a while after coming up from Emblem but it’s gone downhill since then.”
“Downhill is right,” I grumbled, thinking of drugs, dealers and guns.
Saylor rapped on the table to get our attention. “Since you guys need to go to work soon,” she said, “how about I take Brecken back to the house? I’ll just conduct my tattoo parlor research another time. I’ll even ask Chase if he can bring his boys over. It’s summer break and they’re math whizzes. Maybe they can help Brecken make sense out of that damn algebra. Cord, you can get a ride home with either Cassie or Curtis and well, Cadence’s room is empty for the summer...”
Saylor’s brief speech had jumped around so much that I was still trying to make sense of it. But Cord understood. His wife was watching him with a hopeful expression and finally he nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think that sounds like a good plan.”
Saylor was thrilled. She urged Brecken to drink his orange juice and then we all went our separate ways when we returned to Scratch. It was still early so no other employees had arrived yet. Before Saylor shepherded my kid brother into a minivan and drove away I heard her ask him if he liked to read and if he wanted to go to the bookstore later to pick out some books.
“My wife loves taking care of people,” Cord said fondly. “Especially kids, now that ours are grown and don’t let her fuss over them the way she used to.”
I coughed. “She’s amazing. You’re lucky.”
“Don’t I know it.” Cord leaned against the wall beside the Scratch front doors and studied me. “Do you want to talk about what happened with your other brother? Tristan?”
I sat down on the curb. Cord walked over and sat beside me. I told him all about the sad history of my family. Some things he already knew thanks to Deck. Some things he didn’t. I told him I’d never forgive my mother for leaving instead of facing the consequences of her actions. Worse, she’d left the boys with nothing. I told him about how the three of us had finally left Emblem when the house was taken away and there was no way for me to support them down there. Meanwhile, Tristan had become angrier and more unruly as the time passed. At the end I told Cord that nothing in my life had ever hurt as much as allowing Tristan to walk out the door.
