Path of Thieves

by Sunniva Dee

  He’s a decent cornerback and listens to Coach, but after-hours, Ryder hangs with his brother down by the railroad tracks. A couple of those guys went to jail for a liquor store robbery, and it wasn’t even that far from Newbark. “Thugs,” I believe my father calls them.

  Arms crossed, Bear leans against a window, assessing the situation like I am. I don’t want those guys in the same room as Nadine. She’s been introduced to Ryder before, but the setting was safe. Here, we’re tucked away in the woods, and the alcohol flows.

  Jake accepts a bottle of beer. “Nah, this is just a starter. Then I move on to the hard stuff.” He pulls a knife out of his pocket, twirls it once, and pops the beer cap with the nimble flow of a magician. “And no, they confiscated my good knife. You know, ‘illegal,’ blah-blah, ‘evidence from the crime scene,’ blah-blah.” He rolls coal-colored weasel eyes. “I had to get me a new one.”

  Nadine stills on her way from the kitchen. Pupils enlarging, her attention skips from Jake to me.

  “Dude, put that away, all right? We don’t want any trouble here.” I tackle his stare, because the last thing my girl needs is reminders of knives.

  “Heey.” Jake drags the word out. I don’t like the way his hands still mid-air. When he unfreezes, he slinks his weapon back into a pocket, but by the gleam in his eye, he’s not opposed to instilling respect. “Done deal, man. Just here to party, ya know, like everyone else. Cheers.” He raises his beer.

  “Ha, yeah, just don’t make Jake mad.” Ryder winks as he passes around what he calls “the best moonshine ever to walk all over this planet.” Shy titters accompany his statement from some junior girls. Isn’t it past their curfew?

  What do we do? I mouth to Bear, who links Liza in front of him. I want to do the same with Nadine.

  I scan the group, considering our options. There are five of them, three in their early twenties plus Ryder and Jake. We could take a chance on a peaceful night or start a brawl that scares the crap out of everyone.

  They’ll leave. A thick-shouldered shrug follows Bear’s message.

  Yeah. Relax, I guess, make the best out of the night and hope to keep things under control.

  “Do we have any music?” Freddie has Melissa on his lap. He’s swaying her to an unheard beat. I’m pretty sure it’s been his dream for most of high school to have Melissa on his lap.

  Melissa came with Lucia, who twists to Bear and Liza. “Oh that’d be awesome. We could dance!”

  Liza pulls her phone out of a front pocket. “Hmm, I have Spotify.” She frowns, dodges a beer spill from a junior, and shakes her head. “Gah, I don’t have reception here.”

  “No playlists downloaded?” Bear digs his chin into her shoulder, scrutinizing the screen. “No worries. I’ve got ’em.”

  He whips out his own phone and holds it too high for her to reach when she objects, whining about “guy-country” and how much she hates twang. She’s out of luck though. The first bluegrass notes already squeak out of the tiny speaker.

  “Man, that’s B.S.,” Ryder shouts, eyes already swimming. “Can’t hear anything off of that thing.” He winks at yet another junior girl. “I’m gonna look around, ’kay? There’s gotta be a way to play music in this hole. Kirk-ur!” He zig-zags the short distance to the kitchen nook. “Let’s find us some music.”

  Kirk has half of his back on the counter. It’s so small it doesn’t accommodate the rest of him. A reddish substance is being funneled into his mouth, and Simon forms an ouch at me.

  “What’s he drinking?”

  “Punch.”

  “Really?”

  “With grain alcohol made by Ryder’s uncle.”

  Nadine’s hand is in mine. I won’t be letting go any time soon. “You okay?” I ask, because she’s gnawing skin off her lip. “It’ll be okay. They’ll leave.”

  “Yeah. Just... that guy with the knife.”

  “I know. He won’t pull it out again.” I hope. I flick a glance over my shoulder as we stride to the kitchen. Eyelids drooping, Jake’s already deep into Ryder’s concoction. So much for beer being his “starter.” Thankfully, he wears the smirk of a sluggish drunk. Here’s to hoping that sticks.

  Pink liquid bubbles out of Kirk’s mouth on the countertop. “Enough already. Give him water,” I start as Ryder shoves past me and into Bear’s bedroom.

  Bear and I storm after him, but Ryder’s fast. He’s already unzipped Bear’s backpack and is holding it upside down, its inventory bouncing to the mattress.

  “What the—?” Bear lunges for the bed.

  “Are you kidding me? This all you’ve got?” Ryder wiggles a pack of Trojans in front of us. “A three-pack? How long are you staying here, a half hour?” He grins ear to ear.

  Bear snatches the condoms, stuffs them in his pocket, and glares daggers. “Get out of my bedroom.”

  “Dude, just saying I’ve got backups if you need ’em. I’ll whole-sale them to you. Ten-pack for six bucks, and they’re not even used.”

  “Get. The hell. Out.”

  “Sure, one sec.” Ryder’s focus slides to Bear’s mess on the bed. “Any CDs?”

  Nadine’s voice cuts through from the doorway. “I’ve got CDs, but what does it matter? We didn’t bring a CD player.”

  Ryder barely acknowledges her, but as he strides past, anxiety burns into my calves, a stabbing pain of premonition.

  “Dudes, listen up. We’re on a mission! We’ve got CDs but no player. There’s gotta be some place around here with a player.”

  “Oh yeah, there’s that nice cabin,” Liza begins, but then Nadine covers her mouth with a hand. Unease slithers up my spine as Ryder’s focus freezes on her.

  “Which one? Not the red one on the way here?”

  “Give it up already. Who cares about music,” I say, and Freddie and Simon back me up.

  “I care.” Jake slides into view, a total nightmare, with eyelids less heavy than a minute ago. Ryder pumps a fist in the air.

  “Yeah! Cheers, Jake, my man.” His beverage splashes over the brim and drenches his shirt as he hooks an arm around Jake’s neck and pulls him in.

  Jake’s reaction is instantaneous. “Hands. Off.” Within seconds, he’s free, knife pointed at Ryder.

  “Whoa, didn’t mean a thing, there.” Ryder emits a delighted snort. “Told you guys, see? Don’t ever piss Jake off.”

  Jake’s breathing is still amped as he scans Ryder’s face and lifted hands. Slowly, he puts the knife away, his smirk returning. “Anyway. I can’t take this shit any longer. We need loud music.”

  “Check out his pupils.” Liza whispers behind Nadine. “Guy’s on something,”

  “Goddamn,” Bear mutters. “All right, change of plans!” His voice booms through the shack. “We’re shutting down. Lights out. Time to go home.”

  “Thanks for coming, everyone. Good times,” I lie while nudging a few juniors to the exit. My pulse thuds in my ears. God, no way this will work.

  Low groans of disappointment sound around us, but then Ryder’s “Yeah, I don’t think so” mingles with Jake’s “No way.”

  That damn knife again. Shaft short and thick, Jake holds it by the blade, wiggling it at Bear like a throwing knife. “Don’t wanna get violent, here, but this is going down. We’re getting music, and we’re celebrating. I didn’t leave Juvi only to be thrown out of my first party in forever.”

  “Yeah! Let’s go.” Ryder bends his knees in a drunken toddler-dance. “Jake, Liza’s showing us the house. Who else’s coming? This’ll be a blast, y’all!”

  Liza blinks, mouth opening and closing. Fear radiates off her, the same black matter staining my guts. Instinctively, I tug Nadine closer. With arms locked around my waist, her fingers are moth wings when they tangle with mine.

  Bear and I trade a look. Nonchalantly, he eases up behind Liza and throws an arm over her shoulder. “Al
l righty then. Another change of plans. Guess the party’s still on, and first on the agenda is music!”

  He winks at Nadine, the tilt of his mouth faking carefree to a “T.” He high-fives me. Fist-bumps Simon, who lets out a tentative whoop. Yeah, Bear’s a great actor. He knows how to turn a crowd, but this is his trial run at quenching panic before it even erupts.

  Jake unsheathes his knife. Leaned against a tree, he shaves hair off his arm while he waits. The act isn’t as menacing as his eyes. They’re a lethal blend of shrewd and merciless, the hue of an unprofessed kidnapper enjoying the spotlight.

  Impotence is a heavy beast. It settles on a guy’s back, tentacles slowing his moves.

  Bear watches Ryder’s crowd examine the red cabin from all sides. Studiously light, he chatters with Liza and Freddie. He has a way with everyday-natural I can’t even fake.

  Our girls. These drunken juniors and our buddies. So much has gone awry tonight, and this is new to me. My kind of wrong and twisted doesn’t influence friends. It’s always Dad and me screwing up our own lives. But now, here I am at the center of this disaster, a bystander with heroic strategies in my head that I can’t enact.

  Soon, we’ll all be accomplices to a crime we didn’t choose. We’ll be chained to their lit-up whims. I picture us returning to our shack, “partying it up” with the stolen stereo. I need to find a way out.

  They do everything wrong, break windows causing the alarm to howl. They’re surprised. Ryder grabs onto the window frame and jumps in, groaning as he cuts himself on the glass. He rattles the door from the inside while the alarm screeches at full volume. “I can’t get this damn thing open!”

  Amateur. I’d have dismantled the alarm. I’d have worn gloves. I wouldn’t have brought a slew of witnesses. For a second, his stare meets mine, and there’s an undiluted terror there I know well. Oh he’s picturing it. The police. The loss of freedom. Prison. I’m staring down the barrel of the most poorly executed break-in ever. I’m not dismantling the alarm.

  “Use the window!” Ryder roars. “Everyone inside.” Two of his friends listen, but the junior girls squeal and trip backward.

  “I want to go home,” one whines.

  “Me too.”

  A few guys join them when they double around and take the trail leading to the road. Good, because there’s nothing I want more than people scramming from this place.

  Jake tenses, and for a moment, I’m afraid he’ll stop them. Instead he shifts closer to the cabin, gaging the noise and the frenzied action.

  Nadine’s eyes are wide with apprehension. Twice, she’s been on the other end of break-ins, an innocent victim facing the burglar. Now she’s here, on the delinquents’ side. If the police arrive, she’ll be in trouble too.

  The security company must be in their vehicles already, racing toward us as we speak. Shit, I hope Ryder chickens out fast.

  Bear breaks from his group and follows me when I walk up. “The cops will be here any minute,” I shout.

  “Bull!” Ryder has his arms full of speakers. “It’ll take them at least an hour to get here. Plus, why would they dispatch to the swamps anyway? They’ve got better things to do. Now, grab.”

  Two of his friends are there, reaching for the speakers.

  “Ryder, listen.” Bear crosses his arms, stare boring into him. “The sheriff’s got a new truck, and he’s been dying to take it to its limits. He’ll be right here.”

  Unsure, the three twenty-somethings stare at each other. The alarm is so loud my ear drums want to burst. Jake steps backward. First one pace, then two, beady eyes slithering from Bear to Ryder.

  “Shut up, Bear,” Ryder slurs. “This crap’s heavy. Take the speakers goddammit, and I’ll pick up the stereo.”

  “Oh nu-huh.” Jake shakes his head. First slowly, then quicker. His knife goes into his pocket as an incredulous smile spreads on his face. “Hell if I’m going back to Juvi for this.”

  Our friends have dispersed, following the juniors’ lead. It makes me huff with relief.

  The twenty-somethings exchange a look. “Yeah, this isn’t working out.”

  “You guys are all pussies,” Ryder shouts and throws the speakers out of the window. They bounce on the soft ground, but no one bends to grab them. “Imma’t least sell it on e-Bay.”

  Impotence slackens its pressure over my ribs. In its place, hope expands, an unfamiliar sensation.

  At the corner of an eye, I catch Jake running down the trail. He stumbles and gets up again, continuing without a single glance in our direction.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Bear grabs Liza’s wrist like she’s little. All pretenses gone, he’s done being the encouraging leader. “God, I hope no one’s left in the cabin. You guys coming?”

  Ryder stomps back inside and returns with the stereo. Once he’s out, he strides toward the car, loaded with stereo equipment.

  “Gimme,” one of the thugs mumbles.

  “Hell no, you’re not getting a piece of this when I did all the work. It’s a good brand too. I can tell.”

  “Go,” I murmur to Nadine. “I’ll be right there.” Her brows knit, gaze rich with unease. I can’t even say how sad that makes me.

  “No, I’m waiting for you.”

  “I’ve got something I have to do.”

  “Fine. I’m staying.” She doesn’t come closer than the two feet separating us, and I’m not breaking her distance.

  “You won’t like this.”

  “I didn’t think I would.” There’s sadness in her eyes, and I wrinkle mine shut. It’s eerie how fast darkness replaces hope.

  I do it. I pull the T-shirt off my back and leave both hands inside of it. I find the cable to the alarm and lead my way to its house. With the fabric of my shirt, I make sure I leave no fingerprints as I dismantle the alarm and leave the woods quiet.

  “You think it will keep the police away?” Nadine’s voice is as hushed as the swamps.

  “I don’t know. The alarm rang for a few minutes.”

  “Yeah. Are you happy it’s over?” By her expression, she knows how I feel.

  “Yeah. Could’ve been happier though.” I let out a chuckle.

  Exiting, I look down at my girlfriend. In her face I read compassion. She douses me in it. My eyes want to relieve darkness with tears, but that’s where the limit goes.

  Just—

  This time I wasn’t forced into the crime. This time, I chose it myself. I hope it was worth it.

  “I like this,” I sigh with my arm over Nadine’s shoulder. We’re leaned into the couch, not minding the spills and the mess. In front of us, Bear has Liza perched on his knees. He’s rocking her, the heel of a foot moving up and down against the floorboards in a steady rhythm.

  “That was so not swagger,” Bear breathes out. “Sure isn’t much fun when you can’t even drink because you have to police people. And how ’bout freaking Jake?”

  The cabin is eerily quiet now that everyone has left.

  “Speaking of police,” Nadine says.

  Right. It’s almost four in the morning. The sleepy atmosphere after an adrenaline-shocked night couldn’t last forever.

  “They’ll probably be here soon.” My fingers dig into Nadine’s shoulder, rubbing a little too hard.

  “What do we say if they come?” Liza’s stare darts between Nadine and me. “We didn’t see anything, right? Did we hear something?”

  “Yeah, the alarm was crazy loud, so we can’t claim that we didn’t hear it.”

  It dawns on me how stupid we’ve been when Nadine says, “We better clean up in here and go to bed. The place looks like someone’s stomped through it in dirty elephant heels.”

  “What are those?” Bear asks, and I wonder too, until Liza bursts into a nervous laugh. I guess it’s not a type of shoes.

  “You know what I mean.” Nadine pushes o
ff the couch. “Okay, Bear, you do the kitchen.” Then she stalls, nibbling on a nail. “No, never mind. Liza, can you do the kitchen? The guys can get rid of the big stuff, the trash and all that.”

  I start gathering bottles and plastic cups in trash bags. “Where do we put them? We can’t have huge plastic bags standing around in here if the police come. They’ll be, like, ‘What’s in the bags, corpses?’”

  “Shut up.” Liza has a knack for nervous laughter today.

  “Sorry. We’ll just stuff the trash in your closet for now.”

  “My closet?” Bear swivels and glares at me. “No, oh I have an idea. How ’bout we fill your closet with crap? Honey, do we have any old fish for Cugs’ closet?”

  “Fine, whoever’s closet’s got room is where all the trash goes.”

  Seconds later, my buddy sees my point when he reaches Nadine’s and my bedroom. It doesn’t have a closet.

  He grumbles but loads his first full bag in their closet. I follow his example, which causes him to cuss under his breath. We might be in a hurry, worried about what comes next, but there’s one upside to the situation: I’ve grossed my friend out in a big way, and that takes some doing.

  “Imma give up the master suite to you, dude.”

  “Nah, I’m good, man.”

  Interesting how the cabin smells like detergent in a matter of fifteen minutes. The place is all cozy now, looking second-hand instead of dumpster-ready.

  “Let’s do the bedrooms too,” Liza exclaims, excited. She high-fives Nadine, who’s all for the idea.

  “At four twenty in the morning?” I blink. “But nobody was even in there.”

  “No? Not even Ryder and his dirty fingers touching everything in our room?” Liza rolls her eyes. As they pass us, bucket and rags in their hands, Nadine shuts my mouth with a finger under my chin.

  They do Bear and Liza’s bedroom together then move on to ours. Bear and I exchange a glance, because what’s with the oohing and giggling?