by Holly Hood
I stared at Slade, my cheeks on fire. He was an ass sometimes.
“Yeah we have a lot of money. Money we worked hard for.” Evan stood up. He smirked. “Is this what you’re after our money?”
Slade shook his head. “We don’t want your money. We want you to let your girl bring Hope’s dad back to life and then we’ll leave.”
Evan rolled his eyes, he lowered his chin looking down at us. “Not. Going. To. Happen. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Slade stood up. “You can do a lot for me. Whether or not you want to do it the easy way or the hard way, is up to you.”
“Is that a threat?” Evan stepped forward, and crossed his arms. “Nobody threatens me.”
“No, but this is,” he said. “If you don’t want to bring her dad back I will bring yours back. Does that make this any easier for you?”
Eve jumped from her seat. “What?” She looked at me. “Carlo has been dead for a long time. There’s no way that could happen.”
I looked at Slade because I had no explanation as to how it worked.
“I’m capable of a lot more than just looking good.” He turned, pointing at the family mural above their fireplace. With one swipe of his hand it dropped off the wall, and crashed to the floor. Slade walked across the room and stood over it. He snapped his fingers and it started to burn. He looked up. “Now do you believe me?”
“You’re not the first person I met who practiced black magic,” Evan said.
Slade returned to me. And Eve quickly dumped a pitcher of water on the painting.
“So you know what I am capable of.” Slade rubbed his hands together looking for something else to destroy. Before he could Evan cleared his throat and finally said something smart for once.
“How will you protect her?”
“I know a spell. It only last for about ten minutes but it will keep anything from happening to her.” Slade looked at Evan. “Will it take longer than ten minutes?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know.”
“It’s been a long time. I don’t know how long it will take, what if it takes longer than that. What happens to me?” She looked around the room, biting at her lip.
Evan put a protective arm around her. “I promised you nothing would happen to you. And I won’t break that promise.” He looked at Slade. “We have a little boy. He means the world to her and she doesn’t want to ever leave him again.”
I sat down, a heaviness in my chest. She was only worried because of her little boy and that made me feel awful. They weren’t bad people, they were trying to look out for their family. And I was about to ruin theirs because I wanted mine back.
“Hope is capable of doing the same spell, right, Hope?” Slade asked me.
I reluctantly shook my head. “I remember reading about it.”
After a couple minutes of silence Evan dropped his arms and looked at us. “She’ll do it. But if anything happens to her I will make sure the rest of your life is miserable.”
Slade touched his arm. “On my word nothing will happen to her.”
I hated how easy it was for Slade to lie to them. He knew as well as I did things were not going to end well. As soon as we got what we wanted Kenny would ruin everything.
But it was either let my dad die or deceive complete strangers. I looked away from the picture of their son on the wall. What if she died trying to bring my dad back to life? Her son would be without his mother, just like my brothers and I.
I watched Slade leave the room to get my father’s body. The guilt ate at me. Maybe the right thing to do was tell her once she gave us what we wanted. Maybe if I warned her she could stop Kenny.
I stood up, and paced the room. I needed to hold it together for a few more minutes and then we would be headed back to California with my dad.
And just as I started to in ran their son. He raced across the room and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled, stroking his curly mess of hair.
I smiled forcing myself to sit back down.
“Oliver, I want you to go get a snack in the kitchen and let us have a few minutes.” She turned him to the doors. “I promise after we are finished we will have a big bowl of ice cream.”
He looked at me. “Who is that?”
“She’s a friend.” She forced a smile pretending everything was alright. “Now go.”
He did as he was told and left the room. She took the seat next to Evan. “Maybe you should help him.” She patted his leg. “I can’t imagine he’s light.”
He sat back in his chair. “The guy looks like he’s on steroids, I’m sure he can handle it.” He looked at me. “I wouldn’t believe everything my brother tells you just so you know.”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe anything he says.”
“Good because he’s only out for himself.” He crossed his arms. “He’s a snake. And he’ll ruin your life.”
Eve’s gaze dropped to the floor and she nodded. “He ruins everybody’s life.”
The door opened, and Slade came in carrying my dad’s body. I hated the thought of him underneath the black plastic.
He carefully placed him on the ground.
“Alright.” Slade clapped his hands together. “Let’s get this started.”
Withdrawals like a mother
I knew the spell. I knew all spells like I knew my birthday and social security number. Maybe I was some kind of witch savant, the amount of stuff going on in my mind when it came to magic astounded me.
But that didn’t change the fact I was scared to death of Evan and what he would do to me and Slade if I failed to keep up my end of the deal.
I looked at him, clutching his cell phone in his big hands. He was only willing to give us eight minutes.
So after Slade performed the spell. I sat behind him on the couch watching Eve. She rubbed her hands together and dropped to her knees uncovering my dad. I looked away. I didn’t want to see him in that condition.
“Six minutes,” Evan announced.
I admired my shoes, and then I admired Slade’s boots and the way both toes had perfect scuffs on them. And I thought about the first time we slept together. It was a stupid thought, it seemed pretty shallow but anything was better than the thoughts that would start if I didn’t think about something.
“Four minutes,” Evan reminded us. This time he sighed.
I bit down on my lip, I wanted it to work. I wanted to know my dad would be okay. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I had to go back to Cherry and tell Nona and my brothers he was dead.
Slade touched my arm. “Stand up.”
I knew what was coming next. “When he says one minute I want you to start the spell.”
I swallowed and shook my head. I repeated the words over and over in my head so I didn’t forget them. “What if this doesn’t work?”
“It’s going to work,” Slade said. “Stop thinking like that.”
I closed my eyes forcing air through my nose. “I’m trying.”
“It’s working,” Eve said breaking through my calm. I opened my eyes and dropped down beside her. I touched his face, he looked okay, better even. He was warm, he was breathing, he was everything I wanted him to be and more.
She stood up, leaving me and Slade to tend to him. I touched his chest feeling the rhythmic beating of his heart, it was the best feeling I ever felt beneath my fingertips.
Slade kissed my temple, squeezing me for a couple of seconds before he let me go back to my dad. I squeezed his hand smoothing his hair back waiting for more. I wanted him to look at me.
“It sometime helps if you talk to them,” she offered.
I looked at her and smiled. “Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.” I looked her over. “Are you okay?” She looked okay.
She ran a hand through her hair. “I’m a little shaky. But I’m okay.”
I squeezed his hand. “Dad. It’s Hope. Wake up, look at me.”
Seconds never felt so long. But soon
enough I was looking at one of the most important people to me like it was the first time. He touched my face. “Hope.”
His words meant the world to me.
“How do you feel?” I asked him.
He sat up. “Like I have the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life.”
Slade kneeled down beside us with a glass of liquor in his hand. I raised an eyebrow but bit my tongue. Dad accepted the drink and looked around the room as he took his first sip. “Where are we?”
“Jersey,” Slade told him. “But not for long.”
Dad rubbed at his forehead with his free hand. “The last thing I remember is Hope singing down by the water.” He looked down at the black bag and pulled one leg free. “What the hell is this?”
I cleared my throat. “We didn’t have a blanket.” I wasn’t sure how to explain.
“Dead bodies travel better in plastic,” Slade said bluntly.
I sighed. “Everything is fine. We’re all fine now. Please don’t worry about it.”
He shook his head. “I don’t even want to know.” I helped him free himself and get to his feet. Evan stood by the door, it was obvious he wasn’t going to let us leave that easily.
“I hope you’re a man of your word,” Evan told Slade. “We did what you wanted. I hope you leave it at that. Bringing Carlo back would be bad for everyone.”
I swallowed.
Slade nodded, giving Evan a handshake. “No problem. We will be on the road and you won’t hear from us again.”
Slade touched the small of my back to get me moving. I looked at him, the guilt seeping into my soul. “Slade.”
He raised an eyebrow, his jaw flexing. I knew what he thought he didn’t even need to break into my thoughts. He didn’t want me to say anything.
“Hope, we have to hit the road.” Slade grabbed my arm and brought a hand to my hair. “Your dad’s going to be fine.”
Dad rubbed the back of his neck doing his best to pull it together. He wasn’t in control of his life for days I could only imagine what kind of toll that took on someone’s mind.
But he was still trying to comfort me.
“Hope. Are you alright?”
“I’ll be okay.” I lied. I was about to burst if I didn’t leave.
And then she looked at me. She smiled, coming over to me. “I’ve done this too many times to count. He’s going to be okay. I know it’s strange. But I promise you he will be.” She squeezed my arm.
Her eyes were really blue when she was emotional. It pulled at my heart strings. “It’s not going to be okay.”
Everyone looked at me. I avoided them all breaking away from Slade and Eve and my dad. I didn’t want to be comforted for misleading anyone. “Just straighten this all out so we can leave. I don’t want to be here anymore.” I shot Slade a look sending him into motion.
As soon as Slade gave Evan his word again we were on our way. Part of me was relieved to be sitting in a car with my dad. The other part of me felt bad to know we deceived them.
Kenny drove us back to his apartment so we could do one final thing for him.
“So what’s it feel like?” Kenny adjusted his mirror to get a look at my dad. “Coming back from the dead?”
Dad scratched his head. “Who is this guy?” He looked at me and Slade. “And why are we in Jersey?”
I sighed. “This is Kenny. He’s the reason we are in Jersey.”
“And the reason you were dead for almost a week.” Kenny pointed out.
“I think he gets it,” Slade said.
“We all get it,” I added. I didn’t want to hear it anymore. “We all understand you’re some freak of nature that runs around touching people and killing them. Let’s get this over with so I can go home and forget this ever happened.” I concentrated on the cars and the rumble of the engine.
“I held up my end of the deal, when are you going to give me even an ounce of credit, sweetheart?” He smirked.
“Never. Your about to ruin your brother’s life all because your angry for whatever reason.” I crossed my arms and sighed. “What is it? Are you upset because she loves him and not you?”
Kenny slammed on the brakes and my head thudded against the back of his seat. Slade kept his eyes on his every move.
“Eve was my brother’s girlfriend first.” He slammed the car into park. “I tried to be the nice guy and do what my brother wanted.”
My dad shook his head.
“So they fucked you over and you want to pay them back. That doesn’t fix things,” I told him.
“It may not, but it feels good.” He put the car back into drive and made a u turn.
Dad looked out the window. “Where are we going?”
“To finish what we started,” Kenny answered.
He pulled into a parking lot and parked the car a few spots away from the others already there. I studied the neon lights flickering off in the distance.
“What the hell is this place?” Slade said.
Kenny grinned. “You never been to a strip club?”
I was speechless.
Slade shifted in his seat. “Why are we here?”
Kenny turned the car off. “Come on, don’t deflect. I bet the strip clubs in California are ridiculous. Are you afraid of hurting her feelings?”
Slade flexed his jaw. “I don’t give a shit if she knows I’ve been in a strip club.”
“Good, let’s go.” He climbed out of his car.
I looked at Slade before getting out. Kenny threw up a hand stopping my dad before he could get out on his side. “Dad we don’t want this to get awkward. So take a nap. We’ll bring you out some wings or something.”
I nodded, and followed behind Slade to the entrance of the club.
“What are we doing at a strip club?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine how a strip club could help bring back his dead father.
Kenny patted the burly bouncer on the arm and we got inside without any issues. The music bordered on hearing loss, the woman were naked and if I wasn’t so stressed out I might have been embarrassed to be staring at vaginas. But today I didn’t care.
“This shit hole has the one very important thing we need,” Kenny said. He pulled up a seat, planting us in front of the stage. “They have the biggest bouncers around and if we are going to bring Carlo back I say go big or go home.” He pulled out a couple dollars.
Slade took a seat. I looked around at the scary men and took the seat next to Slade getting as close to him as possible.
A waitress in nothing but pasties and a black thong came over. She twirled a pen between her fingers and offered a smile. “Can I get you guys something to drink?” She stared Slade down and then Kenny. But it wasn’t long before she started to drool over his tattoos and fitted black t-shirt and focused on him again.
“Three shots of patron,” Kenny said. “Put it on the tab.” He winked, slapping her ass. “They know me here.”
