“I own the place, remember?” He shrugged and nudged Sean toward the road.
He looked at the money Tucker had given him with eyes full of caution. He may have wanted to argue, but then he quietly slipped the money into his pocket and turned to leave. It made Tucker irrationally happy. What the hell was he getting into anyway? He didn’t entirely know, but he couldn’t let Sean run off to Miami alone. He could only handle one lost kid at a time.
Tucker walked back into the shop. “Listen up. Team meeting.”
His staff gathered around. They were a great bunch of folks. He had eight people on staff. Four of them worked on the sales side and the rest in the shop.
“I’m going away for a few days. I don’t know when I’ll be back for sure. Here’s what I need. Alan. You’re in charge of the shop. Hell, you pretty much run it, anyway.” Tucker held his hands up in a shrug. Whatever. They were very capable, and of course Alan would take the top spot.
“Yeah, boss. I got it.” He probably wanted to know a lot more, but Tucker would talk to him privately about it before he left. “I have your cell number. If something comes up, I’ll call.”
“Works for me, but I’m confident you can handle it.” He had already taken over almost everything, including the books and accounts for both the shop and the sales floor. “So, Nan, you’ve got the floor. You work with Alan. He knows all the accounts and what not. He’ll show you what to do.”
“No problem.”
Tucker had wanted to promote her. She was his top salesperson, and she deserved it. She’d also been here the longest, except for Jay, who crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. He probably figured Tucker had overlooked him, but he didn’t. Jay didn’t sell as much as Nan, but other things he did helped all of them, and Tucker recognized it. “Jay,” he said, getting the man’s attention. “I want you to handle promotions and marketing. I liked your ideas about doing something to get some attention from a younger crowd. So take that old VW bug and work with Alan on fixing it up like we talked about.” Jay practically jumped up and down. He’d bugged Tucker for months to jack it up and put big tires on it, tricking it out so younger people would want to stop and see it. The first part of summer would be perfect timing. “Paint it some cool color to catch the eye. You know what you’re doing. So do it.”
Alan cleared his throat. “You have a budget? Or are you giving the yahoo here free rein?”
“You can work it out. You don’t have to use the most expensive parts to make it look good. It doesn’t have to run, right? Work together. Here’s the bottom line. This is y’all’s opportunity. Show me what you can do. It’s a trial run for all three of you.” None of the others had been there long enough to expect anything, and they’d listen to the leaders he’d designated. “Don’t run my namesake into the ground before I get back, yeah?” Tucker had been named after the shop, not the other way around like most people assumed.
They all laughed.
“Now get back to work.”
Alan raised his hand, and Tucker nodded to the office and followed him over. He’d already run through all of Alan’s objections before he’d even had a chance to voice them. He shut the door behind him. “Don’t worry, Alan. You can handle it. I’m going on a mission to help a kid who’s in trouble. It’s important, or I wouldn’t leave like this, but you know we’ve been working on this for a while. I want to make you the manager.” His goal had been to get the shop and sales to run without him, then he could focus on opening a new place. He’d been steadily working with his staff on this kind of move over the past year. He had scoped out a few locations across town and closer to McDonough. Tucker figured this trip would be a nice test. They would gain confidence with the experience, and he could make it official when he returned.
Alan sat in the chair behind the desk with a sigh. “I’ll take care of everything, man. You know I have your back. I’ve had it for like our whole lives. Which makes me worried about you. I can worry, right?”
“Yeah. Of course. But don’t.”
“I saw that kid. What’s his name? The Pace kid?”
Tucker unzipped his coveralls and stepped out of them. “Yeah. Sean Pace. We know him from church.”
“Right, and what kind of trouble is making you drop everything and split, man?”
“Not his trouble. His friend is missing, and he’s heading to Miami to find him.”
“Ah...and you can’t let him run off alone?”
“Something like that, yeah. And the kid we’re going after truly needs help.”
Alan nodded and stood up, extending his hand. Tucker took it, shook it firmly, and pulled his friend into a tight hug. They probably thought he’d gone crazy, but they showed their professionalism and dedication rather than question him. He valued their loyalty.
Tucker teared up a bit then quickly shoved his emotion aside. “I’m taking the Mazda hybrid off the lot. Don’t let them sell my Jeep while I’m gone.” He pointed at Alan and smiled before leaving.
He swung by the gas station on the next corner and gassed up the vehicle, then headed home. He packed quickly, grabbed an empty cooler, and zoomed back over to the Kroger to pick up Sean. He was waiting in front of the store with a few bags in his hands.
“Hey! Get in,” Tucker called out the open window.
“I got ice, too, but it’s still inside.” Sean opened the back door and dropped the bags, then went back into the store. He came back with a bag of ice and dropped it in the cooler along with a six-pack of sodas on top and shut it. “I was hoping you’d grab a cooler.”
“Good thinking on both our parts. Are you ready?”
Sean dropped into the passenger seat and buckled the seat belt. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
The first part of the drive went by quickly as they drove away from Griffin and through Macon. Sean didn’t talk much, which was fine with Tucker as they went through a bit of traffic. He concentrated on the road. A few hours later, the sun had long ago dipped behind the horizon, leaving them to drive in full dark. Sean became restless, fiddling with the radio and moving around a lot in his seat.
“Do you need to stop?” Tucker asked him.
“No. I’m good.” He flipped off the radio. “Can’t sit still. I wish I’d brought my guitar.”
In fact, Sean hadn’t brought anything. No clothes, no toothbrush, not even a cell phone. His over religious parents probably wouldn’t let the kid have one. Tucker had been raised in the same church, and even his parents had been influenced a little too much by the group, if you asked him. They tended to be ridiculously pious.
Tucker had packed up his things, including his phone charger and laptop. He’d tucked those into the top of his duffle bag, but he hadn’t considered what else Sean might need. He would have to work on helping him more if he could.
“We can stop.”
Sean shook his head. “I want to get there already. We don’t have to stop. Do you know the way?”
“Mostly. We take seventy-five all the way to the turnpike. Then cut over to ninety-five, which leads us into Miami. It’s like nine hours or so. We’re going to stop at some point. We can look up where the school is then.”
“Okay. Good. I’ve never been out of Georgia. I don’t think Vern has either. I guess, he’ll probably keep moving south until he gets there. I don’t know. I’m scared for him. You know?”
“I get it. I do, but he’s lucky too.”
Sean snorted. “Lucky? No way. There is nothing lucky about Vern Swain.”
“You’re wrong. He may not know it, but he has you.” Tucker glanced over at him. He could barely see him in the flickering lights of the highway.
“This is your car? For real?”
“Yes and no. I mean, I own it, because I own the lot.”
“Right. Tucker’s. You sell cars now. I hoped to get one to replace my truck before heading up to Athens. Whenever that will be. Probably never, now. Hell, if I don’t end up missing registration deadlines, my parents are going to want to kill me
. They sure won’t support me going after this. They’ll want to pack me off to some Bible college anyway.” He turned his head away, scanning the roadside out the window. “My chances of going there were probably never and none anyway.”
“Never say never. Athens? You’re going to UGA?”
“Was. Who knows now.”
“Might still work out.”
“We’ll see.”
“Hm...a lot can happen between now and never, Sean.”
They fell silent for a few minutes, but Tucker couldn’t stop thinking about the unasked question. He’d thrown it out as an assumption, but Sean didn’t clarify it. Instead of letting it fester in his gut, he spit it out. “So, uh...like, this kid, Vern? I don’t know him, but, uh...”
“Yeah?”
Tucker took a deep breath and let it out. “Are you, like, you know? In love with him? Is he your boyfriend?”
Sean laughed. “No. No way. Oh, I am gay, though. You’re right about that. I hope you don’t hold it against me. I know a lot of people from church would. Vern is gay too, seriously. But, no. We weren’t...you know. He’s a good friend, and well, he needs a good friend.” Sean squirmed a little in his seat. “The kids at school...they picked on him horribly, worse than anything. Seemed like it, anyway. I always tried to be there, to step in, when I could.”
“Of course. You’re a good friend. Why pick on him, though? I mean more than others?”
“I’m not sure...but maybe they could tell he’s different. Not just being gay or smart...there’s something different about him.” He held up a hand in a half-shrug. “I don’t know what it is. Never mattered to me. He has nothing—no one. His life sucked before, but after his mom died...” Tucker saw Sean shaking his head out of the corner of his eye. “His dad...ugh...”
“I do know about his dad. People talk.”
“That’s an understatement. In Griffin, anyway.”
“You have no idea.”
Sean laughed again, but this time, it was cynical beyond his years. “My mom is crazy. Do you know that?”
“Uh...kind of. Yeah.”
“She’s bat-shit crazy. It’s the truth. You may be tempted to not believe it because it’s gossip, but it’s true.”
“Why are you telling me this, Sean?”
“Because even though she’s nuts, she still gossips. She listens to her friends at church. Hell, half the time, they’re talking about her. Then she comes home and talks to people who aren’t there. Her real friends. They have coffee with her in her kitchen, but there’s no one there. And I’ve heard it all.”
“I’m sorry, Sean.”
“Don’t be. I’m not. She still loves me, and Vern...I don’t think he had much love in his life. Maybe.” He shrugged in the darkness. “Maybe she loves me.”
Tucker didn’t know what to say. He’d never discussed the topic before, and he’d talked about plenty of difficult subjects. “I’m sure she does.”
“Doubt she’ll notice I’m gone for a few days. Until Dad comes looking for me.”
“Shouldn’t you call them? You can use my phone.”
“Thanks. No. I have enough to worry about without dealing with my folks.”
“Whatever you need, Sean. I mean it.”
Sean turned in his seat, pulling at his seat belt. “Why are you being so nice? You don’t even know me, seriously.”
“I already told you.”
“Whatever.”
Tucker added his own sardonic laughter. “Listen. There’s not enough help in the good ol’ Bible Belt for gay kids. That’s one thing I know about. So, yeah. I’m going to help.” His words tasted like a lie. They may have been small lies, but he didn’t feel too bad about it. He did want to help Sean, even if he didn’t exactly know why, and he wanted Sean to feel more comfortable about it all. Telling him he wanted to help gay kids? If it helped, he’d say it. He’d do it. Then it would be less of a lie.
“You have a soft spot for the gays?”
“Yes, I do. Because...uh...I am one.” It was the closest statement of coming out Tucker had ever made to anyone. His fingers gripped the steering wheel a bit harder, and his stomach flipped over. “Yeah...never said those words...especially to someone from the church.”
“Oh.” Sean turned back around in his seat as if it changed nothing.
“Are you okay with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Tucker shrugged. Shouldn’t something change? “Guess I’m pretty used to people not being okay with it. And it kind of makes things a little different. Between us.”
“Huh. Well...” He sounded flustered.
Tucker nodded, happy to change the subject if it made Sean uncomfortable, but it left Tucker feeling a bit lighter than he had before they’d talked.
He let them ride in silence for a while until Sean said, “Thank you, Tucker.”
“Don’t mention it.”
The traffic became lighter as they went along. A few hours later, they crossed into Florida. “Hey, Sean.”
“Yeah?’
“You are eighteen, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“We, uh, crossed into Florida. Need to know. In case I’d be in some kind of trouble, taking you over state lines and all.”
“You’re asking now?” Sean laughed, and Tucker joined him.
They drove past exits for Live Oak. “I’m getting tired, Sean.”
“Why?”
“Hey, now. I worked a full day before driving these past four hours.”
“Has it been that long?”
“Yeah. I’m going to stop soon. If we find civilization.” The highway from the Georgia-Florida line became sparser—less traffic and less to look at out the windows. Almost an hour later, Tucker heard Sean softly snoring. Time to find a hotel.
SEVEN
Sean
Running through the woods.
Black and white, black and white.
He stops and sees light streaming through the trees, and the leaves shine brilliant green and silver flickering in the sun.
Vern’s voice calls to him like an echo in the wind. He remembers how rich it sounded when he played Kenickie in Grease. Vern had totally pulled it off, looking like a completely different person in that leather jacket with his hair slicked back.
“Sean!” Vern’s voice again.
He tries to follow it, but thorns hold him back. They won't let go, grabbing at his shirt and his jeans. They are tiny little hands, gripping harder, pinching his skin.
Another voice whispers for him to hurry, go, go, go. Get away.
The thorn-hands won't let go. He can’t break free, and his heart races.
Sean jolted awake with a gasp.
“You okay?”
Sean looked around. The fluorescent light tinged Tucker’s profile, casting an orange glow over him, and his eyes burned neon bright. Sean turned away and rubbed at his face. “Mmm. Creepy dream.” He didn’t want to think too hard about the nightmare or about Tucker.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He stifled a yawn. “Where are we?”
“Hotel. I’m getting us a room.”
“Uh...Tucker? I can’t pay for it. Not even half of it.” What the hell was he doing hundreds of miles from home with a strange man, looking for Vern? Nothing was clear anymore. Sean had never done something so irresponsible. “I’m sorry, I don’t—”
“Stop. I get it. But what were you planning on doing, Sean? Sleeping at rest stops?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think about it. Honestly, Tucker, until right this second...none of this seemed real. At all. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“It’s okay. Let me take care of you.”
“Why?”
“Because I can.” Tucker stared at him with those hauntingly stunning eyes. His hair looked very red with the bright light shining from behind him. “Because I want to.” His voice sounded deep and sleepy.
“Okay, fine.” Sean gave in, too damne
d tired to argue about it. “Hey, I know this is all very weird, but...”
“But what?”
“I wanted to say thank you. I wouldn’t be able to do this by myself, seriously.”
Tucker muttered something under his breath then cleared his throat. “This is a...rather strange situation. But I’m sure you can handle your shit. I, uh...I confess, I didn’t want you to go alone, and I’m happy to help. Weird or not.”
Sean sighed. “I appreciate it. I know I can’t explain this, but yeah, thanks.” His dreams only added to the uncanny situation, but he didn’t want to discuss his dreams with anyone. He surely didn’t want to run Tucker off by being any more of a spaz.
EIGHT
Tucker
Tucker unfastened his seat belt and sat forward.
A weird silver light shone from Sean’s eyes. For a second, they had no pupils. Then he blinked, and they were normal. Hazel, a light brownish color with green and gold flecks. Pretty. And very normal.
Tucker sat back. He must have imagined it. They’d traveled about five hours and stopped a bit north of Tampa near some place called Bushnell, and exhaustion washed over him. “We can get going again early in the morning. Okay?”
Sean nodded and looked out the window. He rubbed his face with both hands.
Tucker needed to take care of him. He would do what he could.
He got out of the car and went inside to book a room. Thankfully, they had a double, and it wasn’t too expensive. He put it on his credit card and went back out to the car to grab his bag and the food Sean had bought.
Once inside, he stretched out on the bed farthest from the window.
Sean stood in the middle of the hotel room, looking around.
“Hey, take a shower. Relax. We’ll get some sleep. It’s all good, Sean.”
Sean headed into the bathroom and shut the door. Tucker remembered he didn’t even have a change of clothes. He quickly rummaged through his duffel bag then tapped at the bathroom door. “Here’s a clean shirt for you.”
Demon or Angel (Age of Exilum Book 1) Page 6
