KIERA
Thad would kill me with his driving someday, if this mission did not kill me first. Strapped to the seats of his weather-beaten pick-up truck that groaned each time he surmounted a bump on the road, we occasionally stole glares at each other.
"What?" He popped a mint gum, giving me his best stink eye. To be fair, he was an all-round chunk of caramel hotness.
I knew God and all his angels must have been protecting him from the predatory claws of Texas hoes. Call me a bitch, but they are hoes, honey.
"Uh, slow down. I gotta take this," My phone buzzed, signalling an incoming call.
+44...
Interesting.
"I'd decline and block the asshole if I were you," Thad peered over my shoulder.
"What do you think they want?"
"A random number is blasting your phone while you're in a getaway truck, fully convinced that you'll somehow take down the sickest drug lord in Italy. What do you think they want?" he switched to his special black street accent as my phone resumed ringing again.
One thing was sure: the jerk, whoever they were on the other end of Britain, would not give up anytime soon.
Thad trained his streamlined vision on the winding roads ahead. Sweat beads trickled and lined his pointy hawk nose as he clutched the wheel.
I took a deep breath like they did in mind-whirling thrillers and tapped the green answer button dancing.
"Has Nick told you about his new fiancee?" A reverberating chuckle followed, rubbing salt into my frayed nerves.
I glanced at Thad. He waved his hands at me, mouthing, "no".
"Good for him, Dad. You know me, I really don't care about shit like that. Give Sav my love, bye."
"Stay right where you are, bitch. Nick is taking your lil sister away and running off with my money."
"Like you deserve better... " I sniggered.
"C'mon, Kiera. You remember those times when we used to, uh, make a campfire in our lil backyard and sit in a circle and roast 'em marshmallows?"
"Alright Dad, I know you're sad and pretty fucked up right now but I gotta go."
"Girl, when your Daddy's going down, what do you do?"
I pretended to swallow burning tears.
Was he really going to use this card on me?
"I fight for him," I choked. Thad put his arm around my shoulders. I knew that sign. I'm here for you.
"When your Daddy's going down baby, what do you do?"
"I fight for him."
"When your Daddy's going down, what do you do?"
"I fight for him!"
I lied through my teeth. Me, save Dad? I would rather go to jail than rescue one strand of his fast greying hair. He could sink into his early grave with his business empire. Did he think, a these years, that Nick was being loyal to him out of his love for me? The bastard loved no one, not even himself. He loved a thing called power, the sound of it, the smell of it, the loads of cash it brought rolling in through his minions.
"That's my bitch," he said.
I liked to think he cackled like the witches in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
"Anything else?"
"The roads are dangerous at this time of the year."
"What do you mean?"
"Watch y___"
The crash that barked jolted me out of the one-sided game of hatred, followed by the smash of wholesale breakage of china. Dad's whimper echoed in the background. I imagined him in the grand hall, where his "throne" was sited in its blue and gold resplendence.
I could not hear what his attackers were saying, just their heavy footsteps. They were probably boots. I wondered if the boots were stolen. Soon, Dad was crying. I imagined his spineless frame kneeling, a gun to his temple, his hands raised in surrender.
Thad snapped back to life first as soon as the gentle chime of the phone teleported us to reality and the line went dead. I shook my head vigorously, attempting to unstrap my seatbelt. I could not grant the request etched in his eyes.
"Mary, he's our Dad."
"Nope, huh uh. He's your Dad. He disowned me when I needed him most. I'm getting the heck outta this shit. You can deal with him, but when he whips your butt back to the rear when he's in control again, don't call me."
"Mary?"
My right foot was already outside the damned vehicle.
"Get in the truck."
"I don't understand you anymore, Thad!" I threw up my hands. "Who're you with? Me or your fat shitty ass asshole of a father?"
"I'm with my family," he opined.
I was staring at the subdued homes, almost void of any sign of life on the my side of the highway. We were like that once, before Dad suddenly rose through the business ranks, before he dated and married Asha, the woman who raised us as if we were her own children, after mom herself died at Savannah's birth. Asha was more mom to us than mom, before cancer snatched her away as well.
"And that's too much cussing for your little smart mouth. Now get in the fucking truck."
He reached over, wrapped one strong arm about my waist and dragged me inside properly, then slammed the door, shunning my hardened frown.
"You may refuse to look at me now, Mary. Heck, you may hate me, but I'm doing this for your good. Everything I've ever done has been for you and Sav."
"Even calling off your engagement with Jenevieve?"
"Especially calling off my engagement with Jenny."
Uh oh. That was a bleeding wound from Thad's messy past. As he started the engine again, I knew he was crying inside, for his rash sacrifice. Yet he was about to make another one.