Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
A minute on the phone is nothing.
But there’s no reason to keep him on the line. So I let him go. “I’ll call you when she gets here.”
“Good. I have things to say to that girl.”
CHAPTER 30
We spread out across the beach. Paulo takes the surf, I take the beachwalk and Maeko and the other kid, Budi, take the sand.
We walk all the way to South Pointe Pier and there is no sign of her. So we just stand there, lookin’ around, hoping. But she’s not here.
“We should go back,” Paulo says. “This time, let’s walk the street.”
Can’t hurt, so we all just fall in and do that without speaking. Budi takes the lead, walking faster than the rest of us, still looking towards the beach. Maeko trails behind, taking up the rear, looking left and right. And Paulo stays right next to me, scouring the street.
“Did you know,” I say to him, “that you were her first kiss?”
Paulo looks at me, frowning. “That’s bullshit. I never kissed Irina.”
“She said you kissed her when you left for the penthouse.”
He laughs, smiling all the way up to his eyes. Then he tries to explain, but just laughs again. Finally, he gets his words out on the third try. “I kissed her on the cheek. It was a kiss goodbye. I kissed everyone goodbye. Even Cort.” Then he’s laughing again. “Fuckin’ Irina. She’s so tough, ya know? But so clueless.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh.
“But,” Paulo continues, “that’s what made her so special to us.”
“Her innocence?”
“Yeah.” Paulo’s smile drops a little. Then he sighs. “Despite the fact that she has killed nine kids to save her own life, she’s not a mean person. Hasn’t got a mean bone in her tiny body. And she mothered us like crazy.” Then he points to himself. “I’m a year older than her. She’s never been taller than me. Yet she would ride me about everything. ‘Brush your teeth, Paulo.’” I laugh out loud, and so does he. “‘Don’t waste food, Paulo.’ ‘Go take a bath, Paulo. You smell.’” Then he goes serious again, looking right at me. “I would like to go on record that I did look for her. She was fighting in the favelas for months. I knew she was doing that. I just didn’t know why. And I didn’t want anyone to see me there because my fights were getting serious and…” He shakes his head. “I should’ve…” Then he looks at me and shrugs, unable to figure out what he should’ve done.
“That’s how she earned her money to leave,” I tell him.
“Yeah. I heard all about it. And I was pissed at Maart because I knew she ran away because of him.”
“She thought she was in love with him. Did ya know that?”
“Yeah.” Paulo nods, looking out towards the beach. “But… I think we were all in love with Maart at one point.”
I laugh, but he’s serious.
“He trained us,” Paulo explains, “and patched us back up when we were all half-dead. And… fuck. I owe everything to that guy. Obviously, we got over it. Feelings are confusing in the camps, ya know? She would’ve gotten over it, but he pushed her away. I didn’t push her away. If Irina came to me and said, ‘I love you, Paulo,’ I’d have fuckin’ snatched her up in a second. But she didn’t love me that way. And Maart didn’t love her that way. And…” He exhales loudly again. “Like I said, love in the camps is confusing.”
“Fuck, brother. Love anywhere is confusing.”
He nods, grinning. “Truth.” Then he side-eyes me. “Do you love her?”
Now it’s my turn to exhale. “I’ve known her about three weeks, so I should probably say ‘no.’ Or, at the very least, ‘I don’t know.’ But I do know. I do love her. And if something has happened—”
But that’s as far as I get because a shrill whistle draws my attention to Budi, who is bent down on the ground, looking at something on the sidewalk. Maeko comes up next to him, then Paulo and I are there too.
“What’s that?” Paulo asks.
And then Budi stands up, pointing at the ground.
It’s a bloody footprint.
“Shit,” Maeko says, looking at me. “Didn’t you say her foot was cut?”
But before I can answer, Budi is pointing towards the street. “Look. There’s more.”
We all look. And sure enough, there’s a trail of bloody footprints leading across the street.
CHAPTER 31
We were never going to that motel.
The woman was leading me to another building just behind it. When we stepped out of the sunshine and into the shadows of the alleyway, I almost turned and ran. Fuck the foot, it could bleed if it wanted, I was going to run. I was gonna get the fuck out of there.
But my ghosts didn’t stop. They just kept going, following that woman into the alleyway.