Rolling with Dice

Chapter 26

After what seemed liked hours of kicking, shoving, ear pulling, and throwing insults, I was finally able to force Richard into driving me to where Feather was holding Bobbi's dad hostage. The agreement was that Richard drove the Ferrari while I held his gun to his head. He kept scowling at me every five minutes, for the bruise I gave him on his ear. Despite Richard's constant scowling, I couldn't help but smile at the fact that I finally had the upper hand now - but my joy was short lived.

"You know you're an idiot right?" Richard said glaring full-on into the cold hard barrel of his own gun, "This stupid-ass plan of yours? Yeah. It's not going to work."

"For the thousandth time," I said with an aggravated sigh, "and I have been counting - Shut up and drive'!"

Richard shrugged indifferently. "Look Rihanna," now I scowled at him, "I'm just trying to warn you that you're wasting your time."

"You don't even know what I'm planning!" I nearly shouted.

"Of course I do," Richard scoffed steering the car to the right. From this angle you could see the blood crusting over on his hand, from where he got pricked by Bobbi's diary, "You're planning on finding Bobbi's dad before she does, find some crazy and ill-planned way to save him and Bobbi, then you'll abandon me - again - and drive away with both Bobbi and her dad, hoping and praying that she will forgive you for coming after her - after she told you not to - and then everything will be all rainbows and smiley faces in Milo-Land!"

I glared at him for that last part.

"Again," I said trying hard to keep my cool, "shut up and drive."

Miraculously, for the first time since the ride began; Richard decided to listen to me. He continued to drive quietly down the road, leading us deeper into the rougher part of the city.

I frowned. Why would someone as rich and high-class as Feather, hide in the most neglected part of town? Either Feather really wanted to hide somewhere low-key, or she couldn't come up with a better place to hide one of Miami's most wanted men. Then again, there was also the option that Richard might be screwing with me because he doesn't believe I can pull the trigger...

Our silent drive dragged on for a good hour and a half.

It was heaven on my part. Having Richard flirt and harass Bobbi in front of me was one thing, but hearing him complain and nag continuously was something no one could handle without fear of losing their sanity! Besides that, the silence gave me some time to think.

Richard was right about my plan, I was under prepared. Hearing him say it out loud made me realize just how much of it was flawed. Bobbi specifically told me she never wanted to see me again...that I was dead to her!

And yet, here I was, driving after her, even though I knew she was only going to hate me even more for it - but the question that really seemed to bother me the most was: Why the hell was I going through all this trouble in the first place?

Mr. Flores fired me. I was "off the hook" as he put it, but I went after D.I.C.E anyways. Sal had saved D.I.C.E for the most part, and I had Bobbi kept safe at my mother's house, but when Feather called making an offer for Bobbi's dad, I jumped on the chance to save him. Now Bobbi was going to save her dad on her own, and didn't want me to come with her, yet stubborn as ever, here I was, deliberately disobeying her wishes.

Why?

I guess it was because...because I cared about her, even if she didn't care about me anymore, I still cared about Bobbi more than anything in the world. I guess caring made me dumb. It made me blind, stupid, and yes, even a little stubborn, but if these were the traits that came with caring about her, I was willing to embrace it. Caring didn't make me weak; instead it made me stronger - well, as strong as a skinny boy with noddle arms could be...