Rough Road Ahead (In Progress)

Chapter 12

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            I pulled away, stumbling backwards into the towel rack. Feeling my spine ache as I realized my fault and moved away from it. "Oh my gosh." I said, my hands over my mouth as I watched Brad climb to his feet.

            "Everything OK in there?" I heard Good rap on the door.

            "Yep." I squeaked, taking a deep breath trying to calm my nerves. Whatever just happened must have been drug induced. He had lost lots of blood and I was stoned, so it was like a drunken mishap, right? Something like that happens once and no one ever talks about it again. Fear was a drug? Right? Yeah, I was stoned on fear.

            Brad was still sitting on the counter, a bewildered expression on his face. "Iris." He reached ahead of him, pulling himself to his feet and moving towards me, "Iris it's OK, calm down. There is something I have to say."

            My breathing was heavy as I moved away from him, almost slipping and falling on a blood covered towel that had been discarded on the floor. "No, no this is not OK." I panicked, my eyes scanning the room, "this is the farthest thing from OK." He tried to grab me, but I threw his hands down, "this is a nightmare." I concluded, "all of this. The road trip, you being nice to me, the creepy town, the evil people, the criminals taking us hostage, me kissing you. All of this." My hands motioned around us for effect, "everything is in my head. My fucked up head. Maybe I am crazy, maybe I am in a white padded cell."

            Brad bit his lip, "this is all real, Iris." He grabbed my arms, "I'm real, all of this crap is real." He pointed at the door that had Good standing behind it, "you're not crazy."

            Taking quick breaths I moved my arms away from his. I was thinking of something to say when Good busted the door down. He ran in, gun still glued to his hand.

            I wondered silently if his palm ever got sweaty since the gun had become part of him. "Come on." He said roughly, grabbing my arm and Brad's and pulling us from the washroom.

            I didn't fight him, I was far too weak, caught up in my own thoughts as he pushed us down on the sofa beside one another, "I said no funny business. What do you give me?" He said pacing the length of the coffee table in front of us. "Funny business." He said, finally sitting down in the lazy-boy and putting his feet up. His hand was in his mouth, his teeth biting down on his nails, "you almost got me in trouble." He said, sitting up and leaning forward, "I don't like trouble."

            I realized quickly that he was speaking about his brother, Luck, who was clearly the boss in the relationship. I guessed he was responsible for caring for us and making sure we didn't escape, and if we did, Luck would have his head.

            He continued to speak, his high-pitched voice echoing in my ears, but I wasn't listening, I was looking at Brad who was staring at the floor, twiddling his figures together, his perfectly colored lips perched in a constipated expression.

                                                            ****

            "Iris." I heard Sam's voice from beside me and then felt pressure on the palm of my hand. My eyes darted down to see our hands clasped in one another, "I am so sorry about all of this." He started, and I could see the guilt in behind his blue eyes.

            "Sorry about what?" I asked, his words pulling me back onto earth. My mind had been up in space for the past hour, floating around with my problems and thoughts, which were technically the same thing.