Manhunt (9 page)

Flashes of memories assaulted Nikki as Michael dragged her to the car.

Sebastian dragging her the same way Michael was now…

Nikki dragging her heels, trying to stop him...

Nikki looking over her shoulder at Michael, fighting to get back…

Michael with his head down, his shoulders slumped, and his hands in his pockets as he turned his back on her and walked away…

Nikki crying on Sebastian’s shoulder as he held her and tried to comfort her, holding her too tightly and not letting her go…

Sebastian backhanding Nikki across the face, sending her flying against the wall...

Michael put his hand on the top of her head to guide her as he lowered her whimpering form into the car. Nikki’s eyes focused on a serendipitous police cruiser parked outside the office. The officers were just inside, one taking notes on a clipboard as the manager talked with her hands. The other was leaning against the counter, eating a danish. No one was looking her way.

By the time Nikki regained her senses, it was too late to scream. They were already pulling onto the highway. Nikki started beating on his bicep with all the strength she could muster.

“You crazy, murdering, kidnapping son of a bitch! You stop this car right now and let me out, or I swear to God, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Michael interrupted, teeth clenched and knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. “You’re not going anywhere. Just calm down, sit back and relax. We’ve got a long day of driving ahead of us.”

Nikki huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She realized he was right. Unless she wanted to jump out of a moving car at 70 miles per hour, she was trapped.

“You’ll have to stop sometime. Hot chocolates and egg sandwiches aren’t going to pacify me anymore. I don’t care what Christian and Sophie said about you. I don’t care if we used to be together. I don’t care that you were my first, and maybe only. You. Are. A. Murderer.”

Michael flinched with every word, but he didn’t lash out. He didn’t fight back. He didn’t respond at all. Instead, he just put on the oldies channel and kept driving.

Nikki stared out the window, temporarily defeated but no less terrified. She tried to fight sleep. If she dozed off, it gave Michael the perfect opportunity to increase his advantage, either by getting gas, or perhaps even restraining her in some way. The last thing she wanted was to end up hog tied in the trunk. She needed an escape plan. She didn’t know much about him, really, and what she did remember was sketchy and contradictory at best.

“Wait a minute...,” Michael interrupted her thoughts. “How do you know I was your first?”

“I had a dream about it last night,” she growled at him.

Michael mouthed a silent “Oh” and nodded his head absently. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked quietly after a long pause.

“No, I don’t, as a matter of fact. I couldn’t believe a word you would tell me anyway, so why bother. For all I know, you could be feeding me suggestions in my sleep, making me dream this stuff about you so you can call it fact.” Deep down, she didn’t believe that. On the other hand, she didn’t trust him as far as she could spit.

“Fine,” he snapped back. “You want to judge me based on a 30 second news broadcast, that’s up to you. You don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine too. But let me make one thing clear to you, Nicole. Those memories are real. We were real. And whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me for the long haul. So chill the fuck out, because you’re only making this harder than it needs to be.”

“Are you saying you didn’t kill Sebastian? That I shouldn’t judge you based on that broadcast and your actions?!”

Michael groaned at her, obviously frustrated. “You don’t know what I know. You don’t remember what he was like. Sebastian Cross was a no-good, rotten bastard, just like my father! He deserved to die.”

Nikki looked at him, stunned. How could she have ever loved someone who could kill another human being and clearly show absolutely no remorse?

Chapter 9

Michael turned the volume up on the oldies channel, ending the conversation. He needed to figure out their next move. He would have to go to full-serve gas stations going forward. It would cost more, but he wouldn’t have to leave her in the car alone. He would have to make her use gas station bathrooms instead of restaurants or rest stops. Sure, they’d be disgusting, but they were single stall as a general rule so he could walk her to the door and be assured she wasn’t talking to anyone while she was in there.

Money was another problem. Now that they’d wasted so much on a week’s stay at the motel, they were down to their last $300. He’d thought originally he could get a job as a day laborer somewhere, but now he had to keep Nikki in his sights at all times. She wasn’t healthy enough to work alongside him, assuming he could have found someone to hire them both in the first place. Besides, she was better than that. He considered stealing it, but his conscience wouldn’t let him. He wasn’t ignorant of the irony. No, there was only one way he could see where he could keep Nikki safe and quiet while he made some money.

Once he had a plan worked out, his mind began to wander, and he found himself getting got caught up in his own memories, one of the many he wished he could forget.

*******

Michael had just walked into the middle school cafeteria. He looked around, searching for Nikki. He found her sitting at a round table near the window, talking to Jeremy Brennan. He noticed she didn’t have any food with her. Her mom must have forgotten to give her money again. Michael dug deep into the bottom of his backpack for loose change while he waited in line. He had just enough for two slices of pizza. They’d have to get a drink from the water fountain, but it was better than nothing.

Michael sat down next to Nikki and put one of the slices in front of her. She looked at him with a sad but grateful face. He blew it off. There was no reason for her to feel guilty just because he bought her pizza.

“Hey, Jeremy. How’s it going?”

There’s always one kid in every class in every school who gets picked on. Here, Jeremy was that kid. He was in eighth grade, a year older than the rest of their little gang, but still a good inch shorter, and scrawny. He was constantly the brunt of jokes and pranks because of it. Well, he used to be, until Michael stepped in and put a stop to it. Michael was his protector, and Jeremy idolized him. Michael introduced him to Nikki, Christian and Sophie, and Jeremy became good friends with all of them. He still tended to keep to himself, but they would rarely let him hide in the library and mope for long.

“I’m great!” he replied. Michael started to ask Jeremy if he minded helping him with some Spanish homework he was stuck on when Sebastian walked up, the tray in his hands laden with food.

“Hey, pencil dick.” Sebastian sneered at Jeremy. “You’re in my seat. I want to talk to Nikki.”

Jeremy’s entire body quivered as he stood up to move, his eyes focused on the ground and his shoulders slumped. Michael put his hand out and stopped him, forcing Jeremy to look up. A slight shake of Michael’s head and a steely gaze, and Jeremy reluctantly sat back down, admiration and terror in his eyes.

Michael stood up and turned his attention to Sebastian. “There are five other seats here if you really want to sit with us so badly. What, did the other preppies finally kick you to the curb?”

“Listen here, Mikey boy. If I want to sit next to Nikki, then that’s what I’m going to do, and no one is going to stop me. Not some nerd like Jeremy, and certainly not you.” Sebastian turned his attention back to Jeremy. “Don’t say I didn’t ask nicely.”

Sebastian unceremoniously dumped his entire tray of food onto Jeremy’s head and lap, dropping the tray on the floor beside him with a flourish.

“Now move. I’ve got to get more food. I want you gone by the time I get back.”

Sebastian turned to head back to the cafeteria line, but Michael was faster, jogging in front of him to cut off his escape and punching him square in the mouth. Sebastian stumbled back a couple of steps, cursing. Tiny droplets of blood flew from his mouth with every word before he cupped his hand in front of him and spit a dislodged tooth into it.

Sebastian looked back at Michael and sneered. The cut lip, missing tooth and blood just served to make him look all the more evil. “Even better. I just wanted to get rid of Jeremy for an hour so I could ask Nikki to the dance. Now, I get to get rid of you for a lot longer. Welcome to expulsion, asshole.”

Michael turned to Nikki, who was just staring at them both, her emotions undecipherable. Without a word, she turned her attention to Jeremy, helping him clean up as best he could while the lunch monitor escorted Sebastian and Michael to the principal’s office. Michael was lucky that Sebastian’s dad didn’t press charges. He ended up with three days in-school suspension and a month’s detention, spent polishing all of the band’s brass instruments. It was worth it.

*******

Michael had no idea then that Jeremy would eventually become his brother by adoption. He just didn’t like seeing someone being traumatized just for being physically weak. It wasn’t the first time he’d come to Jeremy’s aid, and it certainly wasn’t the last. He wondered what Jeremy was doing just then. Was he worried about them? Was he ashamed? Probably. Jeremy never thanked him for punching Sebastian that day in the cafeteria. No amount of hero worship could make Jeremy agree with Michael’s assessment that it was worth it. He didn’t believe in a tooth for a tooth, so to speak. Michael chuckled under his breath at the joke. He’d told it back then too. Neither Jeremy nor Nikki found it humorous.

Nikki jerked her head in his direction. “What’s so funny?” she snipped.

“Nothing, really. Just thinking about something that happened to us in seventh grade, that’s all.”

Nikki’s eyes softened a bit, clearly wanting to know. After a moment, she gave up and chose to shrug her shoulders. Her gaze returned back out the window.

That night, around 8 o’clock, Michael pulled off the highway and stopped at a drive-up phone booth at a gas station. Nikki’s eyes darted to the door handle, a fact which did not go unnoticed.

“Don’t even think about it,” Michael said calmly, not even bothering to turn towards her as he looked something up in the yellow pages before ripping out a page and pulling up to the full-serve pump. He asked the man for directions to the address on the page while he filled the tank.

Twenty minutes later, Michael pulled into a gravel parking lot of The Corner Pocket. It was a rather seedy looking bar, dark wood siding which was faded and broken in places, a few small windows with neon lights advertising various brands of beer. There were several Harleys and one old, blue pickup truck parked next to them. When Michael gave Nikki rather firm instructions to remain silent and stay next to him at all times, she just nodded mutely. He hoped the place intimidated her enough to stay true to her word.

The inside looked a little bit better than he expected. It was relatively clean and smelled of burgers and beer. The half dozen patrons were all donning tattoos, Harley t-shirts, blue jeans and steel-toed shoes. They looked up when a bell on the door announced Michael and Nikki’s arrival. Michael nodded his head and placed his hand on the small of Nikki’s back, leading her to a table and chairs near the pool table. A curvy waitress wearing a t-shirt two sizes too small for her obviously fake breasts, which went well with her obviously fake blonde hair and two pounds of makeup, came over and tossed a menu on the table. Calling it a menu was generous; it was really just an 8 ½ x 11 piece of laminated paper, the plastic pulling up at the corners, sticky and stained, advertising the usual deep fried bar fare and burgers.

Michael ordered two beers, two burgers, some onion rings and mozzarella sticks. The waitress winked at him as she walked away, swaying her hips a little more than necessary. Michael just rolled his eyes and turned to observe the game of 9 Ball going on behind him. When the food came, they both devoured it, surprised at how good it tasted. After dinner, he ordered another round of beer and gave Nikki a warning glance before standing and introducing himself to the group of men playing pool, which had grown to a little over a dozen in the time they were eating.

Three hours and several pool games later, Michael added another $350 to their cash reserves, mentally thanking Christian for teaching him how to hustle pool years ago. The bikers were good mannered about it, although he didn’t think he’d be taking them up on their offer for a rematch the next night. Nikki had gotten quite drunk, and he had to help her back to the car. She was cursing at him and calling him names as she stumbled out the door, but thankfully none of them were murderer. He just laughed and shrugged his shoulders at the waitress, who joked about his girl not being able to hold her liquor. Nikki was passed out before they even left the parking lot. Knowing her, she’d sleep soundly through the night and be ill the better part of the next day. With that in mind, he decided to pull into a rest stop off the highway and get some sleep in the car.