I was half buried under Isak’s limbs on the sofa.
I struggled upright and he glared at me, one-eyed.
“Lie down. Shower later.”
I lay down so fast the sofa shook, but I managed words.
“There was a man, outside on the path, who was at Ted’s house.”
He swung himself upright, rubbed hands through his hair then pointed floorward. “What are you doing up here? Down.”
I scrambled to the floor and felt fear.
“Tell me more. Why did you not say?
I opened my mouth.
“And don’t ever presume to curl up with me like that. Lick my feet while you answer me.” Mr. I-don’t-give-a-shit had returned.
I bent over and gave the top of his big toe a lick, shuddering as I did so. I had no choice in this, and yet he wanted me to show him the way to being more human?
Whatever the drug had done to him, it was wearing off.
“He passed us on the path.” Lick. “The man with the black gloves.”
“Hours ago then. You fool, Red.”
“You said not to speak.” I raised my head.
“You can suck my dick while I think on this. I suppose we should leave. That or kill him.”
It was too late for killing to do much good.
“He will have told someone by now – likely Ted.”
“Yes.” Lips curling disdainfully, he dragged me closer with his hand jammed into my hair. “Make me feel good before we leave.”
I had set the cat among the pigeons, as the saying goes.
CHAPTER 6
RED
Isak decided to drive.
I’d seen the pills on the table before we left, as we packed hurriedly, then I watched him instruct the female manager. He had made her open her office at two AM.
We were never here, never existed. Clean the room, excise all evidence. And then we left, marching out to the Porsche, revving the engine only enough to smoothly pull onto the small internal roadway.
With the exit gate in sight, a chrome-shiny bike gleamed in the headlights out the front of the final resort house on the left.
Isak slowed. “That him?”
I told the truth, of course. “I don’t know.”
Then, it was as if I could feel his murderous impulses as he stared at the house. Maybe we were leaking into each other’s heads after all these years.
“Don’t.” I gulped then clutched my seatbelt where the sash fell across my white dress. “Please.”
His head swiveled to target me. His eyelids lowered lizard-like, his eyes baleful and sinister in the reflected glow from an outside light.
“Why?”
To even get an answer from him felt as if the hand of a god was waving me on.
“Bad karma?” I scrambled for a better reply. “If you’re thinking of getting me to go in and see if it is him so that I can kill him, don’t.” Blink-blink, from him. I took that as permission to continue. “Killing anyone here, we might still get us tracked, even if you manufacture alibis from some woman. Families have seen us. This car is pretty damn obvious.”
He grunted. “Okay. Raincheck then.”
Murder later? Phew. I lay back and concentrated on lowering my blood pressure.
With gravel cracking beneath the roll of the tires, we exited onto the road then cruised away.
“Don’t forget!” I squeaked. “They drive on the left here!”
“Crap.” He swung to the left-hand side. “Easier when I command you.”
So that was how I’d managed? I guess it had worked because I’d not noticed my inclination to drive on the left. I wound the window down and leaned out, breathing the fresh air, maybe hoping to cleanse my soul, at least for a short while.
The night sky above was black, and stars twinkled like a cheerful Christmas card.
Where were we going? I glanced at him. “Destination?”
“Wherever looks good. Inland maybe? Australia has long roads and a low population when you go there. Away from the Ted minion.”
He was still talking more than he used to. “Are you due for another one of those pills?”
Asking was fraught with danger. Every time I spoke to him was dangerous, really. It was similar to waving a hand at a shark.
For what might’ve been a minute he was silent, and I gave up on getting a reply.
We turned onto the highway, the Bruce Highway, according to the signs. It was a rather ironically casual label. Everything here was a little weird and a little exciting, and I wanted to experience more of it but away from this man. Far, far away. But if he did not take those p—
“Fetch me half of one from that bag in the back. The black bag.”
I managed to find the soft bag in the car’s dark interior and brought it to my lap. I unzipped it and rummaged inside until I found something light and rectangular with the rattle of a sheet of pills. Three remained. He had not taken more. One of the little cavities in the sheet had a half a pill inside it with the foil squashed down around the remnant. I gave it to him with a bottle of water he’d left in the central cup section.
He swallowed it down, Adams apple rising and falling.
Would that be enough of a dose?
I could ask? Did I dare?
Later. After it has some effect.
Then I fell asleep, rocked by the car’s movement.
When I woke, we were stopped in a carpark outside a small motel and parked next to a white sedan. A row of cars stretched to either side, and the highway hummed behind us. A lit sign propped high on the one-story building had “Roadside Motel” written on it. If this place had a proper name it wasn’t illuminated at
