anything else-today, tomorrow or whenever-you let me know.”
I held out my hand. “Thanks, Ike. For everything. You probably saved my life.”
We shook hands and his mouth twisted into a frown. “Don’t be so dramatic, kid. I ain’t capable of that kinda shit.”
“Yeah,” I said. “You are. You did. Thank you. I’ll find a way to repay you some day.”
“Get going before I start crying or something, alright?” he said. “You’ll have what you need soon.”
I walked up the dunes, hoping Ike was right. Not just about the guns, but about everything else, too.
FORTY-SIX
“I’ll go,” Bella said.
I was back at her house and she and Alex were at the dining room table, their chairs pulled close together. Her eyes were red and her shoulders sagged with exhaustion, but she spoke clearly.
“With Jackson,” she corrected. “I’ll go with Jackson.”
I looked at Alex and he nodded.
“Okay,” I said. “So you’re packed? Ready?”
She shook her head. “He tried to get me to.”
“Took me awhile to convince her,” Alex said. “One battle at a time.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Two hours enough time?”
“Two hours?” she asked, her eyes widening. “Are you serious?”
“I wanna get you moved before we go get Jax,” I said. “Anything goes wrong, we need to make sure you’re safe.”
Her shoulders rose up, panic in her face. “What could go wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m being cautious. So we need to make sure you’re safe and protected. I don’t want anyone to be able to find you but us.”
She glanced at Alex.
“It’ll be fine,” he assured her. “We’ll move you somewhere for just a bit while we go get him and bring him back. Then we’re outta here.”
“A hotel would be good,” I said. “Someplace that needs keycards to access elevators. And it wouldn’t draw any attention bringing in whatever you’re taking with you.”
“Are we staying here another night?” she asked.
“No,” I said. “As soon as we have him, we’re gone. Hotel is simply to keep you safe and make you tough to find.”
“We can put you there, go get him, come back and get you and be on our way,” Alex said. “Out of here.”
She sighed and folded her arms across her chest, digesting all of our words. She glanced between me and Alex several times.
“We’ll drive to San Diego?” she said.
“No,” I said. “You, Alex and Jax will fly. I’ll drive with your stuff.”
“Really?” Alex asked, surprised.
“Yeah,” I said. “We need to get them out of here and on their way. I don’t want them going alone, so you need to go with them. Don’t worry about tickets. I’ve got it covered.”
“But you won’t fly with us,” Bella said.
I shook my head.
“Because you can’t,” she said.
I shrugged. “It’ll take me a couple days, but I’ll get there.”
“You’re gonna go back?” Alex asked. “For sure?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m going back.”
It was the first time I’d said it out loud and it sounded strange coming out of my mouth. I wasn’t saying it just to say it, though. I was going back. To face everything.
I didn’t know what would happen. But I was going back.
“So we need to get moving,” I said. “You need to figure out what you need to take and what you can leave. I’ll have a decent amount of space to take your things, but if there’s stuff you can leave, then leave it.”
“We don’t need much,” she said. “Clothes. Toys. Some pictures and stuff.” She glanced around the room. “The rest can stay.”
“Furniture’s yours?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll get it sold and we’ll get you the money,” I said, thinking of another task for Ike. “What about rent? You on a lease?”
She shook her head. “No. Month to month.”
“Good.” I added that to Ike's list. “We'll get your deposit back.”
“I don’t care,” she said. “I just want Jackson back. Then we can go. I just wanna be gone and done with all of this.”
“Soon,” I said. “We’ll be gone soon.”
FORTY-SEVEN
Alex left to go find a hotel room. We figured his name was the smartest to get the room under in case anyone went looking. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen, but I felt like I’d already let Bella down once by being a bit careless. I wasn’t going to overlook anything this time, no matter how unnecessary it seemed.
She found a couple of small roller bags and several old duffle bags. She was slow at first, moving around her room without any idea of what she was doing. I didn’t push and let her figure it out for herself. After awhile, she started pulling clothes out of her dresser and closet, stacking them in organized piles. She filled one of the rollers and two of the duffels, including things from the bathroom and several framed pictures of her and Jackson.
We moved to Jackson’s room and she was quicker in there, tossing his stuffed animals into one of the duffels, along with two blankets and his pillow. She emptied his dresser, filling the roller with all of his small clothing.
“We have to take the Legos,” she said, her voice firm.
I reached under his bed and pulled out the long plastic bins, stacking them on his bed. “No problem. I’ll make sure I’ve got enough room to take whatever he needs.”
She glanced around the room. “I’m tempted to take all of this, but then I think maybe just starting out new would be good. Give him a whole new room with all new stuff.”
“Not a bad idea.”
“Just not sure how I’m gonna afford it.”
“Don’t worry about money,” I said. “You’ll have money.”
“How do you know?”
“You’ll have money, Bella,” I said. “I’m not gonna get you out there and leave you high and dry. Trust me.”
She sat down on the edge of his bed and ran her hand along one of the Lego bins, her fingers playing with the rectangular latch.
“We’ll get him back, right?” She didn’t look at me.
“Yes.”
“And…” she hesitated. “I can trust Alex, right?”
“Yeah. You can trust him.”
“With Jackson, too?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
