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"What the fuck you i forward Julio holds up an i him in his tracks
"I really wish you would play nice, boys," he says tiredly "Andreas, go see if this guy’s ready to tell us what he’s doing here please Zeth, I know you said you were going to collect a friend, but perhaps you’d do ht irls perhaps and a few beers in the sunshine?"
For fuck’s sake He wants to keep ht now, but he also doesn’t necessarily believe e y "Sorry, Julio I really do need to grab this chick Maybe tomor--"
"You wouldn’t leave me to drink alone, would you?" he breaks in He places a firer "No, Zeth, man I don’t drink alone I’m afraid I really must insist"
When I finally wake up, Lacey isn’t in the motel room The place, dilapidated and threadbare, has an aura of abandonh I’ve been onwhere the hell the girl has gotten to Straightening off the bed and hurrying barefoot across the darkly stained, slightly tacky carpet, I fling the bathroo in a dark red bathtub full of her own blood The overhead lighting is stark as it lights up the off-white tiles and yellowing sink basin, but there’s no red in here No blood My heart rate drops a little That is, until I realize the ht on the side of a busy road and there’syour wrists in a tub of lukeater
"Lacey? Lace!" I dash out of the roolorious wash of pale blue instead of grey and weighty with rain clouds The blonde girl stands thirty feet away, back tolot The handset is pressed to her ear I ht Two of theister ives me a brief nod "Yes," she says into the phone "I knoill, I proht now I just need the address" She bites on her lip, her body tense as she apparently waits for whoever is on the other end of the phone to respond The rigid stance evaporates a second later; she closes her eyes for a scant es for a piece of paper in her pocket She quickly scribbles down a set of nu a Rest Eezy pen she io I’ll come and see you, I pro the screwed-up piece of paper in her hand triuot the address of the coht now"
I stare doubtfully at the paper, which Lacey’s currently waving in front ofin erous and frankly very scary And why the hell is it that Lacey knohere he’s gone but I didn’t get told? It’s an irrational, stupid thing to be pissed about given that she’s been living with hi tie, but still It sucks, and I’m clearly an irrational creature I push all of that aside, trying to focus on the task at hand
Lacey tuts, leaning the paper against her knee to quickly insert some coer a string of random numbers but coordinates "It’s out in the desert," she tells ave you this? Hoe know this is the right place?"
"Because Zee told ave me specifics, but my old boyfriend runs in the sa about right away"
"Oh god, Lacey" I scan the coordinates over and over as if to make sure they’re actually real "There are probably a thousand of these places in LA This can’t be the only one out in the desert"
"Not that charge fifteen thousand dollars a night and are invite only," Lacey argues This girl standing before irl who sht She’s self-possessed and a light has sparked fro the dull look of anxiety She’s barely recognizable Even her voice is stronger Firht address, Sloane" She nods her head to cement the truth of this stateet hionna take us the hell away fro bad that ever happened in it"
It’s probably a bad idea renting a car under my own name, but I don’t really have a choice Perhaps I should try and bribe the clerk to change my details, but these places aren’t exactly like that The only companies I can find are corporate ones that want to photocopy your ID and make you fill out sheets and sheets of paperwork, and besides, the kid behind the desk doesn’t look s to bribe hi to break down on
We’re on the road after that I feel hideous I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it; Lacey is practically happy as I drive in distressed silence for the next ten hours I’m distressed because I’ve decided that I can’t take her with me to this place Zeth wanted to keep both me and his sister (even if he doesn’t know that’s who she is) away froood conscience expose her to that kind of environed, and God knoill happen to her if I put her in a position where technically anything could happen to her Technically anything could happen toabout going in there, screa upthe events that took place in a hotel roo the fuck out of there In my head, there’s no roohtest hiccupher, where we could wait it out and spend so Zeth