we made it to round 3 in the onc!
these updates are gonna push out fast af
i have no idea how i feel about this book

[ 5. Spineless ]

Georgette was something like fire.

She was hard to appease when lit ablaze. It was sometimes difficult to tell if she could be calmed down or if she was one spark away from engulfing any of us in her path of destruction. Not that I blamed her, of course. She had plenty to be angry about.

"What the hell is going on?"

I flinched. She was using her 'mom voice' as Ron liked to call it. "You shouldn't be here," I said, my voice much weaker than I intended. I was supposed to be the nonchalant one around here.

The sun broke through one of the bent plastic blinds. I didn't remember falling asleep, so to wake up with Georgette standing over me in Mr. Ciraulo's living room felt more like a fever dream. Her hair was pinned back with a big claw clip, messy black curls falling down the sides of her face and she was dressed in a sweatshirt and plaid pajama pants.

Just as I noticed that she was literally wearing house slippers, that I saw little hands gripping the doorframe behind her, and big eyes peering at me behind them.

"And you shouldn't have brought Nico."

I sat up, much more alert than when I just woke up. Georgette ignored what I said and crossed her arms over her chest. "Tell me what's going on now, Vincent," she said, but I felt like I couldn't breathe.

Whatever this guy was capable of, I didn't want her daughter involved. Nico stepped into the room and found her mom's side, fingertips grazing the back of Georgette's thighs while she looked at me curiously.

"Listen to me, Georgie. Take Nico and go to your mom's house. I need you to text Ron and tell him to keep an eye out for a black Camaro and to go somewhere with a lot of witnesses if he does, okay? And don't tell him where I am."

The words came out rushed and I felt like I could hear the blood rushing in my brain. Nico was staring at me. I heard that children can read people better than adults. I hoped for her sake that wasn't true.

Georgette stepped towards me and placed a comforting hand on my neck. "Vinnie, are you okay?" she asked. I hated the way she was looking at me. "Do you... Is this like last time?"

The same blood in my brain ran cold and I shook her hand off. How could she even ask that? Nico was distracted by Missy trotting into the room, so I closed the distance between Georgie and me.

"Get Nico your mom's."

I looked her in the eye and she looked back, searching for sincerity. At that moment, I didn't wonder how she even knew I was here, or why she was in her pajamas, or if I had put their lives on the line by getting Georgette involved in the robberies in the first place. All I could think about was that little girl playing in the corner with the puppy.

Georgie huffed, taking a step back. "I hope you know what you're doing."

I don't. Please help me.

But I didn't say that. I just nodded and pressed my lips into a line, falling back into the recliner while I watched her gather Nico. She gave me one last worried look before she was out the door. Missy whined pitifully.

There wasn't a thing I wouldn't do to take it all back. Maybe that was selfish, but it didn't matter. The lives I'd helped paled in comparison to the lives I might lose if things are going the way I fear. Not that it was her fault, but Georgie probably put a giant target on her back by coming here.

Mr. Ciraulo limped into the room. "Are you hungry?" he asked, snapping me out of my choppy reverie. I blinked at him.

"I could eat."

"Good," he said, rolling the newspaper I'd brought him into a tube shape. Then he smacked me with it right across the side of my head. "Go make us something."

I couldn't stay there. Mr. Ciraulo was surprisingly gracious and all too complacent considering the circumstances. It was all the more reason for me to stay the hell away from him. Unless... unless I should stay to protect him.

Protect him from what, you spineless fool?

When Hayes was on top of me, I folded like a lawn chair. It wasn't even because of the gun. My fear held me in a chokehold and I was afraid that if he showed up here, there wasn't a damn thing I could do to help.

I sighed while I scrambled some eggs for us. This was above my capacity.

Mr. Ciraulo muttered some sort of thank you when I brought his food out on a tray. I sat beside him with my own plate and ate silently, my brain a chamber of echoing half-cooked thoughts with little substance to any of them.

I'd been raised knowing about thugs, thieves, frauds. Bethany taught me about what kind of girls I should avoid getting involved with—she died before I could correct her on my sexual preference; I thought it was better off that way—and how to identify who was friends with me that had ulterior motives. I carried a taser with me in the city since I couldn't didn't own a gun. On the subway, I was alert to everyone within arms reach because I was prepared.

Nothing prepared me for this.

I was hunted. Dramatic, maybe, but what else would you call meeting someone at a bar and then finding where they sleep and ambushing them? He was obviously more than capable of finding me. Not to mention the upper hand he had on me with not only his strength and gun, but also the fear he instilled in me.

That wouldn't be happening again. Next time I saw him, he wouldn't get so far as breathing a word to me.

"Come back to Earth, you idiot!"

I looked up from my empty plate in a daze. He was staring at me with a bite of egg on his fork, looking a bit perturbed. I lowered my plate onto my lap and ran my hands across my face.

Mr. Ciraulo set his fork down and let out a sigh. "What are you gonna do, kid?" he asked and I blanched. How useless would it be to say that I had no fucking idea?

"I think I'll skip town and call the police. Stay anonymous so the cops don't look into my friends... I know his plate number, so they could surely do something with that and catch him staked outside of my house or something—"

"You could kill him."

In a state of panic, my body jolted and the plate clattered to the carpet. It didn't break, but it made Missy bolt across the room. "What?" I sputtered, hurrying to pick up my mess. "I'm not a murderer."

Mr. Ciraulo shrugged and continued eating. "I'm sure he isn't either," he mumbled. The old guy was starting to freak me out. I had to get out of there.

To follow through with my idea to skip town, I needed to get home to get my wallet. I wasn't getting anywhere without any money or my car. If I went during the day when Guillermo was home, then I was at less of a risk to get jumped. That was the logic I was sticking to at least.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Mr. Ciraulo, but I've gotta go," I said, standing up to take my dishes to the kitchen. "I don't want to put you in any more danger than you already are."

The old head laughed, the sound echoing off the falls but fading the farther I walked away. "That son of a bitch is in more danger than I am. If he steps foot on my property, I'll blow his damn head off!" he said. I felt nauseous at the prospect. The last thing I needed was blood on my hands, whether it's the guilty or the innocent. Not that I wouldn't be relieved to have that psychopath off the streets and away from me and my people, but still. No one had to die.

I cleaned up and Mr. Ciraulo finished his breakfast. I made sure to feed his dog before leaving because who knew if I'd be back any time soon. He stood by the door as I lingered, too afraid to leave but more scared to stay.

"Something I learned in the Corps," he started to say as I glanced out the window, "was that only man can awaken your primal instinct. Even with a difference in strength, you both share one thing: the will to survive. Show that son of a bitch who's the real man."

While it was certainly shocking to hear Mr. Ciraulo call me a real man, I couldn't shake the feeling that the depth to his words brought upon me. I couldn't reply. So I just nodded my head and exited his home.

It was beautiful outside, a stark contrast to the storm brewing inside of me. My eyes darted from one end of the street to the other, looking for a glimpse of the Camaro. It was nothing but minivans and beater cars.

Since it was daylight, I couldn't really get away with creeping through people's backyards. I pulled the hood of the zip-up Mr. Ciraulo lent me over my head and started walking down the sidewalk, trying to appear as in place as possible. Olivia was outside watering her flowers but didn't even notice me. Jerry was working on his old Ford Ranger, head buried under the hood.

The patch of woods at the edge of the street led straight to the backside of my road. I cut through, watching my footing so I didn't trip over anything. I could breathe easier knowing I had to be the only one slipping between the trees.

I cut to the right so I'd end up closer to the backyard of my neighbor across from my house. Then all I'd have to do was cross the street and I'd be home.

Luckily, nobody was in their backyards when I emerged from the woods. It would have been hard to explain.

Guillermo's motorcycle was in the driveway parked next to my car. I sighed in relief. Ducking my head as I crossed the street, I managed to make it to the front door without getting snatched up by a maniacal stranger with a vendetta against me. The door was locked, so I had to bang on it until Guillermo came.

It was taking too long. What if Hayes went looking for me, came back here, and kidnapped Guillermo instead? Or worse... Suddenly, I moved on instinct, losing all sense of reason. I ran around to the backdoor and started banging on that one, too, to no avail.

Then I remembered that I always forgot to lock my window after shutting it. Perhaps that was my fatal flaw and that was how Hayes even got in my bedroom at all. It didn't matter. I needed to make sure Guillermo was okay. I hadn't even thought about my roommate getting caught in the crossfire when I booked it to Mr. Ciraulo's house. All of my selfish decisions were coming back to haunt me.

The AC unit was right outside of my window. I jumped on top of it, moving purely on adrenaline at this point. Sure enough, my window was open. I had to brace myself on the ledge before pushing off of the unit with all of the force in my body. I lunged through the window and landed hard on my elbows, but that didn't matter. When I was able to pull myself up, I had to take a second to catch my breath. The second — the literal second I stood up to my full height, I was knocked back down to my knees.

A low blow to my groin caught me and I fell to the ground, an unrecognizable sound falling from my throat. I didn't need to look up, I recognized the boots on the floor in front of me.

"That's for last night. Now goodnight."