“How long will you be in town for?” Anthony asked.

“A day or two,” Elias said. “Then we’ll be heading back home.”

As Anthony helped Cristina onto the bar stool, his hands pushed underneath the fabric of her short flowered skirt. I noticed he wore hemp bracelets like mine, five or six thick ones wrapped around his left wrist. I wore them on both. Probably for different reasons.

Cristina called for the bartender, and he came over.

“Are you staying close by?” Anthony asked. He put up his hand and added, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Why are you asking anyway?” Elias was wary of this guy, but just like me, it was only the paranoia.

Anthony smiled and paid for Cristina’s drink. “I own a beach house not far from here. We’re always trolling the clubs lookin’ to find people to invite. You’re welcome to come.”

Cristina almost fell off the bar stool and her drink thumped over onto its side. She fumbled the bottle back into an upright position. Clearly she didn’t need any more to drink.

“I think you’ve had enough,” Anthony said, reading my mind.

She whined when he took the bottle from her.

“Not in the mood to clean up after her tonight,” Anthony said, still with a big smile plastered on his face.

“Hey!” Cristina shot back, feigning offense and reaching out for the bottle. “Don’t be an ass!” She laughed.

Anthony ignored her and turned back to us. “So, are you up for it?”

“I don’t think so,” Elias said. “But thanks.”

“All right, but if you change your mind, I’ll be around here for another hour or so.”

“Thanks, man,” Elias said with a nod.

Anthony helped Cristina down from the bar stool and walked her on her wobbly legs through a small crowd, and they disappeared amid the throng of people.

“Maybe we should’ve gone,” I said over the music. “The guy owns a beach house. We could probably crash there for a few nights. He seems pretty cool.”

Elias held up two fingers and the bartender came over. He ordered a beer and one for me. “I don’t know, maybe,” he said.

I could tell he thought it wasn’t such a bad idea, considering we had begun thinking about staying put somewhere for a while to save money.

We drank a couple more beers and danced some more before we decided to head back to our motel. The more buzzed Elias got, the more he wanted to take me somewhere and strip off my clothes. But he stopped before he got so buzzed that he wouldn’t be able to drive us back.

We gave up the idea of joining Anthony and Cristina and never went looking for them. But we found them anyway, by accident, lingering outside the nightclub in the parking lot.

“Hello again! John and Julia, right?” Anthony said, walking toward us.

Oh, that was the fake name I couldn’t remember.

We met him halfway. Cristina was sitting down on the blacktop with her back and head pressed against the side of a car tire. I could see straight up her skirt; she was too drunk to notice she was on display to anyone who happened to walk by. Both of her knees were drawn up against her chest.

“Hey, man,” Elias said with a half smile. “We thought you had already left.”

“Yeah, well, that was our intention,” Anthony said. “But I lost my damn car keys.”

“No shit?” Elias said.

“Maybe someone turned them in inside,” I said, looking back at the club briefly.

“Already checked. I had a guy out here about ten minutes ago with a wire hanger, but we couldn’t get it unlocked. Looks like I’ll be calling either a locksmith or a cab.”

Elias looked over at me. I knew what he was thinking, because I was thinking the same thing.

“Well, we could give you a ride back to your place,” Elias offered.

I smiled at them both, glad to see that things with this whole beach house idea were starting to go my way.

“Help me up,” Cristina whined, reaching out her hand.

I went over and helped her up instead, regretting it a little once I realized how heavy she actually was as she leaned against my shoulder.

“Nah, man, thanks but I don’t want to put you out,” Anthony said.

“We don’t mind,” Elias countered. “We’re staying in a motel nearby and we’re not in too much of a hurry to go back there.”

“Well, you two can crash at my place tonight if you want,” Anthony offered.

Elias thought about it for a moment and glanced over at me again, wondering how I felt about all of this.

“Sounds like a plan,” I said and gripped Cristina around her waist.

I wished Anthony would take over. I didn’t sign up for this. Or maybe I did, in a way…

“Then I guess it’s settled,” Anthony said as if he were making an announcement, both arms raised out at his sides. “Where’s your car?”

“End of this row,” Elias said.

Anthony finally noticed the struggle on my face and relieved me of drunken-Cristina duty. They followed us to Elias’s car, parked at the very end of the lot.

“I just thought of something,” Elias said after opening his door and pressing the master lock on the inside. “We’re only paid up in our room until tomorrow. Somehow I doubt we’ll be awake before checkout.”

“Just swing by and get your stuff then,” Anthony suggested. “As long as you don’t need a U-Haul to move it, you can keep it at my place.”

Elias laughed. “That won’t be necessary,” he said. “It’ll all fit in my trunk.”

We left the club parking lot and rode back to the motel first, which was on the way to Anthony’s beach house. Since our new guests were going to be riding in the backseat, we stuffed our bags with everything we owned in the trunk. I made it a point to stash my purse back there, too, just in case either of them were the type to help themselves to my belongings.

Cristina was seconds away from passing out next to Anthony. He guided Elias back onto the main highway and we rode for quite a while, longer than I had expected since Anthony had mentioned before that the beach house wasn’t far from the club. And he didn’t talk as much after about ten minutes. The highway became darker and less traveled as it got later.

I started getting nervous, though I wasn’t sure why.

Gut feelings are a bitch.

Chapter Twelve

Elias

Anthony leaned forward between my and Bray’s seats. He reached out and touched the bracelets on Bray’s left wrist. I didn’t like that much.

“Did you make those?” he asked. He peered in closer and tried to finger the bracelets individually, but she snapped her hand away.

“Ummm, no I bought them,” she answered.

I could sense the nervousness in her voice. He had made her uncomfortable. Not. Fucking. Cool.

With my hands still on the wheel, I turned my head slightly to look over at him. I thought I was going to have to tell him to back off, but he saw the look in my eyes and fell back against the seat before I could say anything.

“Hey, sorry,” he said, smiling. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Whatever. By now, I wasn’t feelin’ it anymore, hanging out at his place. It wasn’t just that he touched her bracelets, it was something else, a vibe, the way Anthony seemed to go from helpful, smiling party guy to creepy backseat hitchhiker in such a short time.

“How much farther is it?” I asked, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.

“Just a few more minutes,” he said.

A few minutes came and went. I thought we would probably be getting off at the next exit, but when he didn’t say anything about it ahead of time, I flipped on my blinker anyway and planned to take it, if not for any reason other than to drop them off at the nearest convenience store.

“Where are you going?” Anthony asked. “We don’t get off here.”

“Well we’re getting off here anyway,” I said and proceeded to veer onto the exit ramp.

The sound of a gun cocking at the back of Bray’s head and the shiny black glint of the barrel in the corner of my eye caused my heart to jump into my throat.

“Don’t take that fucking exit,” Anthony demanded with a threatening edge in his voice. “Stay on the freeway.”

At the last second, I remained in the same lane and watched helplessly as the exit ramp flew past my car.

“Elias?” Bray said from the passenger’s seat, her voice filled with fear.

“Elias, huh?” Anthony probed. I saw him push the gun against her head harder. She closed her eyes momentarily. I was white-knuckling the steering wheel. “Thought your name was John.”

“What does it matter?” I asked. “What the hell is this?”

“What the fuck do you think it is?” Anthony said, laughing.

Cristina was still passed out against her door.

“Look, man, I know how this goes,” I said, but I could hardly look at him. I was far too preoccupied with the gun against Bray’s head. “I’ve got cash on me. Whatever you want. Just please don’t hurt her.”

Bray’s lips were trembling, the only part of her stiff body that was moving. I wanted to pummel this motherfucker to death.

“Pull over up there,” Anthony demanded with the nod of his head, indicating the side of the road.

“All right. All right.” I tried to keep calm. It took everything in me, but I had to keep my head clear. Hopefully he planned to rob us and run off into the woods. But if I even for a moment got the feeling that he was going to shoot us down, I would make a last, desperate attempt. I wasn’t about to let this fucking lowlife shoot Bray without at least trying to stop him.

The car came to a stop and I put it into Park. And I waited.