Broken (19 page)

It’s not that I didn’t want it. It’s that I felt I was wrong to take it. I didn’t deserve the unconditional love. I never
had and never would.

Y
ou need to stay with me.”

“And why’s that?”

James ignores Connor as he sips his drink and looks around the empty bar.

“What do you think I’m going to do?”

“Lots of things,” James says. “You can do a lot of things in this town.”

“Not without any money you can’t.”

“Something tells me you’ve got some stashed away.”

“I already told you I have nothing.”

“Yeah right.”

“I don’t.”

The afternoon sun brought them inside here to cool off and to regroup. James ordered the beer of the day since it was only
a couple bucks.

“So when’s he going to call back?” Connor says.

“That’s what I’m waiting on.”

“What for? So he can tell you you owe him money?”

“You’re stupid, you know that?”

“You’re the big brother and look at you. How’s that wound?”

James curses. That’s what he thinks of his gunshot wound.

“I say we just bail on this chick. She’s crazy. Hot, but crazy.”

“After all this and you want to bail.” James curses again. “You really are pathetic, you know that?”

“And why’s that?”

“You want to bail? You don’t bail on him.”

“Danny doesn’t frighten me,” Connor says.

“That’s because you’re stupid. And stupid people don’t get frightened. The same way stupid animals don’t know that crossing
the highway’s gonna get them killed. Go ahead and don’t be afraid. That’s your choice.”

“I’m not going to cross the highway. I know better than that.”

“The reason he’d kill both of us is not to get his money back, even though I bet just like the rest of the country he’s hurting.
But he’d do it to make a point. Men like that kill men like us to make points. So that other men like you and I see it and
still go ahead doing whatever thing he tells them to do. You got it?”

“I’m thirsty, that’s what I got. Give me some money.”

James shakes his head, glancing at a female server walking by. “I’ve got fifty dollars to my name.”

“Sad, isn’t it?”

“I once had money. Not my fault the market went belly-up. At least I tried to do something with my life.”

“That what you call it?” Connor still likes to prod him like a five-year-old.

“At least I was doing more than chasing people around with bad debt.”

“I never wanted to work for our cousin either. But it was too easy. The money was too good.”

“Good enough to hire an escort for New Year’s Eve for you and your delinquent buddies, right?”

Connor licks his lips. “I left out the buddy part until she got there. Guess she wasn’t into that sort of stuff.”

“Yeah, so all of this once again can be traced to you.”

“What’s that grand plan of yours?”

“I’m going to call the guy who followed her down here.”

“The guy you beat up?”

James nods.

“Give me some money.”

“Sit back down.”

“I’m thirsty.”

James gives him a ten. Connor appears to be confused, as if his head is hurting from actually trying to have a rational thought.

“So what are you going to say to him when you call him?”

“I’m going to tell him that we have her.”

“How do you know he hasn’t already seen her?”

“I think he followed her down here. I just—I don’t think it was her choice. I think she’s trying to disappear.”

“Why New Orleans?”

“Why not?” James asks. “Good a place as any.”

“Does he know we’re down here?”

“Danny?”

“Yeah.”

“No.”

“Maybe we can follow the chick’s lead. Just disappear.”

“Get me another beer.”

“It’s a good idea.”

“You just don’t get it,” he tells Connor. “We’re not going to just disappear.”

“How do you know?”

James wipes the sweat off his forehead. “Because—because I just bet he already knows we’re down here. I bet he’s got somebody
watching us even now.”

Connor looks around. “Nobody’s here.”

“I’d bet you anything.”

“You got nothing to bet.”

“I know. And that’s why I’m going to find that skinny little runt and throw her in my trunk and take her back home. And daddy
dearest will do the rest.”

“If it was that easy, why not do that in the first place?”

“I don’t like beating up helpless girls.”

“You think that chick is helpless? Still? With that hole in your arm?”

“I just want enough money to get everybody off my back. Then I’ll just slide away and let you do whatever the hell you want
to do. I just want to be left alone.”

“I’m telling you what. If I see that chick again, she’s going to hurt.”

“You’re not going to touch her.”

“Not now. But when we’re through I’m going to.”

“Go get the drinks.”

“She owes me, and I’m going to take what’s mine.”

“You think every chick owes you.”

“Every chick does,” Connor says. “Especially this little Texan tramp.”

•   •   •

She has spent the day wandering the city, trying to relax, trying to take her mind off everything. She keeps telling herself
that what she saw back at the church was all made up, all conjured in her mind. Yet every street brings either a distant memory
or a sudden fear or a stranger’s face that she’s sure is going to be someone she recognizes. She knows she needs to leave
this city but doesn’t know where else to go.

The sun is starting to set and with it comes the darkness of the night. She doesn’t want to know what the night will bring.

Laila knows she needs to call Kyle. She knows she needs to meet with him.

Meeting with him will mean meeting with Lex.

Maybe that will change things. Maybe she will stop seeing and feeling and experiencing things.

But another part of her fears that seeing them will put them in danger.

Laila can’t help feeling watched even though she’s been walking around the last three hours without any signs of anybody following
her.

She sits on a bench on a path overlooking the Mississippi River. She knows she needs to do it.

So she finds a pay phone and calls.

She reaches him right away.

“Are you okay?” Kyle asks her.

“I’m fine.”

“What happened earlier?”

“I got nervous.”

“Why?”

“Because—because of my brother.”

“I didn’t bring him.”

“I know. I saw you.”

“You saw me? You were there?”

“I wanted to know if I could trust you.”

“Why can’t you? What would I want of you, Laila? Why would I want to hurt you?”

“I know. It’s just—it’s just me being who I am.”

“And who is that? I want to know.”

“Careful.”

“Where are you now?” he asks.

“I’m not sure, to be honest.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Where are
you
staying?”

He tells her.

“And Lex is with you?”

“He’s sitting right across from me.” There is a pause. “Do you want to talk with him?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“How about I meet you at your hotel in a couple of hours?”

“What about Lex?”

“I just want to meet with you. For now.”

“What should I tell him?”

“I haven’t seen him in years. You have as good an idea of what to tell him as I do.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you in the lobby. By myself. And then what?”

“And then—and then I don’t know.”

“Why’d you come here, Laila? Who is that guy looking for you? What happened?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“You need to get help.”

“I know. That’s why I did this.”

“Did what? Come to New Orleans?”

“No. That’s why I called you.”

•   •   •

James leaves the bar and heads outside to smoke and make a call. He’s had too many beers, but at a couple bucks each, how
could he not? He smokes and watches the people passing and wonders how he got to this corner in the French Quarter of New
Orleans in the first place.

If he could, he’d go back inside and shoot Connor himself. Just get it over with and start a new track in life. But he can’t.
It’s his little brother. The same little brother he’s been bailing out of trouble since they went to that awful Catholic grade
school.

James knows that one day when this is all over—not just this particular episode but the whole damned thing—and he settles
down with a wife and a few kids, that’s when he’ll get back to the church. Nothing too heavy, but enough to cleanse the palate.
Enough
to cleanse his soul. He needs confession and needs it bad. Not like Connor, but Connor is a lost soul. That boy can’t find
God, not with the devil entrenched in his heart. James has never done the things Connor has done. He’s only done things when
necessary. Even the man he killed was necessary. It was someone in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he needed to do
it. But he didn’t want to do it, the same way he doesn’t want to hurt Laila. He will hurt her if he has to. If it comes down
to his life or her life, then he’ll choose his life. But he didn’t start this simply to hurt her.

He saw them—Laila and her family—as a way out. An end to the bad streak he’d been having.

Little did James know this would just continue his rotten luck.

He flicks the cigarette into the street and makes the call. He curses how hot it is, and he wipes the back of his neck. His
shirt is too heavy for this town.

The kid picks up on the second ring.

“This Kyle Ewing?”

“Who’s calling?”

James pauses and feels the rage soaring just like the buzz he already has. “Do you know how much trouble you’re in, Mr. Ewing?”

“Who is this?”

“What, you don’t remember my voice? After all the time we spent together?”

A long silence. “What do you want?”

“I thought I made it clear to you what I wanted when we last spoke, but I guess I didn’t. Maybe I need to use Laila to get
through to you.”

“Did you hurt her? Is she okay?”

This tells him what he’s wanting to know.

Laila is not with him.

“She’s not hurt. She’s fine. She’s with me, and she’s fine.”

“Let me talk to her.”

James laughs. “You followed her all the way here only to let this happen. Doesn’t feel very nice, does it?”

“What do you want?”

“You listen to me and listen to me very carefully. I don’t want anything to happen to our pretty little princess, but I swear
to God I will cut her throat and let her bleed like a pig if I have to. But I don’t want to. That’s my point. Now my brother
on the other hand, he doesn’t want to kill her. Not just yet. He wants to do other things and I know he will if I’m not around
to prevent it. So for Laila’s sake, why don’t you do what I tell you to do.”

“Anything.”

“And we don’t need to involve anybody else.”

“Okay.”

James can hear the panic and desperation in the kid’s voice.

“Okay. First off, where are you staying?”

“Laila knows.”

“Yeah, well, she might be lying to me. You tell me to confirm.”

“The Parc St. Charles,” Kyle says.

“And where is that?”

“It’s downtown. About four blocks away from the French Quarter.”

“You’re going to do this for me. I want five hundred dollars in two hours as a deposit on Laila’s life. Just a little thing
that’s going to help me out for now.”

“What—I can’t get that that quickly.”

“Listen, kid. You work at a bank. I’m not saying you’re loaded, but you surely got five hundred bucks. If you don’t shut it,
my price will start going up.”

There’s a pause, then a subdued “okay.”

“I want you to put it in an envelope and hold it at the front desk of your hotel.”

“And then what?”

“And then I won’t kill Laila.”

“You said you don’t want to hurt her.”

James spits on the sidewalk. “I don’t, but obviously I need something. And right now that something is money. It’s really
that simple. No deep-rooted motives for all this. Just the love of money and the necessity for it. That’s all.”

“I don’t have much.”

“You have five hundred dollars, right?”

“What will it take—what do you want? What do you need to get Laila back?”

James laughs. “You don’t have what I need.”

“I can try to—look, there are ways to get money. My parents…”

“This is not about you, and the only reason I’m even involving you is because you decided for some stupid foolhardy reason
to follow this girl all the way to New Orleans. Tell me something. Why? You that hot for her?”

“I wouldn’t categorize it like that.”

“Yeah, of course not. You’re a gentleman. But you spent a little time with her, and she blew your mind. Girls like that don’t
walk in and out of the bank every day, huh?”

“I can get you more money.”

“I don’t want your money. Because I take your money, then I got your problems. And see, the thing with Laila—well, the thing
is this. She’ll leave us alone. What’s to say that you don’t one day grow a pair and then decide you want to hunt us down
not just for the money but for the inconvenience? Or maybe even to prove a point to a ladylove?”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“This is what you’re going to do,” James says. “You’re going to get five hundred dollars and put it in an envelope and then
leave it for James at the front desk. You got that?”

“And then what?”

He thinks for a moment. “Then you’ll wait.”

“Wait for what?”

James hangs up without answering.

He doesn’t know the answer. All he knows is that he needs some money. That’s the first thing he needs.

Then he needs to find Laila and continue on with the plan.

He walks back into the bar ready to spend the rest of the money he does have.

He lets out a curse.

Connor is gone.

•   •   •

Lex wants a drink badly but knows that’s the summary of his life.

Instead he offers up a prayer. He knows they help. He knows God is allowing him to stay strong even when all he wants is to
rip open the valve and let the pain and anxiety go away.