Sempre (Forever) (63 page)

The moment the words rolled from his tongue, her mind was made up. No matter the consequences, she had to go with him. She trusted him. She loved him.

She grabbed his hand, and they hurried downstairs. Carmine pulled her onto the porch, not even bothering to close the front door in his haste. Unlocking the car doors, he tossed the bags into the backseat and motioned for her to get in.

As soon as they were settled, Carmine started the car and thrust it into gear. The tires spun, gravel spraying everywhere as he sped away from the house.

“What’s going on?” Haven asked once they got on the highway, her voice cracking from anxiety. Her stomach bubbled like she was about to be sick.

“Just relax, alright?”

“Relax? Why are we running? Did something happen?”

“We just needed to get out of there before they showed up.”

She gaped at him as they pulled up to a red light in town. “Before who showed up, Carmine?”

He started straight ahead. “Them.”

Not understanding, Haven followed the trail of his gaze. Her eyes fell on four sleek black sedans sitting at the same red light, facing the opposite direction. “Are they…?” she started, unable to even finish the question. She knew the answer. She’d seen those cars before.

“
Cosa Nostra
,” he said, the Italian words flowing beautifully, but the knowledge of what they meant sent a chill down Haven’s spine.

The light turned green, and Carmine started through the intersection. “You might wanna get comfortable, because it’s a long drive to California.”

Emotion hit her so intense that it nearly stole the breath from her. “California?”

He nodded. “Blackburn.”

Chapter 39

Carmine glanced at Haven in the passenger seat, frowning at the way her neck was angled. She was curled up the best she could with the seatbelt still on, her head resting on her shoulder.

It was a quarter after two in the morning. They'd been on the road for over eight hours. Carmine was growing weary, but he wanted to make it as far as the Arkansas border before he stopped.

Reaching over, he brushed some hair out of Haven’s face and tucked it behind her ear. He ran the back of his hand across her cheek, feeling the roughness of the red blotches from her crying. She hadn’t said anything when he told her they where they were going, but the tears that streamed down her cheeks spoke volumes about how she felt.

She was terrified, and he didn’t know how to make it right.

He drove for another thirty minutes, scanning through radio stations to keep himself awake, before finally crossing into Arkansas. He pulled off of the highway the first time he saw a sign for a Holiday Inn, figuring he wouldn’t find anything nicer in such a small place. Gazing at Haven, he gently rubbed her arm. “Wake up, hummingbird.”

She stirred and opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she regained consciousness. Straightening herself up, she grimaced and grabbed her neck. Carmine reached over and pushed her hand out of the way to gently massage her neck and shoulders.

Her voice cracked as she spoke. “What time is it? Where are we?”

“It’s after four, and we’re in some hole-in-the-wall town in Arkansas,” he said. “I’d keep going, but I really need to get some rest.”

*  *  *  *

The sky was overcast the next morning, the sun hiding behind a wall of thick gray clouds. There was a cool breeze swaying the trees, a mist lingering in the air that left wet splotches on the dingy hotel windows.

Carmine reluctantly glanced at the clock, seeing it was approaching noon. He realized Haven wasn’t in bed. “
Tesoro
?”

“I’m in here,” she called from the bathroom.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he dragged himself out of bed and stretched. He was sore and still exhausted, but he knew they needed to get back on the road soon. He moseyed toward the bathroom and saw her standing in front of the large mirror, his eyes drawn directly to her neck. There was a bright red mark with tiny purple splotches above the neckline of her shirt on the right side.

Guilt hit him. He’d left a hickey. “Fuck, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize I was sucking so hard.”

“Don’t apologize,” she said. “It didn’t hurt.”

“Doesn’t matter if it hurt. I shouldn’t have left a mark.”

She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t do it to harm me. It’s actually kind of nice knowing it came from your lips.”

“It’s ugly.”

“It’ll go away,” she said, turning to face him. “Are we close?”

“Not at all. It’ll be another day, maybe even two.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders relaxed, but her nervousness didn’t entirely wither away. They may not have been close yet, but they both knew they would be at some point.

Carmine called his father while Haven showered, but his cell phone went straight to voicemail. He tried the home phone next, letting it ring over a dozen times, but nobody picked up the line.

His worry lingered as they checked out of the hotel and got back on the road, heading west toward Oklahoma. The weather grew worse every mile they drove, the drizzling turning into a downpour. Carmine slowly navigated the heavy traffic, his nerves on edge as he firmly gripped the steering wheel.

Haven seemed to sense it and was quiet for most of the afternoon, just watching the scenery out of her foggy window. It wasn’t until a few hours into the drive that she attempted conversation. “Have you ever been to California?”

“Not that I remember,” he said. “I always wanted to go, though.”

“Do they have any colleges here?”

He glanced at her. “Of course. There are a lot, actually.”

“Any I could ever go to?”

“Sure.”

“Like?”

“Depends,” he said. ”What kinda classes do you wanna take?”

“Art, maybe,” she said. ”I don’t know if I’m good enough to—”

He cut her off. “You are good enough, so stop second-guessing yourself. And yeah, there are plenty of schools out there with art programs that could accept you.”

For the first time in over a day, something other than trepidation shined from her eyes. “Really?”

He chuckled. “Yes, really, but why California?”

She shrugged. “I like palm trees.”

Her serious tone as she answered caught him off guard. “Palm trees? They have them in more than just California.”

Most people overanalyzed where to go to school, choosing places based on student-teacher ratios, reputations, sports teams, and proximity, but she chose a place because of the scenery. He found it amusing, but he wasn’t at all surprised. The little things in life once again seemed to matter.

“Do they have them in New York?”

“Palm trees?”

She laughed. “No, art schools.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course. Art schools are everywhere, but there are probably more in New York than anywhere else.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“I went a few times when I was a kid. My father used to go to New York City on business.”

“Is it nice?”

“The part I saw was. It’s pretty chaotic.”

“I saw on
Jeopardy
that it’s the city that never sleeps.”

He smiled. “Yeah. Some people call it the city of dreams, too. I guess because people go there to chase their dreams.”

She gazed at him. “Maybe we could.”

“Maybe. I’m pretty sure they don’t have palm trees, though.”

Despite the fact that they were cramped in a car all day, it ended up being pleasant. The weather let up, and with it so did their moods. They talked about college and the future as they ignored the reality of the world outside of the Mazda for the time being.

They stopped for food and gas every few hours, occasionally finding a bathroom in between. Carmine tried to call his father each time. He never got an answer and his concern grew, all of the possibilities creeping into his thoughts.

They slept in another Holiday Inn that night, getting back on the road early the next morning. Another day was spent driving, this one more tense. Haven fell asleep in the car sometime after nightfall, once again slumping over in an uncomfortable position.

Carmine was antsy, needing something to distract him, and compulsively fiddled with the radio. His legs were cramping, his fingers locking from holding the steering wheel for hours on end.

Haven woke up when they reached California, and Carmine massaged her neck again. “We’re almost there, hummingbird.”

Her head snapped in his direction. “Already?”

“Already? I’ve been driving for days and you say
already
?”

She turned to look out of the window. “Sorry.”

Carmine watched as she fidgeted, picking at her fingernails. He felt guilty. He knew she was nervous. “I’m just tired,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I shouldn’t have been an asshole like that.”

*  *  *  *

The Blackburn city limits sign was worn and faded, the green paint sandblasted into more of a dirty gray. The white writing on it was barely legible. Carmine had to do a double-take as they passed by.

“Did that just say population seventeen?” he asked incredulously.

“Maybe,” Haven said, “but I didn’t think it was that many. I ran for hours before I saw another house.”

Carmine glanced out the side windows, seeing nothing but uninhabited land surrounding the barren highway. “I believe it. We haven’t passed anything for miles.”

They drove for a few more minutes before he finally spotted some buildings in the distance. He slowed the car, hoping to find a gas station since the gas gage was hovering near empty. A hotel would be nice too, since his eyes burned from fatigue, but as he neared the structures, his hope diminished. They were abandoned, shells of buildings that looked as though a small gust of wind would knock them down. His hair stood on end as they drove through the area, an eerie feeling overcoming the car.

“This is a ghost town,” he said. “Where the hell are the people?”

“Maybe they moved.”

He laughed dryly. “Yeah, or they all died.”

“Some did,” she said.

He glanced at her, her strangled voice telling him there was a story behind those words, but he knew it wasn’t the time to ask questions. She looked to be teetering on the brink of a breakdown as it was. He couldn’t risk pushing her over the edge.

Carmine continued to drive, and in a few minutes they passed another city limit sign. They’d gone from one side of Blackburn to the other without seeing another living soul.

The town was an enormous prison cell. There were no bars or chains, no physical restraints, but it was a mass of oblivion cut off from the world. There were no people, no cars, no stores, no houses. There wasn’t even any color. It was like it didn’t exist.

Suddenly, so much more made sense to Carmine. He knew she’d grown up isolated, but knowing and seeing were two vastly different things. He wanted nothing more in that moment than to pull over and hug her. She was communicating, and driving, and taking GED tests. She opened herself up to everything when she’d literally come from nothing.

Nothing
.

He was fucking dumbfounded.

In the next town over, they came upon a tiny motel. Carmine pulled over and paid the old man at the front desk some cash, grabbing the key from him with very little conversation. He grimaced at how shabby the place was and complained while Haven just shrugged. “I’ve stayed in worse places.”

She had. He understood that now.

*  *  *  *

Carmine was startled awake by a ringing, the shrill noise causing his heart to violently pound. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and grabbed his phone off of the little stand beside the bed.

“Yeah?” he answered without looking to see who was calling.

“Have you arrived?” Corrado asked.

“Yeah,” he said, yawning halfway through the word.

“I’ll be spending the day at the Antonelli’s if you want to bring Haven out to visit with her mother,” Corrado said. “Otherwise, I’d appreciate it if you kept in contact with me about your location.”

Glancing in the bed beside him, Carmine met Haven’s apprehensive eyes. “Yeah.”

Corrado sighed. “Is that the only word you know? Yeah?”

The sarcastic ass in Carmine wanted to say, “Yeah,” but he knew it wasn’t wise to fuck with a poisonous snake, so-to-speak. “No, sir.”

Corrado rattled off the Antonelli’s address as Carmine scoured the room for a piece of paper and something to write with. He found a short, dull pencil in a drawer and snatched the Bible out of the nightstand, opening it up and tearing out the first page. Haven gasped and sat up, gaping at him as he scribbled down the address. “Thanks.”

He hung up the phone and looked at Haven, who was still staring at him. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

His brow furrowed. “Did what?”

“You just tore out that page.”

“I needed something to write on.”

“It’s the Bible, Carmine!”

He rolled his eyes. “Do you really think someone who would come to a place that looks like this would be reading this?” he asked, holding up the Bible. “Anyone who stays here is far from holy.”

He glanced around at the room with disgust.

“We stayed here.”

“We did. Like I said, far from holy,” he said, chuckling. “But whatever, it was only the title page. I didn’t tear out anything with the story on it. The paper just says ‘Holy Bible’. Anyone who looks at the damn book knows what it is.”

He shook his head. His father would be furious if he knew.

“It’s still wrong,” Haven said.

“Maybe so, but I needed to write down the Antonelli's address.”

She froze, her expression panicked. “Why?”

Sitting back down, he reached over to brush some wayward curls out of her face. He tucked them behind her ear and smiled softly as he took her in. She looked so vulnerable, and he wanted nothing more than to right every wrong and make the world better for her sake.

“You wanna see your mom, don’t you?” He hadn’t brought up the subject of her visiting her mom, and based upon Haven’s expression, he knew she hadn’t even considered it.