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Chapter 3

It’sreal easy to decide where to go when you’ve only got one option. Didn’t mean I had to like it, though. Problem is, the only place I wanted to be was wherever Daisy was, and she didn’t want me anywhere near her.

I rolled my right wrist, loosening it up—the memory of all the unanswered letters I’d written aggravated the carpal tunnel I’d gotten in the process.

“Guess words don’t fix shit,” I muttered. “Get it over with, man.”

The only motel in town was a three-story cube near the center of town. It was the oldest building we had, complete with hitching post and water trough. Every year Danton would clean it up and petition the historical society to make it a landmark. Every year, the historical society would call the fire marshal, who would write citations for the ancient wiring and windows. It was a whole thing around here.

The door screamed as I pushed it open, calling old memories back to life.

“Welcome to the Danton Daily, Weekly, Monthly,” a pile of paperwork on the front desk said in a rushed monotone. “What’cha need?”

I winced. Of course he still owned this place. Who else would want it? My fantastic day was just getting better and better.

“Monthly,” I said.

He popped up from behind the paperwork like a ferret. His janky teeth stuck out over his bottom lip, his lazy eye rolling wildly while the other one stared hard. His hair, always prematurely gray, stuck out all over the place except for a saucer-sized patch on the very top of his head that shone under the dimmed lighting.

“Kash? ‘Zat you?”

“Hey, Leroy.”

“What’chu doin’ here? I thought they got you for life! I’ve had to make some bad decisions man, bad decisions, you really left me in the lurch y’know. If I know’d you was comin’ back I never would’a done it, but I ain’t know so it ain’t my fault, no sir.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Leroy?”

His good eye shifted back and forth at hyper speed. “You still sellin’?”

“Man, I just got out of prison. I ain’t even showered yet. You gonna give me a room?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure thing man, sure thing. But listen, uh—you know when you left, it put me in a bind. I needed mine, y’hear?”

“I hear you, I hear you,” I said, getting bored of his yammering real quick. “Gimme a key, Leroy.”

“I jus’ want you to know, I’m loyal as they come, lord help me if I’m not the most loyal friend a man’ll ever have.”

“Great.”

“So?” He stared at me expectantly, one hand on the room key I needed.

“So what?”

“You gon’ start your, erm—business again? ‘Cause if you are, I’ll move some stuff around. You know me, ol’ Leroy, I’m loyal as they come.”

“You gonna hold my room hostage until I tell you yes?”

“No, no, no hostages here. I know what you do to hostages.” He chuckled nervously and pulled the key off the wall but held it tight in his fist. “What’d Hunter do to you anyway?”

“Nothing.” God I was tired of talking about this. “Not a damn thing. Now give me my damn key.”

“Hol-hold on, hold on, you went and killed a man who ain’t donenothingto you? Well that makes me downright nervous, Kash. I don’t know if I want you in my hotel.” Leroy stared hungrily at me. Nervous my ass.

“Bet it wouldn’t make you nervous if I told you I was gonna be setting up shop here,” I said.

His face split into a rotten grin because, well, of course it did. “There you go! That’s the Kash I know. Here’s your key, you’re gonna be in room 314. Jes’ sign here—gonna be $665 for the month.”

I blinked and widened my eyes at him. “Thought this place was a hundred a week, Leroy.”