Page 42 of Killer Blonde

He didn’t say anything else about it.

So,The Hunterit was then. Maybe he’d let me shorten it and just call him Hunter, or even Hunt.

“That was really him, wasn’t it? I wasn’t imagining things.”

“It was,” he told me.

“What does this mean? How— I have so many questions.”

“I’m sure you do but I don’t think I can answer them for you.”

“You said you’re taking me to him— to Silas, I mean. Where are we going? Is he not in the city anymore? How long will it take to get to him?” I asked.

“Not sure if he’s left the city yet or not. I’m taking you to one of his places. Should take a couple of days to get there. We are going to need to switch cars at some point. I’m sure the police are looking for this one.”

“Right… because you kidnapped me.”

“Fake kidnapped,” he corrected me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, youfake kidnappedme. Sure felt real at the time.” I might have been a little snippy with him.

“Had to make it look real.”

“This is all so… I’m sorry, I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that’s happened to me the last few days.”

“Understandable,” he said in a flat tone.

After nearly three days on the road, two nights sleeping in cheap motel rooms, and about a dozen stops later, he informed me that we were almost there.

I had no clue where we were. I’d slept most of the way because boredom had my eyes shutting. The Hunter wasn’t a talker, just like he’d warned me. In fact, he only opened his mouth to ask me what I wanted to eat and what size clothing he should pick up. I wasn’t even going to complain about the things he bought me. I was just glad to be out of that fucking dress.

I smiled a little bit thinking how I’d left it in that dirty truck stop bathroom that first day.

There was some kind of symbolism in the whole thing, you know, like I was ridding myself of the last little bit of that whole fucked up situation.

Deep down I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. I was sure I’d have to rehash the whole thing soon. I guess that was one good thing about The Hunter and his lack of talking skills, he didn’t ask me about what had happened.

“What happens now?” I asked as we bumped along a gravelly dirt path in the middle of a thick area of trees.

“I don’t know, but I imagine that Silas is in pretty rough shape. From what little I know, I figure you two have a lot to catch up on.”

“And what about this whole kidnapping— sorry,fakekidnapping thing?” I asked because I had been thinking about what a bigger mess this had now turned into.

“It was my job to get you here. I did my part. The rest is for him to figure out,” he said with a tiny jerk of his shoulders.

I couldn’t tell if he didn’t care or he was trying his hardest to get involved in this whole thing as little as possible.

I guess I should have just been grateful that he’d gotten me out of there.

And now the nerves started to mess with my stomach.

I was about to see Silas.

My past was about to come washing over me in the biggest way, and I didn’t think I was ready for it.

No.

Oh my God.