Page 18 of Kings Don't Break

“Janessa,” I correct. “I said Janessa.”

“You said Korine, Cash!” she yells. She makes a sound of disgust and then hops off me. “Who’s that, huh? Is that some other slut you’re banging? Is she one of those Tits on Heels bitches at the club?”

I sit up, trying my best to be calm. Janessa’s taken to flitting about the room in search of her clothes and mine, sorting through her hospital scrubs and my t-shirt. She picks a robe off the floor and wraps it around herself. My jeans she tosses at me with such force they smack into my chest.

“Get out, Cash! I can’t believe I fell for your games again.”

“Janessa,” I say in an even tone, “we’re not exclusive. We’re just messing around.”

Wrong thing to say.

“JUST messing around?! Is that all it is?” She produces a squawk worthy of a bird and stomps around her room some more. “Get out, get out! I don’t want to see you anymore!”

“It’s half past midnight. Can’t we talk about this? We’ve still got some General Tso chicken leftover?—”

“GET OUT, BLAKE CASH!”

Her scream must be heard by every other person in the apartment building. If she keeps screaming bloody murder like this, somebody’ll overhear and call the cops.

Then I’ll have a whole other kind of problem.

I hold up my hands and slide off the bed. “Fine, Janessa. But if I go, I ain’t coming back. This is the end.”

“Go back to Korine! Whoever the bitch is!”

I slide on my jeans and pull my t-shirt over my head. Janessa chases me out with more screeches and stomps of her bare feet. The second my boot crosses over the threshold, she slams the door shut with enough force to rattle the wall.

Wait ’til Mace hears about this.

He called it. He already wasn’t her biggest fan.

I head down to my Harley parked at the curb of her apartment building. The street’s dead silent. No traffic coming through and no other soul outside.

Standard, even for a Friday night in Pulsboro.

Except for Larson Lane where all the bars are, the town’s usually asleep a few hours into the night.

The Steel Saloon’s probably still teeming with life. I could stop by and hang with some of the guys. Swinging my leg over my bike and sitting down on the seat, I decide against it.

There’s always tomorrow night if I want to spend time at the saloon.

After my surprise run-in today with Korine and this blow-up with Janessa, I might as well call it a night.

My Street Bob rumbles taking off down the block. The misty fog roams the dark streets. Wandering around Pulsboro this late makes you feel like the only man alive.

The quiet forces you to think. The cold keeps you on edge, with your lungs barely able to take a breath.

I pass through town, ignoring the one street I never go down. The same street we’d driven down on a night like this years ago but a street I haven’t gone down since.

I stop at the gas station a couple blocks from my place. No other cars are filling up and only the clerk is inside the convenience store a few feet away. I slide off my bike and reach for the gas nozzle.

My phone buzzes. Glancing at the screen, I expect to see Janessa’s name. I don’t expect Mom’s.

When are you going to come see your father?

I roll my eyes, start to reply, then think better of it. There’s no use when it’ll never change anything. They’ll see me how they want to see me. Mom fires off another text as if sensing my indecision.

You can’t ignore us forever, Blake.