What Lies Beneath

Much like my favorite cat, I hate Mondays. I woke up in my fluffy bed on my stomach and clutching a pillow. I could hear my brother shuffling around and packing up. It was time to go.

We didn't actually have a home. We used to, of course. Back when he'd first gotten me, we'd settled when we could. Mom and Dad had left us a lot of money and a plan that Jax had followed perfectly. Never too long in one place. You lingered, you got found out. When the threat of me being taken loomed over him, he was very cautious. But I was eighteen now, so we were safe in that one regard.

I groaned and sat up, blinking when Jax ripped open the curtains, blinding me. "Blah!"

"Hush," he said before he turned around. "Get up if you want an Egg McMuffin."

I covered my head with my blanket. "Boo, I say! I think it would be best if you let me sleep. Mean Mila isn't a person you want with you in a van for - Wait, where the hell are we going?"

He sighed and ripped the blanket off my head. "Dunno. I thought we could pick on the road. How does Kansas sound?"

I gagged. "Wheat and antichrists. No thank you."

He rolled his eyes at me. "If I have to hear about those damn books again..." He stood with his hands at his sides, looking around blankly as if the walls would give him something clever to say. "...then I will be very bummed out. Now get up, or I'll sing."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Diiiiiamonds are foreeeeeeveeeer!" he belted out without shame or decency.

I shook my fist at him. "Why must you rob me of my sleep? I was dreaming about that chicken again. I almost had him this time."

"FOOOR WHEN LOVE'S GONE "

"I GET IT! Stop, or I'll break out that Futurama song."

He frowned. "Please don't..."

Ha. Always got him. I was actually a pretty good singer, so I always made him get misty-eyed when I sang it. "If it takes forever..." I started.

He covered his ears and started singing "la-la-la-la-la-la-la❞ until I stopped. "The dog just waited there, La!"

I nodded and stood up. "I know," I said and patted his shoulder.

I showered and changed into something that would be comfortable for a long drive. It was May, but that meant something different for every place in this country. I decided to just go with a shirt and shorts. I could pull off my cowgirl boots with anything, so I put them on and left the bathroom.

While I was tying my hair up in a ponytail, I walked over to my bag and started packing up. I was annoyed to find that the wallet I'd lifted from Lefty wasn't actually a wallet. It was some kind of address book or something. There were a lot of contacts and some meetings jotted down, but it was of no use to me. It was somewhere in my bag to be thrown away later.

I slipped my knife into my pocket like I always did. We were safe in the car, of course, but at this point it was more like a security blanket. Jax had gotten it for me when I was fourteen. He'd said to never leave home without it, so I hadn't. Home then had been a little town in Ventura County, California. We would stay in one place for a whole semester before we would find a new place. He knew how to make the papers they needed to let me enroll. A skill he'd learned from Dad, he said.

Everything had become harder when they died. Jax had looked his age and had to get really good at talking, just to convince people he was eighteen. He'd been terrified I would get taken from him. It had caused more than a few hasty moves and desperate acts.

"Hungry?" Jax grinned and picked up my bag.

"Sure."

We left the room and went downstairs to check out and load up the van. It was a big grey one that my brother liked calling Purdy. Who was I to judge?

We purposely didn't own much. We had plenty of clothes; we each had a computer, phones. I liked to read, so I had a Kindle. When we settled, we would rent furniture and all the other stuff that one would need to live among the muggles. I kinda miss having my own bed, but what are ya gonna do?

It had been months since we'd lived in a house. Right after I decided that staying in school was too much of a hassle, I went for my GED. It was a quick and easy way to get the education I didn't really need. I left school and we moved right around Christmas.. I had said goodbye to my few friends, and we were in Jersey the next morning.

I tried not to dwell on that.

Everything was in the car, and Jaxon drove around until we found a fast food place. He used the drive thru, and we ate in the parking lot. A tradition at this point. Each morning we started a long trip, we'd get the same thing and eat it together. "Can I have your hash brown?" Jax asked when it was halfway in his mouth.

"I guess." I started sipping his soda.

I finished eating while Jax went over a map. "We really should pick a direction."

I sighed and set his drink down in the cup holder. "Any place sound interesting to you?"

He looked out the windshield. "Not really. Maybe we can just travel for a while longer. Gather up some cash so we can get a house again. I bet we could find a little town somewhere. If we take trips out here every six-or-so months, we can get by."

I wouldn't mind settling for a little while. Maybe it could be healthy. "What would we do?"

He shrugged. "Whatever we wanted."

I laughed. "I had school before. I don't know how to pass the time otherwise."

"We can try and make friends."

Then we both laughed.

Friends weren't normally a good idea. Contacts, connections that was different. We'd moved too much to keep up a real friendship or relationship. Jaxon had had a girlfriend for a while. Then it had come time to leave, and he'd told her the truth about what we did for money. He'd hoped she would want to come with us. She hadn't. Instead, she'd dumped him, complete with throwing things and the cops getting called. So... no friends.

I never had a real boyfriend. A couple of those ones you have when you're a kid, and you don't understand, sure. Later, what normally happened was by the time I figured out that I liked a guy, I'd need to go. I always had one foot out the door, and it really made things like boyfriends difficult to get. I didn't miss it.

"Maybe Seattle," Jaxon suggested with apathy. "I hear it's nice up there."

"I hear it's rainy all the time."

"So? You like rain."

"You don't."

He half smiled and patted my shoulder. "You're sweet for caring, Lala, but I want to go somewhere you'd like. Just pick anywhere, and we'll go." Anywhere... "I wanna go home."

Jax's brow pinched. "Home?"

"I want to go where we lived when I was little. All I can remember was that I liked the woods in our back yard."

It had been right after our parents died. We had been in New York, and Jax had wanted to get us as far away as possible. He'd stolen a car, and we'd driven for what had felt like a year. We'd ended up somewhere green and pretty. I hadn't actually known where it was.

"Portland," he said, his eyes glued to the wheel. "You want to live in Portland?"

"If you do."

He examined the map for a few seconds before folding it up and nodding. "Portland, it is."

The van still had our trash in it, and it would make us smell like grease all day if we didn't get rid of it. It was an unholy mix of wrappers, paper drink cups, and more napkins than we would use in a decade. Jax was nice enough to get out to throw it away. Always the gentleman.

He made a show of skipping to the trashcan and throwing in the bag along with all the other garbage. I glanced down at my phone when he started back. I had forgotten to charge it, so I plugged it in. Not that it would actually matter, since I would be on the road all day.

My brother shouting made me look up. Through the windshield, I could see two men with a hold on him as he struggled. Blood rushed in my ears, and I got out of the car. As I dug in my pocket for my knife, I was thrown into the door. But nothing touched me. "MILA!" Jaxon called out. "Run!"

I couldn't. My body was frozen as if I was nailed in place. Panic and confusion only made me struggle harder. I didn't recognize the men that had him, but they were probably people Jax had screwed. It was a dangerous game, the one we played.

I fought against the invisible force before a man entered my vision. Another one I didn't know. He was smiling at me.

"Hello," he said. "So sorry to inconvenience you."

I didn't talk, because what the hell could I say?

"Don't worry," the man said, his hand out in front of him, "I have no intention of harming you. This is only business. It seems you took something from my boss, so he wanted to take something from you. Took him a while to notice too. Almost impressive on your part. If not very stupid."

My brother was still yelling for me to run when the sound was cut off. I heard a heavy door close as my only blood on this earth was shoved into a black van.

The man lowered his hand, and I was dropped onto the ground. The van sped off. I landed on my hands and knees. Tears dropped onto the concrete beneath me.

"See?" the man said. "No harm to you at all. Well, not physical. I convinced him of that, so you're welcome. He was quite offended that a child would steal from him, and he wanted you to learn your lesson."

Steal? I hadn't stolen anything in a week... other than that book. "Wait." I sat up on my knees. "He can have it back. I don't care. Just give me my brother."

He sighed. "What you took isn't the point. So it holds little value to my boss. The point is this..." He gestured to me. "Retribution. I fought for this. If it were up to him, you and that man they took would be in a gutter. But I don't like killing kids."

Rage was shooting through my veins. "Am I supposed to thank you for taking my brother?"

He shrugged. "Just telling you what I can. Have a nice day." He turned and started walking.

And I wanted to kill him.

I got the knife from my pocket and flicked out the blade. Everything about self-defense that Jax had taught me just went out the window. All I could see was this man dying and me being the one to do it.

I charged at his back, and he didn't even turn. My knife was five inches from his spine when he flicked his hand back. I went flying into the van again. My back hit the side, and it knocked the wind out of me. I gasped for breath that wouldn't enter my lungs as I grabbed for the knife.

The man stopped, but he didn't turn. "I can't blame you for trying, so I won't be killing you. I admire a loyal girl. But that man is gone to you now." He started walking again. "I suggest you move on."

He disappeared behind cars and buildings, and I was left alone, panting, crying, and lost.

It took me several minutes before the pain dulled enough for me to stand. I looked around, helpless as a person could be. Truly, I didn't know what to do. There was no plan in place if one of us was kidnapped. Killed? Sure. There was money, and the only option was to move on to a new place.

But he wasn't dead. He was just gone. Taken from me because of something stupid I'd done. I'd been careless.

He would kill me for my next decision, but that changed nothing. I needed to find him. Save him from whatever that high-roller had planned.

I forced myself to get to the driver's side of the car. Admittedly, I didn't know where the hell to go, but I knew I just needed to go. I didn't bother letting the van warm up before I peeled out of the lot. I didn't see where the other van went, so I decided to retrace our path.

The man I'd stolen that ledger from was blowing his fortune in a casino, so maybe he would still be there. I didn't have a real plan, but if I could find him, then maybe I could get him to give my brother back. Money would be of no interest, so I'd have to get creative. It didn't matter. There wasn't a thing I wouldn't trade for him.

I drove through the Strip and parked in the lot of the hotel where I'd been staying. I walked around the van and grabbed the ledger from my bag. There had to be something in it that I'd missed.

I'd already been through it, the pages locked away in my brain, so I was really just hoping there was something I hadn't seen already. As I scanned through the pages, it was more of the same. Nothing that was worth kidnapping my brother for. So as far as I could see, he was just a bastard who didn't like being taken.

I shoved the stupid thing back in my bag, daydreaming about torching it. I wanted to blame that ledger instead of me for what had just happened. I could blame it all I wanted, but I knew the truth. Carelessness might have gotten the last member of my family killed.

Then I just stood there, not knowing what to do. Next stop the casino, I guess. Again, without a plan. Without my backup.

I was completely, entirely, utterly, alone-

A hand wrapped around my neck, and I was pulled back against a body. My head hit a chest as an arm snaked around my waist.

The voice was familiar when I heard it. More carelessness sneaking up on me. "So nice to see you again."