Mess Us Up – Jaxson Kidman Page 0,24

if I keep stirring?”

“Go right ahead,” Declan says.

They’re acting like they don’t know each other.

Declan has a plan.

And that means I’m going to be stuck in the basement.

But for how long?

I hear the footsteps above me spread out.

It gets quiet and I don’t like the quietness.

When I hear the sound of the basement door shutting, my heart climbs into my throat. I regret my thoughts about the quiet.

I’m so screwed…

If that cop finds me in this room, it’ll make it look like Mama Dae kidnapped me. Which isn’t true at all. But even still…

My teeth chatter.

I cover my mouth and wait.

I can hear the cop outside the door, shuffling around.

He lets out a few whistles.

I see the light of his flashlight barely show under the door of the room I’m in.

Then comes the doorknob jiggle.

I tense up.

Any decent cop is going to want to know why a room is locked, right?

The cop knocks on the door.

“Open the door, Jolie.”

Jolie…

I hurry to the door and unlock it.

I step back as the door opens and Declan is there.

He steps into the room and shuts the door behind him.

“Where’s the other cop?” I ask.

“Searching for a ghost,” Declan says. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” I say. “I promise I’m okay. This is all my fault. I didn’t-”

“Yeah, it is your damn fault,” Declan says.

He keeps close to the door while I keep backing up.

I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

He reaches back and grabs the doorknob again. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I needed a walk,” I say. “I needed to get out of here for a second. I didn’t realize someone would recognize me. I thought this was supposed to be quiet. Is my name and face everywhere now?”

Declan clenches his jaw tight.

He looks up.

He looks around at the room.

“Just stay here,” he says to me. “You’ll hear me and Davidson leave. Then wait a minute and leave the room. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” I say.

“This is a fucking disaster now,” Declan says.

He rips open the door and looks back at me.

I’m scared out of my mind.

Each time I think I know enough about this world to remain calm, something happens. Something that reminds me just how wild and deadly this life is.

Declan shuts the door and goes back up the steps.

He does this in a hurry.

I hear the muffled sound of his voice yell ‘Davidson! Hurry!’

Then there’s more footsteps right above my head.

“Did you find someone in the basement?” Mama Dae asks with a laugh.

“No, ma’am,” Declan says.

“I didn’t get upstairs yet,” Davidson says.

“This place is clean,” Declan says. “Just got another tip she was seen down near Worf Park. Let’s go.”

They leave the house.

I sigh with relief and feel like my legs are going to give out.

I wait for the longest minute of my life to pass before I leave the room.

As I walk up the basement steps, I begin to wonder what’s going to happen now. Mama Dae is apparently staging this kidnapping as a favor to me. Which means she doesn’t need me around. I’m disposable. And there’s probably fifty ways Mama Dae could get rid of me without Mac knowing.

I open the basement door and walk through the house toward the kitchen.

When I spot Mama Dae, she’s standing at her pot of sauce, still stirring.

She looks peaceful.

But we all know that means nothing.

She’s stirring the sauce with her left hand.

Her right hand is in the pouch in her apron.

And you know what she keeps in that apron, right?

The thought of being shot by Mama Dae makes me want to throw up.

Before meeting Mac… I would have been running and crying.

Now, I can at least face whatever is about to happen.

“Mama Dae…”

She looks at me.

She looks at the sauce.

Then she makes a move toward me.

I freeze and watch a spoon coming toward me.

“Taste this,” she says.

The spoon hits my lips and I open my mouth.

The sauce burns my tongue and my eyes fill with water.

I taste the sauce and swallow it.

I nod.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“It’s good,” I say. “Really good.”

Mama Dae walks to the pot of sauce and tastes it herself.

She smacks her lips together.

“It’s getting there,” she says.

She puts the spoon down and then faces me.

I’m still frozen in place.

She moves toward me again and this time… she hugs me.

I’m taller than her.

I could put my chin on the top of her head if I wanted to.

But I don’t.

My arms are at my sides.

And Mama Dae is full on hugging me.

“Oh, Jolie,” she