Mess Us Up – Jaxson Kidman Page 0,36

happened now?”

I think about Mama thinking I had a brother and that brother was going to dry the dishes.

“Mac…”

“Fuck, Jolie, I need to know,” I snap at her.

Then we both go silent.

I speed up and find a dark road where I can pull over.

I park the car and reach for Jolie’s hand.

“I didn’t mean to yell,” I whisper. “I just… I know what it is. I already admitted it to you. You were right.”

“She went to the doctor today,” Jolie says as she stares out the window.

“For what?”

“What do you think?” Jolie asks.

I swallow hard. “You went with her?”

“I drove her,” Jolie says. “I wasn’t allowed inside. When we got back to the house, she left the papers on the counter for me to see. She didn’t want to tell me. But she wanted me to know.”

“Meaning what?”

Jolie looks at me. “She’s sick, Mac. She’s… she’s got Alzheimer’s.”

I shut my eyes. I shake my head.

“Mac, I’m so sorry,” Jolie whispers. “I saw it though. She’s got it. There’s this whole plan of things doctors want to do to try and help. She’s had it for a little while now. And it’s getting worse. I think if she-”

“Jolie,” I say.

“What?”

“Just please stop talking for a second.”

She listens.

I look forward.

I put my hands to the steering wheel.

I take a deep breath.

Jolie touches my right hand.

My eyes move to her hand over mine.

Fuck…

A tear falls from the corner of my right eye.

12

JOLIE

I pretend that I’m someone famous.

It’s the only way I can keep my sanity and stay somewhat calm.

Mac tells me to climb into the backseat of his car and hide.

I get into the back and I slouch down and wait.

The car comes to a stop and he turns and looks at me.

“Remember who knows and who doesn’t, sweetie,” he says. “I’m going to get you out and we’re going through the side door, okay? There should be a bag on the floor. Dig around and find a hat and a hoodie. Keep yourself safe.”

“You mean hidden,” I say.

“Right. Same thing.”

“I’m hidden because I’m important.”

“Exactly.”

I grin. “I’m a famous movie star, Mac. And there’s people out there who want to take my picture. They want to get near me. They want to ask me personal questions. Because I’ve had such a good and high life, but now I’m rumored to be fooling around with a known criminal. Everyone claims they’re worried about me but in reality they just want the dirt on me.”

Mac blinks a few times. “You know, maybe you don’t need law school, Jolie. Maybe you should be a writer.”

“That’s a good story, right?”

“That’s what you’re telling yourself?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“Okay then, movie star Jolie… I’ll make sure you get to your room safely. And since I’m the criminal in all of this, if anyone gets too close, I’ll just shoot them.”

I gasp.

Mac opens the car door and gets out.

Now my heart is racing again.

Of course he would say something like that.

Worse yet… he meant it.

I hurry to turn on my phone’s flashlight and find the bag he was talking about. I unzip it and find a black hoodie and black baseball cap.

My body shivers, wondering what this hat and hoodie have been used for.

Breaking into my parent’s house?

Mac knocks on the window and I jump.

I turn the flashlight off and put the hoodie on.

It smells like Mac.

That wild mix of his skin, his smoke, his sweat.

I’m turned on.

I climb into the passenger seat of the car and Mac opens the door for me.

I put the hat on my head.

He grabs my bag and the bag of money from the front seat floor.

“Just stay with me, sweetie,” he says.

We hurry along the side of the house.

There’s a different feel to the BC campus. It has a sense of calmness to it. In the far off distance I can hear the sound of music playing.

Someone is obviously having a party.

I lift my head a little and look around.

It’s dark. Nobody is near us.

Mac grabs my hand and pulls me to the left.

I stumble and turn.

There’s a door I would have never known was there.

Hidden between two overgrown bushes.

Mac unlocks the door and opens it.

I’m hit with the smell of musty wood.

“Can I take the hat off?” I whisper.

“No,” Mac says.

“Okay.”

He stops walking.

His fingers touch my chin and he lifts my head.

He looks down at me. “You don’t want to be caught, do you? I mean, a movie star like you with a bad guy like me…”

Mac grins.

I love that he’s playing into my