Pike (The Pawn Duet #1) - T.M. Frazier Page 0,4

and tug on my earlobe to pop my ears. What happened to real music? Johnny Cash. Bush. Sam Hunt. The rave music they listen to is worse than most forms of fucking torture, but I’m guessing that’s where the drugs come into play. You have to be high to dance to that shit. I’m the same age as most of those ‘kids’ but hating on their music and my lack of privilege makes me feel a lot older. Sweet relief comes in the form of Johnny Cash. I turn up the radio. “That’s more fucking like it,” I say to myself, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel as the first verse of Cocaine Blues drowns out the bass in my ears.

I pass the Welcome to Logan’s Beach sign and spot a figure moving in the shadows. It’s not unusual to see a bear, boar, deer, or gator crossing at this time of night. What is unusual is for a girl to be limping barefoot down the side of the fucking road looking like one of those girls from a horror movie, slowly trudging down the road, long wet hair hanging in her face.

Curiosity gets the best of me. I slow the truck to a stop beside her, surprised as all fuck when she approaches the truck. She spews some nonsense about people being behind her when there ain’t no one there but the fucking crickets and other critters. She’s younger than me by a few years. Skinny, all elbows and knees. There’s a wildness in her big grey eyes, reminding me of a deranged doll. She keeps glancing behind her, clearly seeing something that I’m missing. She sways on her feet.

I jump out and catch her as she passes out.

Now, she’s in my passenger seat, dripping mud and water onto the leather. “Yo…girl,” I say, lightly slapping her cheeks in an attempt to bring her back into consciousness. “Hey, kid. Wake the fuck up.”

Her wet, stringy hair is the color of dark whiskey, long with a crinkly wave. She has a small gap between her otherwise perfect front teeth and a mole on her left cheek above pale cracked lips. There’s a cut above her eye and scrapes on her feet and hands.

She blinks a few times before finally opening her eyes, she looks around at the interior of the truck before her eyes fall on mine. “Oh, hey,” she says with a rough voice, and then she smiles brightly as if she hadn’t just spouted nonsense about being surrounded by people before fainting in my arms.

“Were you in a cage fight with a chicken or something? ‘Cause it looks like you were. And lost.”

She sits up and shakes her head. “Not that I’m aware of.” She looks down at her clothes. “What happened?” She touches the cut above her eye and hisses.

“I’m not sure. Found you this way.”

She thinks for a moment. “Swimming. I must have swam out too far. Mama always warns me about going past the rocks, but I never listen. I think it was raining. We were kayaking?” She presses her eyes shut, biting her bottom lip and struggling to remember. “It’s all...I can’t remember.”

Typical tourist mistake. Countless numbers of them have drowned thinking they can swim past the rocks and the clear as fuck sign that reads DO NOT SWIM PAST THE ROCKS. I sigh. No wonder the girl thought she was with her family. She’s almost drowned and probably swallowed a lot of water. “Hospital or home?” I ask. I’m a shit guy but even shit guys don’t leave young innocent looking drowned rats on the side of the fucking road at night.

“Home,” she answers, resting her head against the headrest.

I round the truck and get back in, throwing it in drive. I glance over to her. Her eyes are shut. The skin of her eyelids are a purple color, and I can’t tell if it’s a shadow, dirt, or bruising. “And where might that be, darlin’?”

She opens her eyes and sits up with a grimace. “We live in Ocala, but we summer here on the beach. One-twelve-four-four Sycamore Drive. That’s the address of the timeshare.”

At least, she knows her address. That’s something. “You sure you don’t need a hospital?”

She takes a deep breath and plasters a smile on her face. “I’m sure. I just need to get cleaned up. My parents are going to be so pissed. They’re probably out looking for me.”

I nod. “I can get you home quick. I know