“Whichever side Sophia is on in any war, wins the war. You have an ally now, Will.”
“Yeah…” He clears his throat. “Thanks for that. I appreciate it.”
“Coulda told me four years ago. This might have been over by now.”
My brother scoffs. “Next time. Where are you guys headed today?”
I feel Jamie’s shrug. Then he dives back into the paper bag for fries, even as my stomach rumbles from starvation. I haven’t eaten since lunchtime yesterday, and my plans to strike are starting to feel like a bad choice. “We’ll go however far we can go today. Stop when we have to stop.”
“You’re driving safe, right?” Will’s words are a threat, dangerous and low. “You’re watching the road? Not tired?”
“Yeah, I’m being safe. Don’t worry about it. Except for the food thing; I can’t force her to eat, so…”
“Bubbles…” Will sounds like the parent from my childhood. When I was three and didn’t want to eat vegetables. When I was five and wanted my ears pierced. When I was nine and wanted so badly to go to the ballet. “Eat something. If shit goes bad and you have to run from danger, how are you gonna do that if you’re low in blood sugar?”
Jamie looks across to see if Will’s words have convinced me. “Nope.” He noisily chews his fries. “She’s holding strong.”
“Bubbles,” Will tries again. “If I’m in danger and need your help, how are you gonna get to me if you’re weak?”
Again, Jamie looks to me.
This time, Will’s words mean something. For my own safety, my own well-being, I don’t really care. But for his…
I reach into the bag and take out a cheeseburger.
“There it is,” Jamie huffs. “The ultimate fucking martyr. Why am I not surprised?”
“She’s eating?”
“Yeah.” His words are a verbal eyeroll. “She’s obsessed with you. It’s weird.”
“It’s a brother-in-arms thing,” Will murmurs in reply. “When you’re at war, and you only have one single ally…”
“You do what you have to do to keep that brother alive. I get it. She’s eating, so you did good.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here.”
“Oh shit!” Jamie cheers. “Fuck me. She speaks.”
“Bubbles.” Will’s words are a hug. A declaration of love. “Jesus, it’s good to hear your voice. I was starting to wonder if he lost you, and was just saying you weren’t talking so he could get away with it. How are you?”
“I’m in a war on my own,” I reply in a flat tone. “I had a brother in arms. But he sent me away, so now I’m just a prisoner in a stranger’s car.”
“Bubbles…”
“All of those years, you said no boys allowed. And now you send me away with one?” I shake my head. “Awesome parenting.”
“He’s not just a boy, Bubb—”
“Isn’t he? Because we’ve already fucked a dozen times.”
Jamie’s eyes flare wide and shoot back to the screen in the dash. “We have not. She’d be in a better mood if we had.”
“I’ll kill you,” Will rumbles. “I will murder you dead if this was all because you wanted to get laid. You said it was to make her safe. You said it was because you wanted her to be free. But if by free, you meant yours, we’re gonna have problems.”
“I’m here to make sure she’s not McGrady’s next wife,” Jamie grits out. “That motherfucker has a taste for innocent dancers. He fucks them, marries them, and then he disposes of them.”
He wipes a salt and grease-covered hand on his jeans, then sighs. “I’m not gonna lie and say my heart doesn’t bleed for your sister, but if she walks when this is all over, well…” He lifts our joined hands and shakes them until metal clangs against metal. “I’ll probably unlock the cuffs. Free and clear. At least then I’ll know she left because she wanted out, and not because the cops had you in their sights.”
Hours pass after Will hangs up. Freeway stretches out ahead of us. And when I need to pee, Jamie pulls over and lets me squat on the side of the road… while his hand remains attached to mine.
I guess we’re zooming straight past that stage of privacy.
Morning turns to early afternoon, which turns to evening, and along with it, my stomach grumbles anew.
“There’s something coming up in a little bit,” Jamie speaks in the dark. “The GPS shows some fast food places, so we’ll stop in there and grab something to eat.”
“I don’t want fast food,” I murmur. My body is stiff, my hips ache, my feet alternate