The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,73

front door behind me. Then I got in my car and drove. I went past Marcus’ school, but it wasn’t recess time. I drove out to the Gills’ house, and circled around their fancy lake. I drove by the restaurant where Kristi was probably getting ready to work my lunch shift.

Before I could think about it too much, I drove past Toby’s house to see if his car was there. Then to the Juarez Bakery, where I bought those pink conchas he liked. I knew he would still be in bed, and when I knocked, it took him almost five minutes to open the door. Just a crack, to peek out and see who it was.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Red?” he said.

“I brought you breakfast.” I held up the Juarez bag.

Maybe if he’d seemed mad at me, I would have done the smart thing and left, but he only looked surprised. Deep down, I wanted him to send me away, because if I was making a list of people I was scared of, Toby was at the top. Once, this woman had come to Asher’s, begging for a fix. No money. Making a scene. Asher had told Toby to get rid of her. Toby had punched her so hard her teeth went rattling across the floor like loose gravel. Then he’d thrown her down the stairs.

I should have left, but when Toby opened the door a little further, I didn’t wait for an invitation. I went into the living room and sat down on the couch. It was the only place to sit. He stood there barefoot, wearing nothing but a pair of old gray sweatpants. I set the pastry bag on the table and, after a minute, he sat down next to me and opened it.

“Seriously, though, what do you want?” he said while he was eating the first pan dulce.

“Can you get me a gun?”

He laughed, spraying crumbs on his coffee table. For a minute, he looked at me without saying anything. He had a couple of nasty bruises on his knuckles.

I shouldn’t have come to Toby.

“You for real?” he said.

“Yeah. Can you get me a gun?”

He stuffed another big bite of concha in his mouth and nodded. I stayed on the couch while he went into the bedroom, and a few minutes later he came back with something wrapped in a dirty rag. It was nothing fancy. A 9 mm.

“How many crimes has this been used in?” I said.

“Ha-ha. Fuck, I dunno. I got a couple of them. I can let you have that one.”

“How much?”

“Oh, come on. We ain’t that kinda friends, are we?”

“Last I checked, we weren’t any kind of friends,” I said.

“Come on, Red. You know I like you, even when you’re being a bitch to me. You know what I want.”

Toby liked me too much to take my money and just enough to want to see me on my knees, sucking his dick. Like I knew he would, he put his hand around my throat while I did it, and it still wasn’t as bad as having sex with Asher.

I only wanted the gun because I wanted to feel less scared, less helpless. Wherever I was going and whatever I was going to do, I didn’t want to be unarmed.

“You’re pretty good at that,” he said after it was done.

I shrugged, because my mouth was full and I wasn’t about to swallow.

I picked up my shirt and bra, which he’d made me take off, and carried them down the hall to his bathroom.

“You’re not gonna use my toothbrush, are you?” he yelled.

Like putting his toothbrush in my mouth would be an improvement over his dick. I spat in the sink and took a big slug of his mouthwash.

After I gargled for a minute, I got dressed and went back out to the front room. He was still lounging on the couch with his sweatpants down around his ankles. I rewrapped the gun and put it into my purse.

“You know how to use that, don’t you?” he said.

“Yeah, I know how to use it.”

“Well, whatever you plan on using it for, keep my name out of it.”

Like I’d want to tell anybody how I got a gun from Toby.

I drove out to Cabela’s and bought a box of ammo. Not target ammo, but the serious shit that’s meant to blow a hole in somebody. Then I went to the bank to empty the household account, because it wasn’t like I needed