It didn’t seem like a none-of-the-above moment. “You.”

“Good girl.” Joe climbed onto the bike and pulled my arm. “Now climb on behind me.”

I did with a bit of difficulty.

“Shit, I hadn’t planned on you bein’ so drunk. Hold on really tight, okay? Don’t let go.”

Before I had a chance to answer, Joe started the motorcycle and tore out of the parking lot.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Joe drove like he was trying to drive into yesterday. I felt my grip slip a couple of times and Joe would jerk on my arm and remind me to hang on. But I was drowsy, the vibration of the bike lulling me to sleep.

I recognized our neighborhood, but Joe didn’t drive home. Instead, he pulled up to an old detached garage on the street behind our houses and shut off the bike.

“Where are we?” I asked, falling off the bike onto the grass. The garage hadn’t been used to store a car in years and the gravel driveway had long since been invaded by the lawn.

Joe knelt down and took the helmet off my head. “I rent this, to store things.”

“Like a motorcycle? I didn’t know you had a motorcycle.” I lay on my back in the grass. The stars in the sky were spinning around me. I felt like the center of the universe.

“That’s me, a man of mystery.” He lifted the garage door, an old-fashioned kind, a panel that tilted out and back.

“Tell me about it…” I mumbled, closing my eyes. The spinning stars were making me dizzy.

I heard him roll the motorcycle into the garage, then shut the door and padlock it. He pulled me up. “Come on.”

I had trouble standing and wearing heels in the grass wasn't going to work, especially in my state. Joe realized this before I did and knelt down to slip them off. He held my shoes in one hand and pulled my wrist with the other. “We have to hurry. We don’t have much time.” He pulled me to the trees that lined the rear property line and ran between them. Well, I tried to run. It wasn’t working out so well.

Joe hunched down. “Climb on my back.”

“Why?”

“They’re gonna come looking for you. We have to hurry and get home.”

I didn't really want to hurry so they could come find me, but Joe seemed to have a plan so I climbed on. He ran through to the trees behind his house, then slid me off. As he tried to help me over the fence. I saw my shed out of the corner of my eye.

“Hey! Why’d you put a gun in my shed?” My words sounded more indignant than I intended.

“I’ll explain it all to you in a little bit. We just have to get through the next hour first.” He led me to the back of his house, pried open a screen, then lifted the window. “Sorry, I don’t have time to be gentle.”

He shoved my head and body in through the window. When my top part was in, he pushed the back part of me through and I landed in a heap on the floor. I looked around to orient myself, realizing I was in Joe’s bedroom.

He climbed in, replaced the screen, and shut the window. “Okay, time to hide you.”

“I’m not so good at hide-and-go-seek.”

“Lucky for you, I already picked out a place for you to hide. Your job is to stay quiet.”

Joe took me into the hallway and pulled down the attic steps. When he started to push me up, I froze. Joe was making me hide in the attic. “Are there any windows up there?”

“No.”

I shook my head so violently I almost fell off the ladder. “No, I can’t.”

He climbed higher, so that we stood on the ladder side by side. “Rose, I know you’re scared and this is gonna be hard. But you can do this. You have to do this. Your life depends on it. Now go.” He pushed me up and I scrambled up the steps, trying to stave off the fear.

The attic was unfinished, and the floor joists were filled with insulation. Joe pulled a cord and a single light bulb lit up the space. There were several boxes in the corner to the left, toward the front of the house.

“You’re gonna hide behind those boxes. It’s gonna be tricky since there’s no floor and you’re drunk as a skunk. But try to keep alert and you can do it,” he said, guiding me toward the boxes. I told myself hiding in a dark attic was better than being dead. Joe got me situated the way he wanted me, my butt on one beam, my feet on another and hidden behind the boxes. He tossed my shoes in the insulation then knelt down, his face in front of mine.

“No matter what happens, you do not come out. Got it?”

“What’s gonna happen?” I asked in a whisper, my voice quivering.

“They’re gonna do whatever they can to find you. But you stay here. Do not come out, no matter what they say. Okay?”

I nodded, tears blurring my vision.

Joe smiled, but his eyes looked sad. He kissed my forehead. “It’s gonna be okay. Just sit tight and be quiet.” He scrambled to the attic door and clicked off the light, throwing me into darkness. The door shut and I found myself trapped, alone in the dark. I told myself I wasn’t trapped. I was hiding. There was a difference, only I couldn’t find it at the moment.

It wasn’t long before I heard pounding on the front door. My stomach tightened and my heart took off like a racehorse.

“McAllister! Open the door!”

“Hold on!” Joe shouted.

It sounded like the door crashed into the wall, followed by shouting and a lot of scuffling. The muscles in my back and shoulders locked.