“Everything you say will follow you outside of this institution.” She warned. “It might seem cool right now to be on the cover of national magazines, but one day the interest will dry up and then what? You think people want to hire a guy that brags about his dead ex-girlfriend to the Enquirer?” Her eyes cut to Thorne. “Think with your brain, not your wallet, asshole.”
“Someone is not happy today.” I murmured through the corner of my lips.
“Just wait until it’s time to leave. With the way she runs around looking for everyone you’d think she was a patient.” Laces snickered.
We were released shortly after, but not before being told to be back at the entrance at 4:00 p.m sharp. Those who didn’t return at the allotted time would face a special punishment, courtesy of Nurse Kline. I didn’t know what she had cooked up, nor did I want to find out.
The mall wasn’t as big as the one back in Charlotte, but it had all of the necessities that mattered to most consumers, like a food court and children’s playground. Since I wasn’t given an allowance I decided to let Laces take the reins and the first stop on his list was, surprisingly, a cell phone store.
“What are we doing?” I asked as he pulled me toward the back. A nice display of the latest touchscreen phones were on top of a glass shelf. Despite the photographers and Nurse Kline’s threatening speech, I had been calm for most of the trip. Keyword, calm. Until now, anyway. “We shouldn’t be in here!”
We weren’t allowed cell phones. It was up there at the top of the list of contraband right next to sharp objects and shoelaces.
“The rules are subjective.” Laces said. He picked up the latest iPhone and slid his finger across the screen.
A nervous chuckle escaped my lips. “They seemed pretty clear to me.” Put it down, put it down, put it down…
“Which one do you like?” Laces held out two phones. I wasn’t tech savvy and thought they both looked the exact same. Seeing my discomfort, he placed the cell phones back in their holders and cupped my chin. “You need to relax.”
“I can’t.”
Laces grinned and my heart skipped a beat. “If anything comes of it I’ll take the blame, stray.” He tapped my nose and whispered, “you need to live a little.”
I wanted to live, really I did, but I also didn’t want to spend 48 hours in solitary confinement—which I could’ve swore was the punishment for first time cell phone offenders. A sales associate strolled over wearing a nice black shirt and a big smile, and my stomach dipped. “Anything I can help you with?”
I grabbed Laces’ arm and started pulling. “No, thank you. I just remembered I don’t have any money so…” It was my last attempt at saving us.
Laces jerked his arm away. “Stop that shit. People will think you’re trying to kidnap me.”
I frowned and slowly released him. “I didn’t get an allowance.” I admitted, flushing. “And if I did I wouldn’t spend it on black market contraband!”
“We’re not buying drugs!” Laces scolded me.
The sales associate raised a brow at us. “I am an authorized cell dealer.” He assured me.
Before he had the opportunity to say anything else Laces grabbed my elbow and ushered me to the nearest corner like a disobedient child. “I’m going to give you some truth— and for just a minute I want you to block out the good girl part of your brain, soak it in, and—Live. With. Me.” Laces instructed in a serious tone.
I swallowed. “But…I can’t go to solitary. If I do I won’t get a pass to go home and I need my pass!” Without it I wouldn’t be able to find Elizabeth’s diary and Joe would continue to roam free.
Laces placed both hands on my shoulders and squeezed. “We’re not allowed cell phones because they want to monitor who we speak with on the outside. You’re not going to be talking to anyone on the outside. Your cell phone will be programmed to call and text one number: MINE. And where will I be?”
Hawthorne…
I opened my mouth to protest and he quickly put his finger to my lips. “No. Stop thinking like a good girl and live in this moment with me.”
Okay…just breathe. He was dead set on this, and when Laces was dead set on something there was no changing his mind. Peeking up at him with a doubtful gaze, I bit my lip. I knew what we were about to do was wrong, but one look at his playful eyes and I didn’t care. “We’ll only be using it to talk to each other?”
Laces’ eyes darkened. “Only us.” He vowed.
My eyes fell to the cream carpet. I didn’t like the idea, but the thought of having something that was just ours outweighed the bad by a ton. Despite my insistence of wanting a cheap cell he did his own thing and picked out the latest iPhone models that had just hit the market. When the sales associate slid mine across the counter and I got a good look at the shiny glass beaming back at me, my stomach did a few somersaults; I hadn’t realized how much I had missed the normal things in life until now.
“I’m going to pay you back.” I said, beaming up at him. “Whenever I get out of here and get a job, that is.”
“Consider it a gift.” Laces insisted.
“No.”
“YES.”
“I am not your charity case. I’ll pay you back and that’s that.” I said, looking away. I knew all too well what it was like to owe someone and the strings that came attached with such a debt. Joe never let me forget it and often tortured me with it every time an unexpected expense came up. It was one of the many tools he used to stay in control.
“I don’t know why women make such a big deal about money.” Laces said, handing the associate his credit card. “A good boy takes care of his woman.”
“You’re not a good boy, remember?” I murmured through the corner of my lips.
“Thank fuck for that.” Laces said with a roguish grin. He put his credit card back in his wallet, thanked the associate, and steered me out of the cell phone store, grinning. “Bad boys are better, anyways.”
“I am dy-ing to know your logic with that one…”
“Good boys open doors, bad boys close them.”
My face screwed up as we passed a sporty clothing store. “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.”
Laces held up his hand and started ticking his fingers off, “Good boys open doors, bank accounts, and hearts.” He cut his eyes to me, “A bad boy will close the door that’s been left open, fix the debt you acquired because the good boy, shithead, was off spoiling his mistress, and he will close the hole left in your heart.”
“And what if the good boy keeps opening doors? Accounts? Hearts?” Even though my mother had been dealt the worst hand imaginable when it came to men, I still wanted to believe there were some good men out there. I wanted to believe that for every one Joe walking this earth that there were five great men not too far behind him. My heart told me it was a romantic notion, that one had to kiss a few frogs before she found her amazing prince. My brain, however, didn’t see eye-to-eye, and kept insisting that type of thinking was naïve.
Laces handed me my new iPhone and flashed his pearly whites. “You want my honest opinion, milady?”