“Why?”
“He’s my boyfriend and I love him.”
Unlike before, the word ‘love’ comes out easily and without much fanfare. It takes me by surprise but Owen does not notice.
“C’mon, Olive. Really? You’re going to spend the rest of your life with him?”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” I admit. “But I am with him now and I want it that way.”
I wish this wasn’t so complicated.
A part of me wants to just run away with Nicholas and forget all about Owen and my fucked up family.
For a moment, I'm tempted to suggest something unthinkable.
What if we got some money and then he used it to disappear on his own? He could start a new life somewhere.
Meet a nice girl.
Fall in love.
Maybe have kids.
No one would ever have to know that he ever served time.
That could be his new break. But staring into his dark eyes, I know that if I were to say this out loud, it would break him.
He doesn’t want to start a new life somewhere because that would mean he would be away from me.
If I don’t go with him, he won’t go.
He won’t see a reason to go and then they’re going to hurt him.
The truth is that despite the fact that we’re not related, Owen is my family. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I didn’t do everything in my power to protect him.
“You need to help us do this,” I say as firmly as possible. “We need another person and everything we get is going to benefit you directly so you are the best man for this job. Afterward, we will have enough money to set us up for life. We will start new identities. And you’ll be able to help Mom more than you can now. But most importantly, you’ll be able to get away from them.”
Owen moves his jaw from one side of his face to the other as he mulls over my proposal. “What about my parole?”
“That’s the thing,” I say. “If you run away, they’ll put a warrant out for your arrest. And if they catch you, they’ll send you back to prison.”
“That doesn’t sound great,” he admits.
“But if they don’t catch you then you’ll never have to check in with a parole officer again. You’ll be a free man, starting now.”
I can’t believe that I’m advocating for this but it’s the only way out.
“If you stay in Boston, you risk getting killed. If you do this job and run away then you only risk going back to prison.”
“That’s quite a conundrum,” he says after a moment.
“You know that I wouldn’t be suggesting this if I thought you had another way out.”
We turn into an alley between Walmart and Bed Bath & Beyond.
The wind picks up and we put our backs against the towering, windowless wall. A lone car drives in front of us, slowing down briefly at the stop sign.
“How much money are we talking about here?” Owen asks.
When I turn to face him, I see a big smile spread on his face.
21
Nicholas
When we begin…
I find it hard to believe that Owen has actually agreed to do this job with us even as I wait here for them to arrive.
The room I rented is a three-star unassuming no frills hotel aimed at middle management business professionals who spend a lot of their time in airports.
There is no bulletproof plexiglass downstairs but there’s also no concierge service.
The lobby is small and furnished in vinyl and the coffee is stale and cold.
The room is nice enough but there is no bellman or room service. I take a seat on the couch next to the bed and flip on the television.
I cringe at the noise that couch makes whenever I make even the slightest move and tap my fingers on my lap.
When she knocks, I jump out of my seat and only then realize exactly how nervous I am about this.
I take a deep breath before I open the door to calm myself down. This won’t work if you don’t act like you can do this in your sleep.
“Come in.” I fling the door open and quickly turn away from them.
I hurry back to the dining room table next to the couch and bury myself in the paperwork that I had spread out on it.
“Thanks for coming,” I say, picking up the top sheet and examining it closely.
I got all of the plans directly from Art and none of them needed to be written out.
But in order to make it seem like they all came from my own research, I have made copious notes full of crossed out parts and annotations.
Olive glances over my work and picks up a few sheets to examine them more closely.
“I can’t read this,” she announces.
Since they are not meant to be read, I smile on the inside.
Owen throws himself onto the couch and it explodes in a cacophony of high-pitched squeaking, which doesn’t seem to bother him a bit.
“Nice place,” he says without a tinge of irony.
“Thanks.” I nod. “And thanks for coming.”
“I’m here to hear you out. That’s it.”
This takes me by surprise. I straighten my shoulders and adjust my stance.
“What?” I ask Olive.
She doesn’t say anything so I look at him.
Another blank stare.
“I thought that you were down to do this,” I finally say.
“No, I need to hear the plan first.”
I shake my head.
“What’s wrong?” Olive asks.
“That’s not going to happen,” I say, shaking my head.
“Why?” he asks.
“You can’t hear the plan without committing to this…project first.”
“I can’t commit to this project unless you have a sound plan.”
“I have a sound plan. All of my plans are sound,” I insist.
“Do you want me to be a part of this?” Owen asks, standing up.
“No, not really,” I say. “But if you’re going to be getting any of the money, I think you should contribute.”
“You know what?” he says, taking a step toward me.
Instead of backing away, I take another step toward him.
“Yeah, what?” I raise my voice.
“I don’t need this. I don’t need you.”
“And I don’t need you either. I’m doing you a favor, man!”
“Fuck you!” He takes a step to the side and then slams his shoulder in mine.
The anger that has been boiling right below the surface suddenly explodes. I make a fist and punch him in the nose.
He winces in pain and when he pulls his hand away from his face, I see that it’s covered in blood.
“Aggh!” he yells and launches himself at me.
The force of his body pushes me to the floor and I land on my back.
A second later, the first punch collides with my head.
Then another and another.
The wind gets temporarily knocked out of me and my chest constricts as I struggle to breathe.
I hear a high voice screaming somewhere around us but her words are muffled by the ringing in between my ears.
Somehow, I manage to push him off me and throw myself on top of him.