Page 2 of The Villain

I ground my teeth. I didn’t want charity, but that pretzel smelled so damn good... So I just grunted and peeled off a few bills to cover my purchases. “Thanks,” I muttered as I grabbed the bag off the counter.

“Have a good night,” she called after me as I pushed out the door, overhead bell tinkling.

As I walked back to the motel, I bit into the soft pretzel, moaning quietly at the taste. Carmen was a fucking liar. This wasn’t going stale. Before I even realized it, I’d polished off the entire thing and was licking buttery salt off my fingers as I turned into the motel parking lot. My room was on the second floor, but I stopped in front of room 15 before heading upstairs. I approached slowly, quietly, and listened for any shouting ornoise from inside. It was quiet. The rusted blue truck owned by the man who sometimes stayed there was gone, which was likely why.

I carefully placed the bag of convenience store food in front of the door and stepped away, priding myself on another successful drop, when a dark blur streaked across my path.

“Shit!” I stumbled backward and nearly hit the ground as a black cat let out a yowling screech and tore off into the night at a pace that broke land speed records. I clasped my hands to my chest, heart racing as I bent over at the waist to catch my breath with an amused huff. “Fucking hell…”

The metallic click of a lock turning brought me upright. The door to room 15 slowly opened, and a familiar pair of brown eyes peered up at me through the crack, face washed in the dull light of the motel hallway. The boy was probably only six or seven, but it was hard to tell. I didn’t think he was getting proper nutrition, or much food at all. His skin was pale, like he hadn’t left the motel room much. I’d only ever seen him in the parking lot a few times.

I tried not to leave food very often, and never on a regular schedule. I didn’t want the kid to rely on me. I could barely rely on myself. But every time I looked at him, I saw a little bit of me, the kid who’d grown up in the White Hills Trailer Park in Rathburn, Michigan. At least I’d had my half-brother, Dennis, who’d always made sure I was alive. And there’d been Ben and Conrad, my best friends and probably the reason I’d survived into adulthood. I’d often wondered over the last ten years if they regretted ever meeting me.

The kid had never caught me leaving food before. I’d wanted it to stay that way, like I was some kind of white-trash Santa Claus. And he should have been asleep—it had to be close to eleven. His gaze tracked down to the bag of food by the door. As he reached out to grab it, I spotted a few marks on his thin arm. Iknew those marks. Someone had grabbed him hard and tugged. I curled my hands into fists. I’d never seen bruises on him before, and if I had, I would’ve called the police. I didn’t want to care. I didn’t want to care at all. But I did. Fuck me. But I did.

I swallowed roughly. “Hey, kid.” I tried to peek around the cracked door, but the motel room was dark. I’d seen him with a woman I assumed was his mom before. The man who visited could be his dad, but I suspected he was just her boyfriend. “You alone?”

He hesitated a second too long, and I knew right then he was going to lie. “No.”

I relaxed somewhat. That was good. That was a good lie. He shouldn’t admit he was alone to a stranger. “Alright. Well, enjoy the food. I bought too much and I can’t eat it all by myself.” I rubbed my stomach and smiled.

He peered into the crinkled bag before reaching inside. I expected him to pull out the hot dog, but when his hand re-emerged, the frog keychain dangled from his thin fingers. He curled them around it and pressed the frog to his narrow chest. Then he gazed up at me with something a lot like hero worship.

I absolutely hated it.

I wasn’t a hero. I was far from it.

“Thank you,” he said softly. “I-I’m Jeremy.”

Why was he telling a stranger his name? “Close the door and lock it,” I ordered. He just stared at me. “Now,” I barked, and he jumped before disappearing into the room. The door closed. The lock clicked. The chain slid into place.

I exhaled slowly, wondering what I should do next. In a past life, I would have confronted his parents face-to-face, but I wasn’t that man anymore. I didn’t have the resources to make someone disappear just because they’d pissed me off. I’d have to think of something tomorrow.

Maybe I should talk to his mom? What the fuck would I even say if I did? I used to have people skills, but those people skills weren’t considered acceptable in regular society.

I’d been trying to avoid something like this, but I had to call the police and place an anonymous tip. I wasn’t even sure that would work. Despite my own father being a piece of shit, having someone call the authorities was a fear I’d lived with every day as a kid. As an adult, I often wondered why I’d been so scared of being taken away from him. Maybe it was because he’d been the devil I knew.

I stuck my hands in my pockets before walking up the corner staircase and making my way down the outdoor hallway to my room. This place was so old school they still used actual metal door keys, and I flipped mine between my fingers as I drew closer. I inserted it into the lock and pushed the door open, then turned to flip the light switch, but I never got that far. A fist slammed into my gut so hard that I crumpled immediately.

I couldn’t fight back effectively, not after getting caught off-guard in the dark. I tried lashing out, swinging my fists, but they were quickly caught and wrenched behind my back. There had to be two or three men here, though no one spoke. Not a word. No threats, just complete domination over my senses as my hands were tightly bound and a bag was thrown over my head. My body was suddenly lifted, hauled into the air, and I struggled and twisted while trying to dislodge their grip. But it was no use. Whoever had me obviously knew what the fuck they were doing.

We were out of my room now. The cool night air hit my exposed skin, and I could hear the booted footsteps of my abductors as they took me down what was likely the back stairs—out of view from the street, with only a dark, forested area as witness.

My body was tossed onto something hard, and I grunted as pain lanced through my hip. My hands rubbed along somethingrough, and what little moonlight had made it through the bag was quickly doused as a hatch slammed shut above me.

The rumbling of a car engine confirmed what I’d suspected: I was in a trunk, headed to an unknown destination. Sure, I was probably about to die, but at least I wasn’t bored.

TWO

Devlin

A door opened somewhere in front of me, and I could just make out a few vague shapes through the fabric still covering my head. The sound of boots followed. Heavy breathing. Three men, maybe four? More light spilled into the dimness of the room I’d been held in since my fun little car ride.

I didn’t know how long I’d been in that trunk. I’d fallen asleep for a while, or I’d lost consciousness. Maybe I’d just completely disassociated altogether. I couldn’t be sure. From the sound of the tires and the way the trunk rattled, we’d driven on highways and back roads before the crunch of gravel and uneven dirt took over. I’d been hauled out of the trunk, no one saying a word to me, and shoved down to sit on what felt like a cot.

My hands were still tied behind my back. There was some kind of chain attached to them now that rattled whenever I moved, and this stupid bag was still over my head. My coat was long gone, so I was left with only my jeans, a T-shirt, and boots. It had felt like hours since they’d left me in this room, or it couldhave been ten minutes. Time was a mystery here. But at least I finally had some company.

I just hoped they had a bullet with my name on it.