. . My Trialâ at me like Iâd pissed him off. Since my choices seemed to be that or static, I let him yell at me while I drove.
And drove.
I knowed something was wrong after missing the exit that I usually take to get home. When I say I missed it, I donât mean Iâd passed it. I knowed I hadnât. What I mean is that it wasnât where I knowed it was supposed to be. Iâd half convinced myself that I must have fell asleep at the wheel and passed right by the son of a bitch until I caught sight of a little glimmer on the horizon. Figuring it might be a gas station or a sheriffâs depot where I could catch my bearings and figure out where Iâd made my mistake, I made up my mind to pull over when I reached it.
And the nearer I got to it, the more convinced I grew that olâ Nick was ridinâ with me, and that Iâd indeed made my way onto his shit list for reasons as yet unknown to me.
I was coming up on the Paradise Pub.
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âYou canât tell me you ainât curious,â Carter told me, seating himself beside me once Iâd come back inside. On the TV, photographs of people whoâd died in some drunk driving accident flickered. Their vacant eyes set me trembling. A nice-looking black couple, a mildly overweight but gorgeous Latina, and her brother. None of them had survived.
âI canât tell you nothing if you done already made up your mind that you ainât listening,â came my reply.
âIt wonât let you leave, Lou. Remember those stories about a curse on the land that we always thought was bullshit? Well, I think itâs time we wrap our brains around the fact that they ainât.â
I ordered up a cup of black coffee, prompting Browder to eye me for a curiosity before going to get it. The coffee machine sat at the other end of the bar near Zadoraâs stool. Overhead, coverage of the car accident continued to unfold.
âLooks like the place will be seeing some new faces soon enough,â she told Browder, tipping her chin at the screen in a gesture that I didnât understand, but would soon come to. He said something in reply that I couldnât hear because Carter spoke to me at the same moment.
âIâll let you kill me if you want, Lou. Iâll sit still for it one time. You gotta experience it.â
âGet the fuck out of here,â I spat, succeeding only in making him laugh till his eyes watered.
âI wish I could, man. Goddamn if I donât,â he said.
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âI canât believe youâre fucking serious,â Carter told me the next night, climbing into the passenger seat with me. I couldnât believe he was actually coming along. Donât know what had made me invite him anyway. He seemed all too content here.
âOh, Iâm heart-attack serious,â I told him, firing up my carâs engine. âWe are shaking this fucking mob scene tonight.â
I turned the car onto 7734, heading opposite the direction Iâd traveled in some nights ago. If I couldnât find my way home, then Iâd get us back to Route 2 and consider my options once we got there.
âYou think we can just motor out of hell like a couple of bored tourists? Donât you understand that weâre home ? Weâre home, Lou.â
Not five minutes on the road and he was getting on my nerves already. âIf you buy that, then what the fuck did you say yes for when I invited you?â
âI came along so I could prove to your ignorant ass that the reason we canât leave is that weâre right where we belong,â he told me. âNow stop the car.â
The muzzle of his Diamondback kissed the side of my throat.
âI ainât gonâ ask you but one time,â he said, leaning on the gun, making its presence painful against my neck.
I was sick of a lot of things in that moment, but mostly of him. âFuck you and that gun. You claim