Nolan by Lane Hart, D.B. West

Chapter Sixteen

Rita

Packing up the apartment that I’ve lived in for eleven years, the first place I found and could afford after both of our parents died in a house fire is bittersweet. Back then, Cory was only a rough and rowdy ten-year-old, and I had just recently graduated from high school. What little money our parents had in their checking account that would’ve paid for my first semester at college was suddenly needed to survive.

There have been some good memories here, but mostly it’s just been lonely the last three years while my brother has been at college, doing what I never got a chance to do – live carefree with no one but himself to worry about.

If I had been able to get a bachelor’s, even a two-year associate degree from a community college, well, then maybe I wouldn’t be working myself to death at two shit-paying jobs.

Except, I’m not just leaving my apartment behind but my dead-end employment. I’ll have to start all over, finding a job in Myrtle Beach or another city. It’s a big tourist beach town most of the year, so there are probably better options there anyway.

The only thing holding me here was the lack of means to up and move. I’ve never had the spare cash to pay for the first month’s rent, last month’s, and security deposit at a new apartment.

I’m also thirty years old and hate change. But I think this is going to be a good one. It can’t be any worse, can it? Nolan said I’ll have a new name so I can start over somewhere new. I could go anywhere, but I should probably get as far away from Leroy and the Rebel Henchman as possible, so maybe I’ll go to the west coast or to Florida to be closer to Cory…

“That everything?” Nolan asks when he comes over and take the box of beauty products and shower supplies from me.

“That’s it. Your friends work fast,” I tell him as I glance back at the apartment one last time.

“You going to mail the apartment manager the keys?” he asks.

“Nah, I’ll go ahead and just drop them off in the rent deposit box. I’ll be right back,” I tell him as I start to the clubhouse in front of the pool. There’s a gym inside, but I never had the time to enjoy any of the amenities. Cory did, though. Once he hit his teens, he would invite his friends over to swim in the summer, and he worked out several times a week.

It wasn’t a normal life for such a young boy. I know I left him alone more than I should have while I worked, which is why he sometimes got into trouble. He just missed our parents and couldn’t stand being bored or alone for even a minute, because that’s when the memories would creep back up. I know from experience. It’s part of the reason why I was glad to have a day and night job so that there wasn’t much time to think about anything other than what I was being paid to do.

The keys drop down into the slot with a soft clang. I’ll have to call the office tomorrow and tell them I had to move on short notice, letting them decide if they want to leave the furniture for the next tenant or throw it all away.

For someone like me, young and broke, the bedroom sets and everything else would probably be a godsend even though it’s well used. The first beds I could afford for Cory and myself came from one of the rent-to-own stores that charged me a fortune. That was just one of many lessons to learn as an adult.

I was still living at home with my parents when everything went up in flames. Cory and I didn’t have anything except a few bags of clothes and toiletries from the Red Cross. They put us up in a hotel for a week, and then we were on our own.

Since the fire was determined to be an arson, and there were no suspects so my parents couldn’t be ruled out as the ones who set it, the insurance company wouldn’t pay out. Why would my parents intentionally burn themselves up in their own home?

It was just luck that I was out with my friends, living it up before we went our separate ways to college and Cory was staying over at the neighbors when it happened that Saturday night.

“You okay?” Nolan asks when I return to the packed and loaded van.

“I’ve survived worse than Leroy,” I tell him.

“I know you have,” he replies, looking at me with pity on his handsome face. I’m not sure why it’s so surprising that he remembers not only where I lived but the layout of the apartment and the tragedy of losing my parents so young.

For a man who just up and left me one day, I thought I didn’t mean anything to him, that our time together was just him looking for a bed to crash in for a few weeks. So why would he even bother to remember any of the details about my life?

“The safe house is about two hours away. You need anything to eat or drink for the drive?” he asks.

“I’m fine,” I tell him. He nods and then walks around the van.

Mixed with the worry of starting over is some excitement, but the two emotions combine to make me feel mostly nauseous. Or maybe it’s putting my trust in a man who hurt me in the past that’s scaring me.

“Nolan,” I call after him, following him to the driver side of the van.

“Yeah?” he asks as he turns toward me, the van keys in his hand.

“How do I know you won’t up and leave me once we get to wherever we’re going?” I ask him.

“Why would I go to all this trouble if I was going to fuck you over?” he asks, which doesn’t answer my question.

“I don’t know. Why did you fuck me over before?”

“I’ve never fucked you over, and I never will!” he says.

“Yes, you did!” I reply through clenched teeth.

He stares at me silently for several long moments in the dimly lit parking lot, and then he scratches his bristly chin in thought before softly muttering, “Holy shit,” as if he’s had some sort of epiphany.

“What?” I ask, my hands on my hips.

“Cory never told you what happened?”

“Cory? What does my brother have to do with anything?”

“What does he have to do with this? Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously!”

“He has every fucking thing to do with it!” Nolan exclaims so loudly he probably woke some of my neighbors.

“Then please elaborate since I have no clue what you’re referring to,” I tell him just as a flash of headlights comes down the road.

“Not now,” Nolan grumbles under his breath. “Get in the van. We’ll finish this conversation at the safe house.”

“Fine,” I huff. Going around the back of the van, I climb into the passenger seat and fasten my seat belt. Then, neither of us say a word for the next two hours. Nolan looks furious, like he might explode.

Apparently, the prospects in the back even notice, because they don’t make a peep either. I don’t even hear a single sigh or breath, like they’re afraid to anger the beast driving the van.

Whatever is going on is big. And I can’t wait to finally get some answers after five years. I should’ve demanded them the day Nolan showed up at the grocery store, but I was in a hurry and too stunned to see him that I could barely form a thought in my head.

Tonight, though, I’m not going to sleep until he tells me everything I want to know.