3:04 p.m.

 

Day Two

 

Archer had picked her up and carried her to a ditch that ran alongside the warehouse. Such a romantic. He sat her down and told her to stay there, out of the way. Then he'd gone back and found Malcolm. The other guy was still unconscious, but he wasn't on fire anymore, and he was breathing. Archer shoved him into the ditch, then he sat down next to her.

“Just give me a minute,” he moaned, rubbing at his arm. He'd torn off the bottom part of his t-shirt and had wrapped it around the bullet wound in his bicep.

“What … the fuck ...” Jo breathed, staring up at the sky. It was a clear day in California, only marred by the ugly black smoke that was curling into the air.

“We only have a couple minutes,” Archer said, and when she glanced at him she saw that he was staring up, as well. “The fire department will be coming. The police. It's better if we're not here.”

“They'll find my car,” she said.

“Don't worry about it.”

“And Krakow's body. And my car. In a burning warehouse. My car. All this running around, and for nothing. I'm going to get arrested anyway,” she laughed.

“No, you're not. Don't worry about it.”

She looked over at him again.

“Care to explain?” she asked. He put his hands behind his head and kept staring up.

“Remember how I said there are crooked cops?” he asked. She processed that for a moment, then laughed again.

“Your dad owns the cops,” she filled in.

“Well, not all of them, but enough of them,” he assured her.

They were silent for a long time. At some point, a few cars pulled into the lot behind them. Archer peeked over the edge of the ditch, then laid back down.

“My dad,” he said. “Some of his men. They'll find us in a second.”

“You lied to me for almost the whole time we've known each other,” she blurted out in response. He sighed.

“Not the whole time.”

“Okay. You lied to me the whole time we were actually friends,” she corrected herself.

“I did. And I regret it more than anything I've ever done,” he told her. She raised her eyebrows.

“More than selling coke?”

“Yup.”

“More than killing Krakow?”

“Totally.”

“That's good,” she said, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “But not good enough.”

“For what?”

“For me to forgive you.”

“Are you serious? Jojo, I don't know if you were paying attention back there, but I just saved your life.”

“Um, I'm the one who got loose and started a fire,” she pointed out.

“I drove a car through a building! I got shot, for fuck's sake!” he argued, sitting up as well.

“All of which wouldn't have happened, if you'd just been honest from the beginning,” she snapped.

“Oh, for the love of … alright, fine! Fine. Then what will it take for you to forgive me!?” he demanded, glaring down at her.

Jo thought for a second, then she snapped her hand out and whacked him in the throat. He let out a surprised yelp, then pressed a hand to the wound, coughing and gagging.

“Are you shitting me!?” he hacked out.

“There, now I forgive you.”

Before he could bitch some more, she leaned in fast and kissed him. They toppled over, Jo landing on top of him. He only hesitated a moment before kissing her back, forgetting all about his injured throat.

“When I thought he was going to shoot you,” she breathed between kisses. “I couldn't … I can't imagine my life without you, Archer.”

“When he took you, I thought I was going to explode. Die. I just wanted to die,” he whispered, his lips wandering along her jawline.

“I was so scared. I can't … I don't know if I can handle this life,” she warned him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

“You don't have to. Tell me what you want, and I'll do it for you,” he said, hugging her close.

“Anything?”

“Name it. Want me to walk away from it all? I will. Want me to move to a new town and change my name? I will. Anything for you,” he sighed into her neck.

She thought for a long time. Then she gently pushed him away and she sat up.

“I want you to answer a question,” she finally replied.

“Okay,” he said, sounding nervous.

“Why in god's name did you hide Krakow in my trunk!?” she demanded. “I mean, wouldn't it have made more sense to stash him somewhere? Or steal a different car and put him in it? Literally anything else!?”

He surprised her by starting to laugh.

“All great ideas. And I would have done something else. I had even taken out my phone so I could call Mal, thinking he would help me hide the body without telling my dad,” he told her.

“So what happened? What led to Krakow being in my car?”

“You happened.”

“I ...” she was thrown for a loop. “Wait, what?”

“You popped up behind me, scared the shit out of me. I was standing there, my phone in one hand, Bernard Krakow dead at my feet, and you were just staring at me. At first I thought 'shit, this is it. She's never going to speak to me again', and I just stared back at you,” he said. Jo thought for a moment, remembering what the bouncer from the nightclub had said. Remembered her friends teasing her.

“And then …?” she prompted him, almost not wanting to hear it.

“And suddenly you were all over me. Practically jumped on me and sucked my tongue out of my mouth. You shoved your hand down my pants and rational thoughts stopped existing. I'd spent the last five years dreaming about you touching me. My brain short circuited and all I could think about was laying you out on the hood of your car and fucking your brains out.”

“Classy.”

“You were the one dry humping my leg. I managed to wrestle you into the back seat and you started taking your clothes off. It was insane. So I just turned around, grabbed the body, and threw it into the trunk.”

“I'm gonna be sick.”

“You asked. When I got back in the car, though, you were passed out cold. I couldn't just leave you there while I disposed of a body. So I drove us home and figured I could call my brother once we were there. But you woke up as I was parking and you were all over me again. What can I say? I thought I was gonna get laid by the girl I'd been in love with forever – nothing is as important as that, I don't care what anyone says. We got back to your apartment and you were pulling down my zipper with your teeth. How did you learn how to do that?”

“Your mom taught me.”

“Well, I'm scarred for life now because before you got it all the way down, you leaned to the side and puked all over my leg. I dragged you into the bathroom and held your hair back for the next hour. Then I left you hugging the toilet so I could clean up the mess. I was a little drunk and so fucking tired. Adrenaline crash. I went home to change out of my puked on clothes, but wound up crashing out on my couch. Next thing I knew, you were banging on my door.”

She took a deep breath.

“That is … without a doubt … the stupidest fucking story I have ever heard,” she told him.

“I know, right?”

“You left a dead body in my trunk because you thought you were going to get laid?”

“Pretty much.”

“You're a horrible, horrible person.”

“Yeah, kinda.”

She paused for a second.

“And you said you're in love with me,” she pointed out. He swallowed thickly and nodded.

“I did. You said it, too,” he reminded her. She nodded, as well.

“I must be in love with you. Completely, stupidly, suicidally in love,” she replied, struggling to keep from crying.

“You think?” he asked, brushing his thumb down the side of her cheek. She laughed and nodded again, causing one tear to escape.

“Yeah. How else could you explain me putting up with this horrible fucking weekend? Any other girl would dump your ass,” she told him.

“Can't dump me if we're not technically dating.”

“Oh, technically, huh. Then I guess I can technically go out with the hot maintenance guy from our building.”

Archer gripped her by the back of her neck and pulled her close again.

“Careful, or you'll wake up to another dead body in your trunk,” he warned her, his lips brushing against hers.

“Too soon, Archer.”

“Just giving a fair warning. Can I kiss you again?”

“Too soon, Arch-”

His tongue silenced her, and she didn't mind one little bit.