She smiled at him. “You’re welcome. I’ll clean up the dishes.”
Tom was intrigued by this young lady’s resourcefulness. She would make somebody a great wife some day.
He went outside and got into the Jeep. After he started it up, he noted the fuel gauge and realized that they would have to get gas soon. He wondered if the gas pumps would work without power, then answered his own question. Of course not-virtually everything needed electricity to work nowadays. He’d have to either siphon out some gas from another car or “Hold it right there!” a voice commanded.
Tom turned to see a gun staring him in the face. A man in his late twenties or early thirties was standing outside the Jeep poking a gun through the open door, glaring at him with malice.
“Who are you?” Tom said, his heart racing.
“Don’t you worry about who I am, motherfucker. You just need to worry about how you’re going to do as I say so I don’t pop you with this piece. Got it?”
Tom had never had a gun in his face before in his life. Nor had he ever been as scared as he was that moment.
“I got it.”
“Now, get out of the car, slowly. Don’t make one false move or I’ll blow you away. I may just blow you away for the fun of it if it moves me. Hell, who knows?”
“I’ll move slowly. Please, don’t shoot me!” Tom cried.
The man roared with laughter. “What a pussy! You sound like an old lady, you know it?”
Tom was not concerned with what this guy thought about him. All he wanted to do was stay alive.
“Turn it off. You’re not going anywhere,” he said as Tom started to get out.
Tom turned off the ignition and stepped out slowly from behind the wheel. The man backed away, keeping the gun pointed at his chest as Tom stood up.
“Now, let’s go see where my Erin girl is. I believe you shacked up with her last night in there, didn’t you? Did she give you a good blowjob? Or maybe she let you bang her from the rear-she really likes that.”
Tom, despite his fear, wanted to punch the bastard’s smug face. What in god’s name was this guy’s problem?
“She didn’t do anything but sleep here.”
“Right! And I’m the president of the United States!” the stranger laughed.
It was then that Tom realized this must be the infamous Kyle.
And he was even worse than Erin had described him.
Much worse.
“Come on, shithead, lead the way. Slowly. And don’t make a sound or I’ll waste you.”
Tom led the way to the door. He considered spinning around and trying to knock the gun out of Kyle’s hand, but knew that only worked in the movies. This was no movie and he was no James Bond.
Tom reached the door.
“Open it-slow and easy. Don’t try to be a hero.”
Tom opened the door and entered, Kyle following closely behind.
They went through the laundry room and into the kitchen. Erin was washing the dishes.
“Well looky there! It’s my little girl-whore playing housewife! How goddamn cozy!”
Erin dropped the plate and spun around, the look of shock, dread and terror on her face.
“ Kyle! What are you doing here?” she cried.
“Why, I’m coming to take what is mine, honey. And you know you’re mine, now don’t you?”
“God, Kyle-let Tom go! He doesn’t have anything to do with this!” Erin pleaded, staring past Tom toward his captor.
“What do you mean, ‘he doesn’t have anything to do with this?’ He has a lot to do with this! He took you in and banged you last night! Now that wasn’t a nice thing to do at all, taking another man’s woman and dissing me like that. No, I’m afraid that Mr. Tom here is gonna have to pay for that.”
“I told you-” Tom said.
“Shut your goddamn mouth! Or I’m gonna make it so you can’t ever talk again!”
“Kyle, please don’t hurt him! I’ll go with you-I’ll do anything you say! Just don’t hurt him!”
“Why, it sounds like you’ve really taken a liking to Tom here. You must have had a real good time screwing him last night. Jesus, girl-don’t you think he’s a little old for you? Not that that has ever stopped you before. But then, that’s a different situation altogether, now isn’t it?”
“Kyle, please don’t-”
Kyle laughed hideously. “I think I got a pretty good idea what’s going on here. I have a feeling that you haven’t quite told this guy everything about our special relationship, have you? I can tell by the look in your eyes.”
Erin started weeping. She convulsed so violently that Tom ran over to her side, forgetting the gun pointed at him.
Suddenly, the gun fired. The sound was so loud that Tom’s ears rang. He saw a hole in the shattered ceramic tile to the right of his sink.
“The next one is for you, asshole. Now go over and sit down at that table before I get tempted to quit wasting any more time on you.”
“Are you all right?” he said to Erin.
“Now, motherfucker!” Kyle roared.
“Go Tom!” Erin pleaded.
Tom went over to one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat down. He realized that he could be dead now and knew that he was going to have to cool it if he was going to have any chance of getting out of this alive.
“Now, Erin girl, I want you to sit down next to your friend. And if you cry like that one more time, I’m going to kill him. You know what I think about those crocodile tears, don’t you? And I’m not gonna put up with any of that bullshit, I can tell you that right now!”
“I won’t cry, Kyle. I promise.” Erin declared warily as she sat down beside Tom at the table.
“I know you won’t, you ho! Now, you two sit there while I figure out what I’m going to do. I’m so goddamn tired I can hardly think straight. And that’s your fault, you cheating slut! Keeping me out all night trying to find you after you sneaked out on me. I liked to never caught up to you, but luckily there weren’t exactly a helluva lot of tire tracks in the snow out on the roads.”
Kyle kept his gun trained on Tom as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. He pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay, popped off the cork and took a long swig.
“Jesus, I needed that! I don’t suppose you have any decent road food around here, do you old man? Some chips or peanuts-something like that?”
“There are some chips in the pantry.”
“That’s real hospitable of you,” he said. He went over to the pantry and rifled through the shelves, keeping a close eye on Tom. He took out a bag of potato chips, a box of Ritz crackers and a jar of salsa dip.
“This is a start. Well, I think we should be shoving off now, dear. We’ve got a long way to go. Kiss your old buddy here goodbye, but only on the cheek, now! I wouldn’t want you to get all excited and want to screw him again!”
“What are you going to do to him, Kyle?” Erin asked suspiciously.
“Not sure yet. Probably shoot him.”
“Kyle, you can’t! He hasn’t done anything wrong! Just take me and leave him here-”
“Quiet, bitch! We’ve already been through this. He has done plenty wrong and I am going to make him pay for it. Just not sure how much he owes me, but I’m thinking his miserable yuppie life ought to make us about even.”
“Kyle, if you kill him, you might as well kill me, too.”
Kyle feigned a chuckle. “What a laugh! That’s just about the funniest thing I’ve heard all day! But your supreme sacrifice isn’t going to do me any damn good at all, so you might as well forget that offer. I’m going to give you a break though, darling, just because I’m such a sweet guy and all. I’ll let your buddy live if he really means that much to you.”
“Thank-you Kyle! You won’t regret this!”
“You’re gonna owe me big time! You hear me?”
“Yes, I know. I will make it worth your while.”
“You bet your sweet ass, you will! Now, Mr. Yup-shit, maybe you can tell me where you keep your duct tape. And if you tell me you don’t have any, the deal’s off. I’ll just blow your head off.”
Tom thought for a moment. “I think there’s a roll in one of the cabinets in the laundry room.”