But when I looked back at Owain, I saw my future, and I wasn’t sure if I liked it.
5
Owain
I grimaced as Dr. Chen reset my nose. It hurt like hell and made my eyes water. He adjusted it slightly then nodded to himself.
“You’ll have some bruising, but it’s not too bad.” He took off his rubber gloves. “How’d you do it this time? Get into another fight?”
“Something like that.”
Dr. Chen shook his head and ran a hand through his graying hair. He looked more and more tired every time I saw him, but really he was probably tired of my shit. He sat on the coffee table in my living room and had his bag open beside him.
“You won’t need any more bandaging. Just be careful for a few weeks.”
“How about swelling and bruising?”
“Should be pretty minor. Like I said, you were lucky. Broke in the same spot you broke it a couple months ago.”
“Guess I need to stop pissing people off.”
That almost got a smile from him. Almost, not quite.
He cleaned up his medical gear and stood. His shirtsleeves were rolled above his elbow and he wore slim dark trousers.
“I’ll take a check,” he said.
I laughed, got up, and found my checkbook. “Not a lot of gangsters put cash in the bank, doc.”
“I know. But you do.”
“Guess I’m old fashioned like that.”
“Guess so.”
I wrote the check and handed it over. He slipped it into his back pocket.
“It was a pleasure.”
“I’m sure.” He walked to the door. “You know my number. Call if you need me again.”
He left and shut the door behind him.
I stood alone in my living room and breathed in through my nose. It felt a little stuffy from the swelling, but all in all, the doc was right, it wasn’t so bad.
Clean break. Nice and neat.
I smiled to myself. I didn’t think Leigh had it in her. She was right to try and kill me, that really was the only way out of this mess, at least other than working for me. All her other options must’ve seemed pretty fucking bad for her to actually try it.
But she only went half way. I keep thinking of those long, orange-handled scissors and their sharp blades. There were probably a bunch of other weapons in that plate that would’ve worked better than a shelving unit rod.
Maybe, deep down, she liked me.
Or maybe she didn’t know how to properly kill a man.
I cooked dinner and set it down on a tray. I carried it upstairs to her room, unbolted the door, and knocked twice.
“Come in.”
I opened the door. She was sitting in bed, knees drawn to her chest. “This a bad time?”
She gave me a look. “How’s the nose?”
“It’s better.” I scrunched it up. “Doc fixed me.”
“You look good.”
“I bet I do.” I walked over and place the tray down at the foot of the bed. “Chicken breast pounded flat, breaded, and baked, steamed broccoli, and some roasted potatoes. Not fancy, but good enough.”
“Do all mafia guys cook?”
“Pretty much, yeah, they do.”
She almost cracked a smile. I liked it when she was withholding, as fucked up as that was.
“So how’s this going to work? Are you going to keep me locked up in this room all the time?”
“I thought we’d talk about that, actually.”
She came closer and pulled the tray toward her. I saw hunger in her eyes, but she hesitated for a second, then dug in. She probably figured it wouldn’t make any sense for me to poison her, and that was right. I needed her too much to hurt her, and anyway, I wasn’t the poison type.
When I killed someone, I did it with my hands.
“Well?” she asked.
I smiled as she took a few more bites of chicken and seemed to actually enjoy herself.
“We should establish ground rules. I don’t want to leave you locked up in your room all the time, but I also need to be able to trust you.”
“Okay. I understand that.”
“First rule is, you never leave the house without my permission. You don’t step foot outside, you don’t even think about the outside world. From now on, I’m the gatekeeper.”
“Fine.” She ate some broccoli. “What else?”
“No phones. No internet. No email.”
“Seriously? How am I supposed to live without that stuff?”
“You’ll survive.”
“What about my friends? My family?”
“Call your mother and tell her you’re going out of town for a while.”
“And friends?”
“Post it on Facebook if you have to.”
She waved her fork at me. “They come into the shop sometimes.”
“Then think up a better lie.”
She let out a breath and kept eating. “Alright, fine. No communication with the outside world. No leaving the house. What else, warden?”
“I prefer boss, but I’ll accept warden.”
She finished eating and put her fork down. It took her less than five minutes to shovel it in and I realized she must’ve been starving.
“How long do you think this can last before someone comes looking for me?”
“As long as it has to.”
She shook her head. “You haven’t thought it all through, have you?”
“Don’t worry about that.” I moved closer to her. “Last rule is, you do as I say. If you do your job, keep your head down, and don’t make trouble, you’ll walk away from this with a lot of money. But if you make trouble, you’ll get trouble. Do you understand?”
“Sure, I understand. I make your life hard, you make my life hard.”
“Exactly. It’s a give and take. We’re in a partnership, see?”
“Less like a partnership and more like a dictatorship.”
I laughed and stood. “I like that. I can be your dictator and you’re my little subject.”
She crossed her arms. “Are you going to let me leave the room now?”
“If you want to.”
We stood in silence. I watched her closely. I wanted to see how she’d react, and I smiled when she finally looked away.
“I’ll stay in here.”
“Your choice. I’ll be downstairs if you want to come join me.”
Her face contorted into something confusing and angry. I repressed a smile and drifted over to the door.
“Wait,” she said. “Can I get… a TV for in here?”
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. What a simple, absurd request, but I wanted her to feel like she was at home.
I needed to make her feel comfortable and happy. The happier she was, the less likely she’d be to do something stupid and frustrating.
“If you want a TV, I’ll get you one.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
“But one more thing. Some of my guys are going to start working at the shop. They’ll show up when I send them. Don’t expect them to do anything to help the business, and they will need free run of the back.”
Anger flashed over her face. “So I’m just supposed to let your goons do whatever they want in my store?”