Nine Minutes (7 page)

Chapter Eleven

I don’t
know how long it was before I woke up, but when I did,
Grizz
and Grunt were standing at the foot of the bed talking.

     
“What the fuck do
you mean she was awake? She wasn’t supposed to know anything. Damn it, Grunt!”

     
“She didn’t drink
enough and wanted to go back to your room to go to sleep.”

     
“So she was awake
and felt it. You hurt her?”

     
“Fuck, I don’t
know,
Grizz
. She was starting to pass out. I don’t
know what she’ll remember, if anything.”
 

     
I stirred then
and realized I’d been covered. I could tell Grunt must have managed to get my
underwear back on me. They must have sensed I was awake because they both
stopped talking and looked at me at the same time.

     
“I hate you both,”
is all I said.

     
As I got myself
off the bed and reached for my jeans, I noticed Grunt wouldn’t make eye contact
with me.
Grizz
had no problem, though. With an
expression on his face that I couldn’t read, he said, “You’ll be okay,” and
left the room.

     
I wouldn’t look
at Grunt as I fidgeted with my jeans. I slipped my feet back into my sandals
and said “thanks for the drink” with as much sarcasm as I could muster. I left
the room. It was dark out. Exactly how long had I been in Grunt’s room? Well,
it didn’t matter now. I’m certain that was one room I would never be seeing
again.

     
I walked toward
number four and found myself pausing just as I was ready to open the door. What
if
Grizz
wanted me now? I wasn’t in pain, but I was
sore. I closed my eyes, took a breath and opened the door.

     
He was on the
phone when I went in. I saw
Gwinny
cuddled up in a
corner of the couch. I went to check her litter box, and since it didn’t need
cleaning, I went to the couch and picked her up.

     
Something
occurred to me. What if I smelled like Grunt? He wore some kind of cologne. I
thought he smelled good the few times I’d been around him. I needed to get a
shower, but the last thing I wanted to do was take my clothes off anywhere near
Grizz
. I would just have to do it quickly.

     
I made a dash for
the bedroom quickly shutting the door behind me. Once inside I stripped bare as
fast as I could and went into the bathroom and started the shower. When it was
warm enough I stepped in and started to wash myself. Just then the bathroom
door opened and the shower curtain was pulled aside. I tried to cover myself
with my hands. It was
Grizz
, and he just stared at
me.

     
As far as I know,
this was the first time he had seen me naked. What I saw in his eyes scared me
to death. It wasn’t a violent look like I remember seeing on Johnny Tillman’s
face. It was the look of a man that desired a woman.
Grizz
didn’t want to hurt me like Johnny, but it was obvious that he wanted me. I
just stared back at him.

     
“You sore?”

     
“Yes, very. It
hurt.”

     
“You remember
then? You were awake?”

     
“I remember a
little. I started falling asleep as it happened.”

     
That seemed to
satisfy him because he didn’t say anything else and left the bathroom. I
finished washing and dried off. I went out into the bedroom with a towel
wrapped around me and got some clothes out of the dresser. I started to walk
back toward the bathroom to change when he
said,
“You
change in front of me from now on. No need to be hiding anything.”

     
He was letting me
get dressed. So what if it was in front of him? I doubt he would be letting me
get dressed if he intended to have sex with me.

     
I slipped my
underwear up underneath the towel. Then I struggled to pull a nightshirt over
my head while trying to keep the towel up. It wasn’t easy. I was shaky. I don’t
know if it was nerves or the drug wearing off.
Probably a
combination of both.
I reluctantly dropped the towel, put on the
nightshirt as quickly as I could and went back into the bathroom to brush my
teeth and comb my wet hair.

     
When I came out I
noticed a small duffel bag on the bed. What was this? I could hear him talking
outside the bedroom. I thought I heard Blue’s voice. Just then,
Grizz
came back into the bedroom and picked up the duffel
bag.

     
“You have three
days to get over being sore. I’ll be back on Wednesday. Blue is in charge. I
told him Grunt could take you off the grounds. Same rules apply. You have any
notions of getting away from him just know that I will find you, Kit. Have no
doubt about that.”

     
I couldn’t
believe it. I was getting a reprieve from sex with him and I was going to be
allowed to leave the motel? This was the best thing to happen since he let me
keep
Gwinny
.

     
“Where are you
going?”

     
“Business.” he
said as he walked to the bedroom door.

     
He stopped and
turned around. He walked over to me and lifted my chin up to look in my eyes.
He didn’t say anything right away, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to say
something or maybe even kiss me.

     
“What I made
Grunt do was for the best. You are never to tell anyone what he did to you. You
hear me? And don’t forget Kit, you’re mine. Only mine. And I will have you when
I get back.”

     
With that he
kissed me lightly on the forehead, spun around and walked out the bedroom door.
As he approached the front door, he yelled back to me, “Don’t forget to feed my
dogs,” and then he was gone.

Chapter Twelve

I slept
like a baby that night. I’d had number four to myself before, but
Grizz
was always still nearby. Now I had three whole days
to myself. The next morning, I got up and pretty much played housewife. I
wouldn’t let myself think about the night before. I pretended I was in my own
little apartment as I did all the chores. I had started doing most of them anyway,
and I think
Chicky
and Moe appreciated it, but Willow
didn’t. Taking care of
Grizz
was the one thing she
liked to do, though I think she was feeling somewhat self-conscious after
losing that front tooth. She visited the pit regularly, but eventually stopped
coming by number four. I busied myself with dusting, sweeping, scrubbing the
bathroom. One of the units had a washer and dryer. I did some laundry. I even
cleaned out the refrigerator.

     
After an hour and
a half I was bored stiff. What was I going to do with myself? I knew
Grizz
said I could leave the grounds with Grunt, but I didn’t
know if I could face him. My feelings were so conflicted.

     
But the more I
thought about it, the madder I got. It occurred to me that maybe the only
reason
Grizz
said I could leave with Grunt was
because he didn’t think I would. After all, I’d told them both I hated them
when I woke up. That was it.
Grizz
was certain my
hatred wouldn’t let me take him up on the offer to leave. Well, I would show
him.

     
I certainly wasn’t
happy with Grunt. I mean, let’s face it. Was I supposed to thank him for “raping
me nicely”? It sounded ludicrous. But my boredom and restlessness won out over anger
and pride, and I found myself knocking on his door by ten o’clock that morning.

     
He answered
wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. I was speechless. I don’t know what I
expected, but it wasn’t Grunt wearing only his jeans. I had never seen him with
his shirt off before, and I guess I expected a skinny kid body. He wasn’t big,
but he wasn’t skinny by any means. He was toned and had a taut stomach that
showed his abs. His arms were not as gigantic as
Grizz’s
,
but they were definitely muscular.

     
I hadn’t given
much notice to Grunt’s looks before, but as I stared I realized he was really a
good-looking guy. He was about five foot nine inches tall. I’d say he weighed
around a hundred and seventy pounds. He had dark hair and brown eyes that had
green flecks. He had a tall forehead like me, which had always been my reason
for wearing bangs, but on him, it was nice. For the first time, I noticed two
small silver hoop earrings in his left ear. I was certain he’d never worn them
before.
Grizz
had an earring, too. I’d seen guys with
earrings at Woodstock, but in the seventies it still wasn’t that common.
Especially two.

     
But what caught
my attention the most, though, was his tattoo. Grunt’s arms and neck weren’t
covered in tattoos like everybody else’s—even the women. Grunt had one
tattoo. It was of a huge bird, its head facing down the side of his right arm,
not quite reaching his elbow. Its wings were fanned out down the inside of his
arm and across his chest. They were massive and covered most of his chest in a
sweeping arrangement. Right below the bird’s wing was a serious scar; I
wondered if it was from his childhood abuse.

     
He didn’t say
anything to me, just turned and walked back into the room. I followed and
couldn’t help but notice the tattoo continued onto his back. It was like this
bird had its wings wrapped around him. It was beautiful.

     
“Wow. Your tattoo
is really nice,” I managed to say. He didn’t answer me but walked over to his
stereo and turned it off. I hadn’t noticed anything was even playing. I had
been so distracted by his body and tattoo.

     
He looked at me
then. “You okay?”

     
“Yeah, I’m fine I
guess.” Before he could say anything else, I added, “
Grizz
said you could take me out.
Off the motel grounds.
Did
you know that?”

     
“Blue told me.”

     
“Will you? Will
you take me out somewhere? Anywhere?”

     
“I don’t know. It
could turn bad. Probably not a good idea.”

     
“Look, I thought
we were friends. I thought we made a connection.”

     
He raised an
eyebrow at this. “Thought you hated me.”

     
“I thought I did
too when I woke up. Look at it from my standpoint, Grunt. I woke up and you and
Grizz
were standing there. I knew you must have
dressed me and covered me up. It was humiliating. But can’t we just forget it
and move on? I’m dying to do something. Anything. Please?”

     
He smiled then
and said to give him ten minutes to shower and change. He told me I could look
through his albums and put on whatever I wanted.

     
Grunt had a ton
of albums, and I settled on something from Fleetwood Mac. I sat on the edge of
the bed and started to look around the room. The first time I was there I was
fascinated by the bookshelf and didn’t pay much attention to anything else. Now
my eye caught a stack of mail on his nightstand. Mail? He gets mail here?

     
 
I could still hear the shower running so
I went and picked up the letters. They were all addressed to Michael Freeman.
Michael Freeman? That’s his name? I could have sworn I heard a different name
when I was losing consciousness. I noticed they all were from different
educational institutions and addressed to a post office box in Davie. Davie
wasn’t really developed back then. It was more like a little country town for
people who loved horses. It was as rural as you were going to get in South
Florida and was just east of where I was now. So Davie had a post office and
that’s where he got his mail. My mind filed away the information. Interesting.

     
I didn’t realize
the shower had turned off. I didn’t even hear him open the bathroom door and
come out. When I realized he was watching me, I jumped and laid the mail back
on his nightstand.

     
“Your real name
is Michael Freeman? I thought you said it was—”

     
“It’s not Michael
Freeman,” he said quickly, cutting me off. “It’s an alias, Kit. I needed to
have an alias to be able to still exist. I couldn’t use my real name because,
well, you know we don’t use real names here, but also because I’m the kid who’s
been missing for six years. Probably presumed kidnapped and murdered by the
person who killed my family.”

     
“Why do you need
an alias, anyway?”

     
“Well, I could
hardly apply for college with the name Grunt, could I?”

     
“College? You’re
applying to college? How are you going to do that?”

     
“After I became
Michael Freeman, I finished high school through a correspondence course.”

     
“How could you
finish high school? What are you, in tenth or eleventh grade, maybe?”

     
“Well, I should
be in eleventh grade, but I’m not. I’m a junior at Cole University.”

     
“Are you kidding
me? You’re
in
college?
You already go to college?”
    

     
“Yes, I go to
college and yes, I’m young for that, but I’ve always been pretty smart and I
want to make something of myself.”

     
“How can you be
that smart? You told me what your childhood was like. How did you live like
that and still flourish?”

     
Again, the raised eyebrow.
He walked over and picked up the
stack of letters and pulled one out. He opened it and handed me one single
page. I’m certain my mouth dropped open as I read what was neatly typed. It was
from a testing facility, congratulating Michael Freeman on his IQ test scores.

     
Apparently, my
new buddy Grunt was a real honest-to-God genius.