Wild Horses (40 page)

Captivated by the outpouring of energy, Attila shook his head.

“I was trying to live up to you.
Up
to you! I should have gone back down into the gutter instead. Fuck!” A quick fist flew past Attila’s startled face, hitting the brick by his ear. He heard a hiss of pain, but it was laced with satisfaction.

Kai hit the brick again, and again.

“No, don’t!” Attila’s hands caught Kai’s wrist. Attila heard the impact of Kai’s fist, and for a moment he, too, wished for the satisfying distraction of rough brick against his skin.

“Please don’t do this, Kai.” He pulled Kai’s battered fist to his chest and looked down at the red, torn skin. Crimson blood had only begun to well up through the minute lacerations. Attila raised the wounded knuckles and brushed a dry kiss over them.

“You fuckin’ fraud!” Kai howled as he launched his forehead against the unyielding brick in a violent head butt. He winced and stopped, staring at Attila’s wide, alarmed eyes. Then his knees wobbled, and Kai folded his tall form to the ground, sitting on the sidewalk.

Attila knelt with him, unwilling to relinquish his injured hand.

“Fuck, that hurt.” Kai rubbed his neck with his other hand. He stayed silent for a bit, and Attila saw his opportunity to speak up and be heard.

“I have never lied to you and I never will,” he stated, his voice heavy with pain. “I have never pretended to be anyone or anything that I am not.”

K
AI
turned his head, hissing with pain at the headache that beset him. “You didn’t?”

“That is correct.”

Kai shook his head in disbelief. The action sent sparks of agony through his head. Between that, and the fact that Attila’s face began to melt into a distorted shape, Kai blanched and pitched forward, his stomach heaving.

“You injured yourself,” Attila whispered. “Let’s take you to the truck. You can rest there.”

“I’ll stay,” Kai gasped.

“Are you giving up on Hal and Lindsey? This situation does not revolve around you and your fine sensibilities, Kai Alewright.” There was stern disapproval in Attila’s voice, and as much as Kai wanted to ignore it, he cringed within. “It would do you well to recall that I, too, never wanted to come back here. I also started anew and tried to leave this world—this lifestyle—behind. At least my old reputation proved convenient, but that doesn’t mean I like having one.”

Kai lifted his eyes up. “I… I can’t move.”

Attila stood and extended his hand to Kai.

Kai let Attila pull him to his feet, only to fall down again. The wobbly feeling was back, and Kai giggled. “I can’t feel my feet!” He tried to get up again, using the brick wall to support himself. He tried to take a step. As he rocked to and fro, unaccustomed to his sudden lack of balance, the heavy warmth of Attila’s arm steadied his waist. Kai teetered while searching for that stable, centered feeling that used to come to him with such ease. The difference between their heights made it natural for Kai to drape his injured hand over Attila’s shoulder just as Attila pulled Kai in a bit tighter.

He expected Attila’s touch to feel sleazy, contaminated. It felt only good, though, and Kai wished he had made at least a token gesture of resistance before Attila snugged their hips together, lending him much-needed support.

“I’m not feelin’ so good,” Kai slurred.

“I think you’ve been drugged,” Attila said. His voice sounded matter of fact. “I need you to stay awake, Kai. I need you to keep walking. The truck is just down the street.”

A
TTILA
surveyed their location from behind the wheel of his truck. The anger that simmered under his cool exterior would have to wait. It was obvious that Larry had slipped something into Kai’s drink. Attila had a hazy memory of nefarious drugs from his old clubbing days when he had researched what to avoid. He vaguely recalled that roofies were hard to get nowadays and Xanax wasn’t as soluble, but GHB seemed to be the new rape drug. That, accelerated by a bit of alcohol, would explain not only Kai’s current lack of control over his faculties, but his earlier lack of emotional stability as well. Attila hit the wheel with his fist and swallowed a curse. If Larry had no qualms drugging Kai as soon as Lindsey’s picture came up, Lindsey might have been drugged as well. He thought back to his untouched strawberry daiquiri and wondered whether he would have drunk some, if the atmosphere at the bar were a bit less tense. He pushed the thought aside. If Larry had drugged his drink, he would have disposed of it by now and there was no sense going back for it. Instead, his thoughts returned to Lindsey. Looking for her was imperative—as soon as Attila saw to the immediate return of Kai to safety.

He parked in front of Espresso a Mano on Butler Street, left both the whip and Kai in the car, and walked in. The coffee shop was new to Attila, but even though he noted its sleek simplicity, he had no time to enjoy it. He spotted his nephew sitting with his back to the brick wall, nursing a coffee drink and tapping his fingers on the polished wood table.

“Uncle ’Tila, where the hell were you? Where is Kai?” Hal did not bother to hide his irritation.

“Kai’s in the truck. We found a lead on Lindsey, but Kai has been drugged,” Attila said. He looked around. Two rows of tables were full, occupied by patrons and their laptops. “He needs to sleep it off. Maybe some coffee would help, too.”

“Should you take him to the hospital?” Hal’s question came out with a measure of hesitation, and Attila could well imagine why.

“We need to make a choice, Hal. If Kai was drugged by the bartender, it’s likely that Lindsey might have been as well. I don’t like the people involved. That place, Frankie’s, it has changed since I’d been there last.” Attila frowned. “I have a bad feeling, and I don’t like it.”

“So we’re choosing between Lindsey and Kai,” Hal said. “Is he coming with us? Do you think we could just keep an eye on him?”

“Let me get some coffee to go, Hal. The truck is outside.”

Hal quickly finished what was left of his coffee and rushed out the door while Attila got a small coffee for himself and a large, extra-caffeine brew for Kai. “And would you drop an ice cube in there?” he requested.

The barista gave him an assessing look, and nodded.

Attila slid behind the wheel and made a left off Butler, then three right turns to get back on it so that he could park right by the flower shop on the corner. He navigated the narrow back alley that was intended for local traffic only. Hal’s voice broke the silence as he eyed the red egg on Kai’s forehead and the bleeding knuckles of Kai’s right hand.

“He looks like shit, Uncle ’Tila.” Hal looked pretty distracted by all this. “How ’bout you just take Kai home? If you’re in no shape to focus on finding her, I’ll take care of it myself.”

“He ain’t who he thinks he is,” Kai slurred from the back of the truck.

Attila ignored him and turned to Hal instead. “It seems we got the information we need.”

“No way,” Hal said on a low exhale, visibly impressed and not a little jealous. “You guys get to have all the fun. I canvassed all the stores in this neighborhood and got bupkus. Nobody had seen Lindsey here, but there is this guy that wants to talk to you, Uncle ’Tila.”

Attila suppressed a tortured sigh. “Theodore. Right?”

“Yeah—how did you know?” Even Hal’s surprise lacked requisite shock value.

“I used to date him.” Attila paused, organizing his thoughts. Theodore had turned from a liability into an asset, and he didn’t know how to feel about that and he didn’t have the time to figure it out. “First, we need to ask Theodore about the warehouse. His information is likely to be newer than ours, seeing as he lives nearby. Then we can decide on what to do.”

“Ye look kinda funny,” Kai said. “I jus’ need t’ take a nap.”

“Was he in a fight?”

“Sort of,” Attila prevaricated. “All in the line of duty.”

“He was saying stuff, but it wasn’t making any sense.”

Attila only sighed. “I am sure it wasn’t.” He parked illegally on the corner.

The Stamens looked like an old-fashioned flower shop trying for a new, ritzy look, and its door was on the corner of the building. Its old mosaic floor was still intact within the sheltered entryway of the corner store, but the contemporary sign was executed in backlit plastic letters and attached to the brick itself. It said “The Stamens.” Had it not said “Florist” underneath, the name of the establishment could have belonged to a bar, or perhaps a tax preparer’s office.

“Kai, wake up. Kai!” Kai seemed dead to the world and Attila’s words and shaking had absolutely no effect. “We need to get him inside.” They both took one of Kai’s arms, draped it over their shoulders, and dragged him inside the flower shop like a sack of potatoes.

T
HE
flower shop’s doorbell sounded different than the bell at Frankie’s. He still could not feel his limbs, nor could he open his eyes, but he could hear. He was being dragged, and the sense of motion got him nauseous. He tried to regain the faculty of speech and control his limbs, with no visible results. Most of all, he didn’t want to slip under and pass out. His thoughts were hazy and indistinct, but even so, he thought of Lindsey and was possessed by a flickering little flame of urgency.

The movement stopped. He thought he was hanging off a curtain rod by his shoulders, and tried to get his feet to cooperate once again.

A
TTILA
straightened under Kai’s weight, attached both to him and to Hal. He looked around the empty shop.

“Welcome to The Stamens! How may I help you?” A tall, dark-haired guy with shoulder-length hair and a well-maintained goatee emerged from behind a plant stand. He wore a black shirt and chinos under a green florist’s apron and carried a watering can. His name tag said “Rickey.”

“Hello…. I was wondering if Theodore is around?”

Hazel eyes lit up in recognition. “You’re his ex, right? He’s out back. Let me go get him.”

Attila looked around while they waited. There were two coolers of prepared floral arrangements and cut bouquets, several tables and stands of potted plants, and a desk with bridal catalogues in a corner display of the shop’s selection of glass and ceramic containers.

“’Tila! I can hardly believe my eyes!” The voice made him turn around until he faced the counter. A short man stood behind it. His dark hair lit up with artful caramel highlights, and the belt under his green apron shone with metallic, rainbow-colored studs. “This is my partner Rickey,” he said, pointing at the other man in the florist apron. Then he waved toward Hal. “I remember you from when you were a snot-faced teenager, Hal, but who’s this?” He looked Kai’s slumped figure up and down. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked right before he noted Kai’s T-shirt. “He works at the stables?”

“Theo, I need your help. We have a situation here….” Attila gave him the high points.

“No way! Drugged?” Theodore ran his eyes over Kai again. “And Lindsey, yeah. I remember her. Timid little thing. Always felt sorry for her.”

“She’s better now,” Hal growled.

“Well obviously, if she had the spunk to run away.” Theo rolled his eyes. “Listen, I can ask Rickey to call around or even go with you—he used to work at the pipe factory down in that neighborhood, but I have to stay right here. We’re doing a wedding this weekend, and it’s a big deal, over at Heinz Chapel and those always cost a fortune. Capisce?”

“Thank you,” Attila said, and his words were heartfelt. “One more thing—Kai got incapacitated in the line of duty. Do you mind if he stays here until we pick him up? The truck can only fit three people
anyway.” He felt Kai stir against him, and an irritated,
incomprehensible moan came out of his mouth.

Theodore peered at Kai for a short moment, and sighed. “I guess he can stay, sure. Dump him in the back,” he said with a gleam in his eye.

Attila and Hal maneuvered Kai to the back room and settled him on a sofa that had seen better days. Rickey took off his apron, and the three headed off.

K
AI
felt something cool on his forehead, then on his cheeks. He realized he was horizontal on an uneven surface. Ants were crawling under the skin of his legs from knee to foot. The image disturbed him, yet the sensation felt familiar, as though he had sat on his knees for too long. The cold, wet sensation moved to his neck, and Kai forced his eyes to crack open.

He was in a crowded storage room. Industrial shelving ran all the way to the ceiling and the shelves were cluttered with baskets, blocks of green foam, wrapping paper, old wicker baskets… there was all kinds of stuff, and the ceiling was crisscrossed with laundry lines. Bows hung off those, some fluffy and some plain. The cold sensation moved back to his forehead, and Kai found he could move his neck back just enough to see a stranger bent over him.

The man was a bit older than Kai and his brown hair fell into his eyes. His lips were pressed into a prim line, and his brows were drawn together in concern. When he saw Kai’s eyes open, a relieved smile blossomed on his face. “Welcome to the world of the living,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“Who are you?” Kai croaked.

“I am Theodore, and an old friend dropped you off while he went out to run an errand with the boys. Would you like some water? Coffee?”

“Water,” Kai whispered, and since he saw two Theodores handing him two bottles of water, he closed one eye to make the other go away. He found he could move his limbs, albeit not very well, and struggled for a while to sit up. Only then did he realize how exhausted and nauseous he felt.

A few cautious sips later, Kai looked up to the man standing before him. He felt like he was being scrutinized, and the feeling felt threatening.

Theodore.

The name was familiar. Kai struggled to place it. He didn’t think they’d ever met, and he didn’t remember how he ended up on a ratty sofa in someone’s junk room.

“Attila left some coffee for you,” Theodore said. “He thought you might need it. He also said you got drugged, although he did not supply much detail as to the how and the why.”