Skarlet Parker: The Twisted Snakes

Finally off the train and back in Lake, she spotted Mike's car instantly and ran over, he was sat on the bonnet but stood as he saw her approaching. “Hey, you okay? What happened? Who was he?”
“I'm fine, we talked and I didn’t see his face.” She stepped forward hugging him, Mike's hand slipped to the back of her head and pressed her cheek against his chest, she could hear his heart beat, smell his cologne and enjoyed the feel of the soft, blue and clearly new sweater he wore. Expensive, she thought for a moment and one word came to mind, his parents. His mother had probably worried her little baby would catch a cold and sent it up from California. Typical of Ellen. She smiled and continued. “Perfect job though, I'd be foolish to refuse.”
“What's the job?”
“You know the gang? Yano the twisted snakes?”
His name ran through her head, he gulped.
Connection confirmed.
He let go of her and just nodded, she continued. “Well, the guy he hired me to sort them out, so I get to hurt the guys who hurt me and I get paid for it. Isn't that cool?” She sounded super excited. She hoped for a reciprocated tone, no such luck graced her.
“Are you insane? Are you aware of what they are capable of?” his voice went down to a whisper. “Skarlet they would happily kill you in a second.” He glanced toward his arm, rubbed over the bandage then looked away, probably hoping she'd not noticed. She had.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just you're suicide mission from hell.” She could tell by his tone he was angry, angry and avoiding what he knew was the topic, he knew it well.
“You know I meant with your arm.”
“Oh?” A question.
“Who did it Mike?”
“No one, I told you a million times I burnt it at work.” Angry again, this time clearly. He was raising his voice.
“Yeah, right, whatever.” She would have stormed off, told him he was lying and to speak to her when he was prepared to grow some balls and tell the truth. That plan though would have failed her, she needed his help and that was not the way to get it. So instead she settled for a subtle eyebrow raise and allowed him to change the topic. He didn't, not completely.
“So you didn't see the face of whoever hired you, you get a name?”
“Uh kinda. W.”
“W?”
“Yeah.”
“And how do you contact this, W?”
“What are you? A cop?” She realised, she wasn't entirely counting that out any more.
“Funny.” Flat eyes. “Tell me.” She detected an element of physical aggression, his hand was clenched into a fist, he was fidgeting, she could see he was holding back. It was unnerving.
“Fine. Fine. I'm to text him when I'm done.”
“You're kidding right?”
“No.”
“You're an idiot.” He walked around and got in the car, she followed and looked at him, expecting and explanation for his little outburst. “It just seems like you're being set up, that's all.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem that way to me. It seems legit.”
“Whatever.”
“Are you going to ask who the person I'm going after first is?” She seemed excited.
“I would, only it seems you don't fathom the fuck I do not give.” His patience was growing thin. She sighed and spoke to herself about Heather Vaughn, she needed to wait a few moments anf give him chance to cool off before she asked the next question, she knew right now he would have stopped the car and thrown her out, then changed the locks to the flat when he got home and that would have been it.
She times it perfectly.
“Mike, I need a favour.”
“What's that then?” He gave her tone which suggested she'd had enough favours from him.
“I need you to drive me to Idaho.”
He emergency braked. “You what? Tell me I heard that wrong?”
“Depends what you heard.”
“You need me to drive you to Idaho?”
“You heard right, I'll cancel your hearing check.”
He smiled, almost laughing and started the car. It was just a moment later when she realised he wasn't laughing at her jokey attitude but at what must have seemed like a joke to him. “There are things called planes if you want to go to Idaho.”
“I hate flying.” She thought about London, the lie.
“The there are trains.”
“You could use a break from here.”
He sighed and nodded. “How will we pay for the gas, and how will you compensate for my time off work?”
“Easy, I'll give you half the money.”
“Fine.” His voice was thick with reluctance. For the rest of the drive they were silent, she'd decided she'd pushed him far enough. He gripped the wheel tight, she noticed his skin was red, his knuckles white. Yes, she'd annoyed him. Oh very much.
When back at the flat he ignored her, showered and went to his room closing the door, she heard the lock click on for the first time since the day they'd go here. At midnight she thought she heard someone come into the apartment, slip out again at one. Her suspicions were on Eva, she didn't complain; how could she?

The next morning they were both up early, her dressed in chinos and a t shirt he in jeans, a white t shirt and a cream coloured zip up jacket. He silently carried her things to the car, on the second trip he carried his own, went back made coffee and ensured Skarlet was ready, though she sensed a lack of caring if she were. All the way to the car she apologised, he finally accepted it, showing it by hugging her and kissing her cheek. She blushed.
In the car she checked she'd got all, hid it under the seat at the gas station whilst Mike filled the car. They drove the way listening to different music, ranging from rock to classical; she'd been wanting to test a theory she had heard. You're more likely to speed when listening to classical music, the theory proved to be right only because Mike's eyes had started to close and his foot had slipped to heavily onto the accelerator before he'd turned it off.
They'd finally arrived at Idaho by 8pm,
Driving through had been fun, several times Mike had locked the door and checked that he himself was armed before shrinking down in his seat. “You're going to get us killed one day.” She'd laughed, knowing that the only reason for his behaviour was the political affiliations of this area, nothing more. He hadn't even based his bias on first impressions. They checked into the hotel, the woman at the reception desk was thick accented, Mississippi. She noted Mike's body language change, he was tense and moving quickly away from the desk when the key was placed in his hand. The room was fine, small, a double bed and chair, an en suite. Nothing bad but nothing particularly luxury either.
She showered and changed quickly, ensuring Mike would be okay in a hotel room of a largely republican state; of course she knew no harm would come to him. Except the psychological torture of being around the lower class of the politically educated. At least that was his opinion. She told him to make sure the door was locked and not to watch scary movies, to be in bed by ten and to call mommy if he needed anything. For this she received a finger and a slam of the ensuite's door, she laughed and left heading toward the nightclub owned by Ms Vaughn.

Flamehouse was much like any other club, bright lights, wooden floors, a shiny bar, white and black furniture, red tables and plants. All designed to look good, all done on the cheap. Skarlet did have to say she admired the sound system the club had invested in, powerful. Nice. The club was obviously new and she questioned just how many patrons had walked through that metal front door to have a good time. She knew though it would have been unfair to judge the place based on its current quietness, seen as though it wouldn't open for half an hour and Skarlet had picked the lock to the front entrance. It hadn't been a hard or time consuming job, strange.
She stepped forward, her six inch heels tapping on the floor. “Hello, Heather?” She shouted loud enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear. “Oh do#t pretend you're not here.”
She wasn't doing, Skarlet struggled as she felt the arm slip around her neck from behind. She was good, quiet, hell silent. “You're a stupid girl Skarlet.” A laugh followed the sentence, short lived laugh. Skarlet tried to turn to make a move, a failure which had her on the floor, the sole of an expensive Italian shoe holding her down. “You're not the half of the girl you used to be.”
Heather was short, around five feet and two inches, ginger hair reaching her shoulders, her skin was pale and her eyes brown. She wore clothing which made a low class prostitute look civilised. She spoke again. “You're not as good looking either, I used to envy you. I can barely believe that creature you live with would be even remotely attracted to you, let alone wanting to commit to you. He's dumber than I thought.”
Surprisingly the comment hurt, not purely cause she knew about Mike, but because she had told him something only Mike was supposed to. Skarlet wanted those words to be true, she wanted him to like her enough to spend the rest of his life with her, she couldn't help but think that the bitch was lying. She probably was. The next words hit her in the gut, hard. “You know, once I've killed you, I'll have fun in breaking lover boys heart.”
With those words Heather hit the floor, her teeth breaking like white pearls on the floor. She winced and rolled looking up at Skarlet, blood on her face. “Cheap shot.”
“You're weaker than you used to be Heather, I hope your dentist has good quotes.”
“He does.”
She wouldn't need them, her mind was made; Heather was not leaving alive tonight. The woman stood and stepped toward Skarlet, the fight was almost equal, until Skarlet brought one of her red and white guns into the situation, forcing the barrel under the woman’s chin and firing, the job was done quicker and more personally painful than she might have liked. But it was done.
She'd been about to send the picture to W when a voice came from behind her. A male voice.
“That was entertaining.” She spun to see the man, tall 6ft1, a light tan, blond hair. Her first thought was Jacob McDonough, Mike's older brother of twenty seven. The she recalled the accident, this could not be Jake for the man was standing. Jake had been in an accident several years ago, his father Timothy had been driving the car when it had crashed into the side of a truck rendering Jacob paralysed below the waist when his back had snapped just below the rib cage. An injury that would never repair itself. The man spoke again. “So, what is next for the great Skarlet Parker?” He stepped into light, sitting on the edge of one of the high red tables. She saw his face, memories flooded back.
Ryan....
She stood and raced toward him hitting the floor, he laughed. “Don't try it dear.”
Her eyes widened. “You.”
“Yes, me.” He stepped toward the door warning her not to get up, done with a single hand signal “But what can you do about it?” The man turned and fled, the door slammed behind him, Anger raged within her, every inch of her wanted to follow him, she resisted their was another day, another place. She hit the send button on her phone and started her clean up. The joys of internet banking, she'd received a text confirming a bank transfer of 10,000 dollars.

She returned to the hotel after the clean up, Mike as in the bathroom singing, she recognised the words:
'The worst is over now and we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain'
Broken, Seether.
Their song...
It wasn't officially theirs, and neither of them had agreed to adopt it as their theme tune, it had just become. Mike was a great singer; she wasn't. It had come as no surprise the first time she'd heard him sing, afterall what should one expect of a music student? Her mind moved suddenly to a chilling thought; the books on his bed.
Criminal Law in Oregon...
Oregon State University...
Legal.
Why would anyone have let a music student borrow a new law book worth probably $200. She shuddered at the thought he might have lied to her. With a chilling reluctance, to stop his singing and to see him after that thought, she called for him. He appeared his jeans were on, his boxers visible at the top. “Yup.” .Her eyes scanned over his muscular frame, she gulped thinking of those words.
He wants to commit to you.
She smiled at him, probably in a way more dawky than sexy not the look she was going for. He glanced at her with a look which confirmed her suspicion. She sighed. “You know I'm terrible at this, what I want to know is do you want to go out?”
He gasped, looked shocked. “Uh, where's Skarlet?” He looked around. She smiled, he was trying to be funny. Skarlet Parker was not a girl who often went out, she never asked to go out. This request to Mike must have been like hell freezing over. His smile reached his ears and he nodded. “Sure I'd love to.” He missed the tempting words of: Anything to be with you...
She'd cared about few people in her life, few people cared for her.
Michael McDonough was the exception at both sides. They cared for each other, limitlessly.