68...
Louis spent the rest of the evening jumping around like a dog who had been promised a treat, with a light in his eyes and more excitement than Alexis had thought possible. She would smile warmly at him, trying to keep him excited and unsuspecting. If he was excited, he was more likely to slip up. And if he was unsuspecting, she had the advantage.
Alexis wondered why those who made the decisions at North Creek Sign Company had sent him out here for her. Okay, she was sort of fooling herself when she assumed all would be well coming back down to Southern California after the last job up by Davis. She had fucked up and taken things too far, she had gotten a little overzealous. And while it had crossed her mind that they might call her in, that they might send someone in the night to drop her, she had begun to delude herself into thinking it would be okay. She could have run, but she checked in as was expected. Well, she didn't tell them exactly where she was and what she was doing, but she figured after a few months with no creep showing up, or better yet no Vanessa showing up to take her out that she was in the clear.
"Ready to clock out and go?" Louis asked from behind her.
She turned to look down on his lamely grinning face.
"Yeah let me just shelve this last handful of books and we'll go."
She turned back towards the romance section and placed books. She could feel him staring at her back and to avoid lashing out with the anger that she could feel rising, she thought back to that last job, that night on the railroad tracks.
The guy had been a professor she was pretty sure, that was what he was passing himself off as anyways. She could remember how cold and sharp the rails seemed in the white-blue light of the three quarters moon. She remembered his mumbled pleading, one hand up towards her, one clutching a shining rail, his tongue already thick with the small amount of poison she had slipped him. She remembered beginning to unclasp the chain around her neck, the chain that she would slip around his neck and tighten and tighten and tighten... She remembered, sort of, some sort of switch turning in her head that short circuited rational thought. She remembered re-clasping the necklace and bending down to pick up a large and heavy rock next to the rails.
She slipped the final volume of clichés and sexual synonyms into its place on the bookshelves and turned back towards Louis.
"Let's do it."
The two of them walked to the door of the back room and Alexis punched in the code that would give them access. She opened the door and Louis followed her in. He ran into her back when she stopped suddenly.
The sound of adding machines and banal discussion uttering mostly from Jeff's mouth were what she had expected, but they were met with silence in the back room. Alexis moved aside and let Louis in before her. She looked back over her shoulder and out into the bookstore, quickly checking for anyone, before following him into the empty room.
Alexis wondered why those who made the decisions at North Creek Sign Company had sent him out here for her. Okay, she was sort of fooling herself when she assumed all would be well coming back down to Southern California after the last job up by Davis. She had fucked up and taken things too far, she had gotten a little overzealous. And while it had crossed her mind that they might call her in, that they might send someone in the night to drop her, she had begun to delude herself into thinking it would be okay. She could have run, but she checked in as was expected. Well, she didn't tell them exactly where she was and what she was doing, but she figured after a few months with no creep showing up, or better yet no Vanessa showing up to take her out that she was in the clear.
"Ready to clock out and go?" Louis asked from behind her.
She turned to look down on his lamely grinning face.
"Yeah let me just shelve this last handful of books and we'll go."
She turned back towards the romance section and placed books. She could feel him staring at her back and to avoid lashing out with the anger that she could feel rising, she thought back to that last job, that night on the railroad tracks.
The guy had been a professor she was pretty sure, that was what he was passing himself off as anyways. She could remember how cold and sharp the rails seemed in the white-blue light of the three quarters moon. She remembered his mumbled pleading, one hand up towards her, one clutching a shining rail, his tongue already thick with the small amount of poison she had slipped him. She remembered beginning to unclasp the chain around her neck, the chain that she would slip around his neck and tighten and tighten and tighten... She remembered, sort of, some sort of switch turning in her head that short circuited rational thought. She remembered re-clasping the necklace and bending down to pick up a large and heavy rock next to the rails.
She slipped the final volume of clichés and sexual synonyms into its place on the bookshelves and turned back towards Louis.
"Let's do it."
The two of them walked to the door of the back room and Alexis punched in the code that would give them access. She opened the door and Louis followed her in. He ran into her back when she stopped suddenly.
The sound of adding machines and banal discussion uttering mostly from Jeff's mouth were what she had expected, but they were met with silence in the back room. Alexis moved aside and let Louis in before her. She looked back over her shoulder and out into the bookstore, quickly checking for anyone, before following him into the empty room.
posted by P. B. Nomer | 3:50 PM
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