el mañana

Dex ran as quickly, but as quietly, as he could towards the warehouse, his instincts kicking in and filling him with adrenaline. He could hear the sound of shooting now, already, which boosted his adrenaline even further and told him he needed to move faster. At least he hadn’t been shot by anyone hiding on the roof or anywhere yet; hopefully showing that they’d been drawn out by Billy’s distraction. So far, so good.

He reached a door round the back of the building, and did a check of the windows, listened for any movement, before pressing on the handle, his other hand brushing the handle of a knife, and he shoved open the door.

His eyes met the eyes of another man, standing across him in the room inside.

Dex didn’t hesitate; he whipped the knife out and hurled it across the room, flying in a perfectly straight line, landing straight in between the man’s eyes and lodging into his head.

The man fell back slowly, crumpling to the floor, and Dex smiled. Knives were so much better than guns, much quieter too. He took in the rest of the room, scanning for any other men who might attack him. And there was what he came for, or rather, who.

Charlie was in the middle of the room, tied to a chair, gagged and looking pretty worse for the wear. He had a black eye, a busted lip, blood matted in his messy hair, and his eyes were wide in fear. His gaze was flittering between the dead man on the floor, with the knife stuck in his head and a vacant look to go with it, and to Dex, who was standing there barely breaking a sweat. To put it simply, he looked terrified.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Dex’s voice was little over a whisper, not wanting to alert the rest of the building, and he moved closer to the boy. “It’s me, it’s Dex, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Charlie’s eyes stopped flickering around and fixed on Dex’s, the fear leaving them as he visibly calmed.

“I’m gonna take the gag out, okay?” Dex crouched besides the boy, his hands moving slowly towards his face, trying not to startle him.

Charlie nodded, so Dex went ahead and tugged at the fabric in his mouth. Charlie winced harshly as it brushed against the cut on his lip, freshly bleeding, and Dex tried to be gentler as he removed the gag fully.

There were more sounds of gunfire from the rest of the warehouse, loud and sudden and close, and Dex and Charlie looked at each other. Dex swiftly moved to the zip ties on Charlie’s wrists and legs, pulling out another knife to use on them.

“I- I didn’t think you’d come,” Charlie spoke quietly, his voice dry and cracked. “I thought-”

“I’m here, Charlie. We’re both here. We weren’t going to leave you for dead, were we? Even if you are a dumbass.” Dex teased, but his voice was soft, fond.

Charlie gave a small smile at that, replying, “A right gilipollas.”

Dex smirked in agreement, while Charlie rubbed his newly-freed wrists and stretching circulation back into his fingers. Dex made quick work of the ties on his legs, which was just as well, as the shooting had stopped from next door. Temporarily, maybe, but Dex didn’t want to stick around to find out.

“Okay, can you walk? They hurt you anywhere else?”

Charlie clutched at his side, rubbing softly in explanation. “I think some of my ribs might be broken. But it’s fine, I’m fine.”

Dex scoffed and ignored him, sliding an arm under Charlie’s and helping him out of the chair, supporting his weight by his side.

“Is this okay?” Dex asked, letting the boy test a step or two with Dex’s support.

Charlie nodded, even though his face was clearly twisting in pain, but the priority was getting out as fast as possible, and Charlie could manage until they made it back to the motel, he was sure.

So that was how they made it out, half stumbling, Dex half carrying Charlie – a team effort all in all. There were more sounds of shooting from the building they left behind, but Dex didn’t look back to check, instead pushing Charlie into as near a run as he could manage. A thin layer of sweat was breaking out across the boy’s face, and he let out a few dry coughs as they staggered along, but they kept going. Eventually, Dex slowed by an alley not too far from the warehouse; the meeting point he and Billy had agreed on. He lowered Charlie down behind the garbage bins, and Charlie slid to the floor, breathing heavily.

“We just have to wait now,” Dex explained, “Billy will be here soon.”

“I definitely don’t mind resting for a moment.” Charlie replied, a faint smile on his lips.

Dex drummed his fingers on his leg, leaning against the wall. Just as from before he’d entered the warehouse, he didn’t like the wait. The tense energy in the air, the unknowing. He wished he had a drink.

“You sure you’re not hurt anywhere else? Not bleeding out or anything?” Dex narrowed his eyes at the boy on the floor, who in return opened his eyes that had been falling shut.

“I’m fine.” Charlie smiled. “Sinceramente. Nothing that an ice-pack and some painkillers won’t fix.”

Dex nodded, but he still noticed how exhausted the boy looked, and couldn’t help but feel responsible.

“What did they ask you about? The men back there?”

Charlie shrugged, looking down at his legs. “Just stuff about you guys. Who you and Billy are, why you’re helping me, that kinda stuff.”

Dex processed that for a moment or two, considering his next words, before choosing to be blunt, as usual. “And what did you tell them?”

That caused Charlie to look back up, catching Dex’s eye, with a slight bite in his voice when he spoke. “Nothing. Just said I didn’t know who you are or anything about you or why you’d helped me. Which isn’t that far off from the truth, really. But they didn’t much like my answers, as you can tell by my lovely collection of cuts and bruises here.”

Dex felt a swell of guilt at those words, even as he reminded himself that this wasn’t his fault and Charlie wasn’t his fucking responsibility.

“Okay.” Dex replied with a curt nod. “Okay.”

***

Minutes passed, which then turned into hours, and there was still no sign of Billy. Dex really shouldn’t have given it this long, with the risk that remained while they stayed so close by to the warehouse, but he didn’t want to abandon all hope rashly. Billy might’ve had to take a long route, to lose any of guys on his tail perhaps, so that he didn’t lead them to the meeting point, or maybe he’d just headed straight back to the motel, presuming they’d left. But Billy would know to check the meeting point first, Dex was sure of it. Maybe he was hurt.

“When,” Charlie paused to cough, and then winced. “When did you say he’d be here?”

“I didn’t. I don’t know. We didn’t exactly agree on a time.” Dex was pacing up and down, his tone clipped.

“What did you agree on?”

“He was the distraction, while I got you out. But it wasn’t supposed to take this long.”

Charlie let his head drop back against the wall with a sigh. He was starting to shiver. The weather had started to turn chillier, the air cooling as the day grew later, and his current t-shirt and jeans weren’t exactly the best protection against the cold.

“We can’t stay here much longer, it’s starting to get dark.” Dex was quiet, and he glanced at Charlie and noticed the shivering. “We should go back to the motel.”

Charlie nodded slowly, squinting at Dex. “What about Billy?”

“We’ll worry about him later.”

“But- “

“He’s a big boy, Charlie, he’ll be fine.” Dex snapped at the boy. “We can’t wait any longer.”

Charlie didn’t reply; instead, he grit his teeth, clutched his side, and stood up on shaky legs.

Dex ran a hand through his hair and looked around the alleyway a couple of times, as if expecting Billy to turn up at the last minute. When he didn’t, Dex stepped forward to put an arm under Charlie’s, ready to make the stumble towards the car nearby, and just hope that Billy was waiting there for them.

They got to the car, and unsurprisingly, Billy was not there either. The tightening in Dex’s throat squeezed further, and the nasty feeling coiling in his stomach wouldn’t go away. He was already on edge from the constant looking out, the checking and scanning of any noise or any movement that could indicate someone following them, and he didn’t think he’d feel any better until they knew where Billy was. He helped Charlie into the passenger seat, his mouth a tight line, then climbed in next to him.

The drive back to the motel was a silent one. Dex wasn’t speaking; his eyes were fixed on the dark road ahead, his fingers gripping the wheel tightly. Charlie felt as if he could drift off into the darkness any second, his head heavy and throbbing, but he pushed back the exhaustion; he wanted to wait until they got back to the motel, just in case. He drummed his fingers on his knee in his struggle to stay awake, stealing glances at Dex every now and then, but the man didn’t look at him once. It was fine. They were both tired, Charlie supposed. And he’d forced Dex to rescue him, yet again, from armed men who he had no business with, for a boy he had no business with. And now their – Charlie wasn’t sure if friend was the right word, but he wasn’t really sure how else to describe him – but whatever he was, was missing. Yeah, Charlie understood why Dex was angry.

“I’m sorry, Dex.” Charlie spoke softly, unable to stand the stifling silence any longer. “Lo siento mucho.”

Dex didn’t reply, but his jaw tightened, and his fingers flexed on the wheel. The drive continued in silence, and Charlie didn’t try to break it again.

Dex did, however, pull over at a gas station, not long after Charlie had spoken. He got out of the car, stopped outside the station building for a couple of minutes, and then went inside. Charlie couldn’t see what he was doing from inside the car, and he just looked out of the windows nervously every now and then, not feeling quite safe, until Dex came back with a bag of ice in his hands. He dumped it on Charlie’s lap without a word, and then started the car again, moving back out onto the road. Charlie pushed away the smile that was creeping onto his face.

It didn’t take too long to reach the motel, although it felt much longer with no-one speaking, and it had gone dark outside. Neither of them said it, but they were both holding their breath when Dex turned the key in the door, waiting to see Billy sat on a bed and smirking his stupid face at them.

The room was empty.

Charlie sighed, then stepped past Dex, towards the bathroom. “I’m gonna clean up a bit.”

The boy locked the door behind him, placed the ice on the floor, and looked in the mirror. He looked at the bloody lip and the black eye and the blood matted in his dishevelled hair. He’d looked worse. Maybe. He grimaced as he slowly pulled up the edge of his t-shirt, revealing the dark, mottled pattern of bruises up either side of his body, left and right, almost mirroring each other. The purples were almost pretty, he thought for a moment, then shook his head and dropped the t-shirt. Clearly, the fatigue was getting to him.

He dabbed at the lip and his head with a damp towel; gentle movements until he’d washed off most of the blood that had dried on his face. He couldn’t do much about the eye or his ribs, but at least he had the ice, thanks to Dex. He wrapped the towel around the bag and pressed it to his side, letting out a sigh at the quick numbing effect, that he now realised he’d really needed.

Charlie left the bathroom with the towel against his side and swaying slightly, feeling a slight dizziness setting in. He wasn’t sure if it was due to his injuries or the fact that he hadn’t slept all night, or even slept properly for a while now, but it was most likely a combination of all of those factors. Dex was pacing again, up and down the small room, his arms crossed. He looked up when Charlie walked out of the bathroom, making eye contact.

“Sit down.” He was firm, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Charlie did, settling down on his bed, wincing again as he tried to get comfortable on the poking springs of the bed. Although, even the cheap mattress and pillows of the motel bed felt like a luxury after being tied to that hard wooden chair for so long.

“Charlie.” Dex stood in front of the bed, his arms still crossed, his face tight. “You’ve been lying to us.”

Charlie fidgeted with the towel, instantly looking uncomfortable. “Dex, can’t this wait till tomorrow? I’m really tired, I- “

“No, it can’t wait. You’re going to sit there and stay awake and listen, okay?” Dex didn’t wait for Charlie to say yes. “You lied about the men who attacked you. You lied about what you saw them doing that night and why they’re after you. And now I don’t know what we’re dealing with or why they want you so bad. And they took you and you’re hurt, and now they’ve probably taken Billy too.”

Charlie wanted to argue, wanted to defend himself like he was so used to having to, but there was something in Dex’s quiet anger that kept him silent.

“So now, Charlie, you’re going to do what you should’ve done from the start. Look, I get that you couldn’t trust us straight away, I understand that. And I know you still don’t know much about me and I don’t know much about you, but after saving your ass a second time, I think I deserve some answers, don’t I? Not a story, not more lies, but the truth. If we want to get Billy back and end this thing, we’re going to need it.” Dex paused, but kept his eyesfixedon Charlie’s. “You need to tell me everything.”