A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia

Author:Mindy Mejia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2024-07-10T20:07:39+00:00

“Tomorrow, then. I’ll book the tickets.” I bracketed her thighs, trying to call the fantasy back, but Celina was wide-awake now and sober with the reality of our lives.

“When will you be back?”

“Tomorrow night. I think.” Sometimes plans changed at the last minute. A shipment that was supposed to go to Dubuque got rerouted to Hannibal, Missouri, at the last minute. You never knew the end game, could never trust the instructions beyond the next minute. With Sam, it was always follow the leader. I was still waiting to see why he’d sent me to school, other than the excuse of being a student who could run the thrift store business.

But Celina and I had changed the game. When I finally told her what I really did for a living, she said she needed time to process it. I didn’t hear from her for three days—three of the longest days of my life at that point—and I’d gone almost feral thinking that she was going to end it. Then she showed up at the thrift store. She looked around at the place like she was seeing it for the first time. No one else was in the building, and when she reached over and pulled my hand against her heart, I almost melted into the counter.

“I love you,” she said, and things broke inside me. Her hands shook against mine. “You’re better than this.”

I wasn’t. Of course I wasn’t, but Celina wanted me to be, and I would be anything she wanted me to be. She had a plan. Together, we contacted DEA Agent Morales—telling him I had information to pass on. I met with him a couple times, but when I got cold feet about sharing details, feeling like Sam was watching from every corner, Celina was right there. She handed me her phone to call in the fertilizer truck bust—anonymous, she said, through a tip line—and law enforcement intercepted the whole thing last month.

Sam went into a full rage and Celina had gotten more and more worried that I’d be discovered as the informant. The shadows crept into every conversation. This wasn’t the first time she’d mentioned leaving town, and I knew where it was coming from.

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“I can’t help it.” She leaned over, covering my body with hers and hugging me so tight, it would have been painful for someone else. When she pulled back, her blue eyes looked liquid, like a bright, bottomless sea. “You’re my air. I can’t live without you now.”

A chug of emotion tripped in my chest. Little explosions fired everywhere under my skin. I didn’t know this existed, that love like this happened in the real world, and part of me worried that someday she was going to look at me and see what I actually was, a money-laundering dealer who didn’t deserve to even touch her.

“Not air.” I kissed the wet streaks beneath her eyes, trying to pull myself together. “Sentient aspirin.”

“Air,” she murmured into my mouth, sending the words into me.

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