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hoisting myself back up onto the leather seat. Iron tinged taste and warmth spilled onto my tongue, and I licked the blood off my lips. It stung and dripped down onto my blouse. Instead of wiping it off, I continued to drill my stare into him, narrowing my eyes, even if my left one was now throbbing with an awful pain.
    “Now, I have a proposition. I’ve been watching how you and your sister do your thing on the stage. I want you to record a demo for me, and I can get it to my cousin, who partly owns a recording studio. If he likes it, I get forty percent of the proceeds you and your sister make off your album. If he hates it, well, you can just run around the state doing dive bar shows, and I take fifty percent of the pennies you make. What do you say? Deal?
    The car hit a massive bump in the road and shook us about, making my head jolt with a worse, stabbing ache, and my hands flew up, pressing my skull between them. I needed to get out of here—one way or the other.
    “Until the debt’s paid?”
    Jonas’ cocky smirk made me want to wipe it off his face with a cheese grater, while I crushed his skull in with a mallet. “With some interest, of course. I like investments.”
    I swallowed the dry, cottony lump in my throat and reached up to touch the warmth oozing from my mouth and drying on my chin.
    “Here. I apologize for that, but I must have you understand how serious I am.” He handed me a pure white handkerchief, embroidered with two initials: J.E. I did a fine job of staining that sucker down to the cross threads.
    “Fine.”
    His face brightened, and he snapped his fingers twice, signaling to his massive driver of the change of plans. “Now, where can I drop you off at?”
    “The Motel 6 on Railways Ave.”
    “You heard the lady, Marco. Turn the car around.” He turned back toward me, eyeing me as I slowly wiped the mess of blood from my face. “And don’t think you can change your mind. I’ll be watching you, even when you think I’m not.”
    “Sending your little rats to chase me?”
    He laughed, a haughty dry kind of chuckle, while his face screwed up into a cruel smile. “Something like that,  Preciosa. Don’t forget what I said. I’ll be collecting in a couple weeks.”
    The car pulled up in front of the motel, and I spotted Audrey leaving with Saul. Might as well let them go; it would give me some time to fix my face. It was already early morning, and my fatigue was hitting me hard. I paused as Jonas got out of his side and waited for me to slip out, offering his hand out to me. I dodged it, and he curled his fingers into his palm, an angry look gracing his features before he managed to compose himself once more.
    Turning toward the motel, his words dug into me. “I will be back, so don’t forget me.”
    I kept walking away and ended up running around the corner until I watched the black car leave. My heart was racing, and I felt the prickle of tears behind my eyes begging to be let out. I’d stood there for what felt like hours before I dared to peek around the corner and hit the ice machine. Grabbing one of the plastic bags from the dispenser next to it, I filled it with ice and pressed it to my left eye. The cooling sensation felt good against the throb and heat of his blow. I was pretty sure his fingers were imprinted onto my skin.
    Now my blood boiled in my veins as I stared at my face in the mirror, purpled and reddened from his one hit. I vowed I’d make him pay. I slammed the water off and slid to the floor of the bathroom, leaning my head against my knees and hugging my legs tight to my chest.
    I’d never thought Ruben would’ve given up on finding us so easily and offer the bounty to someone like Jonas. Ruben was so much easier to dodge. But, Jonas? He was the devil himself. Every time he had entered Ruben’s bar to chat it up with him, I had felt the air go cold by a dozen degrees. One icy stare from him could send my hair standing on end. He was a demon disguised as flesh