Read THE PAIN OF OTHERS Online
Authors: Blake Crouch
THE PAIN OF OTHERS (15 page)
The wife chimes in with, “But we haven’t seen another tourist, and we’ve been here all day.”
“I apologize, but—”
“Is there another hotel in town?”
“There’s a motel, but it’s closed for the season.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“I’m not sure I under—”
“It’s a blizzard out there, the roads are closed, and now you’re telling us you’re the only game in town, and you’re booked?”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Where are we supposed to sleep?
Our car?”
Jessica appears on the verge of tears.
We hand Ron a notepad and tell him to write down his cell phone number, promising to call if something opens up.
-6-
Ron and Jessica sit in their Mercedes, watching the snow accumulate on the windshield, piling up in the city park, a deep bluish tint settling over Lone Cone.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Ron?”
“I know.”
“Do you?
Because I thought you were the one who was supposed to call and get us room reservations.”
“We weren’t
gonna
stay here, Jess.
Remember?
Spend the day and drive to
Aspen
.”
“Well it didn’t work out that way, did it?”
“No.”
“So maybe having reservations as a backup plan might’ve been a bright idea.
Right, Ron?”
He’s been staring through the glass, his hands gripping the steering wheel, and now he glances over at his wife, into that wild-eyed, exacting glare he figures she terrorizes her firm’s paralegals and secretaries with.
“What?” he says.
“Why didn’t you take care of that?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you, Ron.
I don’t want to sleep in my fucking car tonight.
That isn’t what I had in mind for my Christmas vacation while busting my ass these last—”
“I get it, Jess.”
Ron pulls the key out of the ignition.
“What are you doing?”
“Baby, let’s go get a big, hot meal, drink the best wine on the list, and forget about all this shit for a while, okay?”
Jessica pushes her short brown hair behind her ears, Ron feeling, hoping he’s cut the right wire, disarmed the bomb.
“That actually sounds nice.”
He has, and he loves this about her—how she can go from
psychobitch
to DEFCON 5 in two nanoseconds.
“My cell phone’s charged,” he says, “so let’s think positive thoughts.
Maybe while we’re eating, we get a call from the inn, saying they’ve had a cancellation.
This whole thing might just work out.”
Jessica’s smile makes Ron slide his hand over the console, let it work down between her blue-jeaned thighs.
“Hey now,” she warns.
“You
gotta
earn that, big boy.”
“You think so?”
Apparently not, because she pulls his hand into her crotch and moves her hips forward and Ron undoes the button on her jeans and pushes his fingers between cotton and skin, until he feels the warm, wet slick, wondering if that’s been there since the rage, has a hunch it has.
She moans, stretching for the button on his slacks. Pulls his hand out of her pants and leans across the console into his lap.
He reaches down and finds the right button and the seat hums back, giving Jessica more headspace between his stomach and the steering wheel.
The windshield cracks.
Flinching, Ron’s eyes shoot open and Jessica bites down and then pops off, and they both say, “What the fuck?” in unison.
BLAKE CROUCH
is the author of DESERT PLACES, LOCKED DOORS, and ABANDON, which was an
IndieBound
Notable Selection last summer, all published by St. Martin’s Press. His newest thriller, SNOWBOUND, also from St. Martin’s, was released in 2010. His short fiction has appeared in
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
,
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
,
Thriller 2
, and other anthologies, including the new SHIVER VI anthology from Cemetery Dance. In 2009, he co-wrote “Serial” with J.A.
Konrath
, which has been downloaded over 250,000 times and topped the Kindle bestseller list for 4 weeks. That story and DESERT PLACES have also been optioned for film. Blake lives in Durango, Colorado. His website is
www.blakecrouch.com
.
Blake Crouch’s Works Available on Kindle
Andrew Z. Thomas thrillers
Other works
Draculas
with J.A.
Konrath
, Jeff Strand and F. Paul Wilson
Perfect Little Town
(horror novella)
Serial Uncut
with J.A.
Konrath
and Jack
Kilborn
Bad Girl
(short story)
Four Live Rounds
(collected stories)
Shining Rock
(short story)
*69
(short story)
On the Good, Red Road
(short story)
Remaking
(short story)
The Meteorologist
(short story)
Coming soon...
Break You
Killers (with J.A.
Konrath
)
Killers Uncut (with J.A.
Konrath
)
Serial Killers Uncut (with J.A.
Konrath
)
Six in the Cylinder (collected stories)
Severe and Gentle Stories (complete short stories and novellas)
Stirred (with J.A.
Konrath
)
Visit Blake at www.BlakeCrouch.com