Chapter Text
Though Kate might have suspected before, she’s sure now: living with the Geckos is a pain in the ass.
“Get up, Baby. Christ, you sleep like the fucking dead.”
Seth’s (irritating) voice cuts through what was a very peaceful sleep, making her groan and shove her head under the covers.
“Go away.”
“No can do. Got places to be and you’re driving.”
Kate opens her eyes and peeks out at him, intrigued enough to ignore the urge to throw a pillow at his face.
“Back to Atlanta?” she asks.
Seth’s eyes darken, and he shakes his head.
“Not Atlanta. There’s a friend we need to find—might have information about Malvado.”
“A friend?” she replies, skepticism now bleeding into her voice. “I don’t like a lot of your friends.”
At that, he chuckles. “I doubt you’re gonna like this one either, princess. Now get up.”
To emphasize his point, he yanks the sheets off of her and throws open the window, letting the cold morning air seep into the room. Angrily, she lets a pillow go flying at his head on his way out the door. And misses. Asshole.
After a moment of shivering in protest, Kate reluctantly drags herself out of bed to brush her teeth and throw on some clothes. Another morning attack by Seth and she might actually have to run him over.
By the time she makes it to the kitchen, Vanessa, Seth, and Richie are all gathered at the table, munching on eggs and bickering loudly.
“I don’t like this,” Vanessa says.
“Shocker,” Kate mutters under her breath, grabbing a piece of toast with a bit more force than necessary.
Shooting her a look, Seth crosses his arms over his chest. “Yeah, neither do I. But it’s still the best lead we have. Little weasel used to have his hand in a lot of important pockets.”
“From what you’ve told me, he sounds like an idiot,” Vanessa says.
“Aiden Tanner is a fucking idiot,” Richie says. "He got chased out of Atlanta years ago after he sexually harassed one too many of his bosses’ underage daughters.”
Kate narrows her eyes at Seth. “This is your friend you mentioned?”
“Friend might not’ve been the right word,” he says with a shrug. “More like… guy we used to work with who we beat the shit out of sometimes.”
“Hm.” With no further reply, Kate sits down in the empty seat beside Richie.
Instinctively, her knee bumps up against his thigh under the table. Though he doesn’t look at her, he lets his fingers run across the bare skin of her arm—quick and warm and not enough at all.
“Listen, I don’t like the guy, either,” Seth says as Richie’s hand goes back to the table. “I'm the one who used to have to deal with his bullshit. That’s why I’m telling you: Tanner knows something. He was in and out of this city for a long time before running off with his tail between his legs. If he doesn't have the information we need, nobody fucking does.”
Vanessa sighs. “Not that I’m endorsing this, but we’ve exhausted all our other options. If Seth really thinks he might know something… we should at least try and find him."
“So we’re working with pedophiles now?” Kate asks, glaring at Seth again. She wishes she’d stayed in bed.
“Not working with. Beating the shit out of,” Seth corrects.
Richie leans back in his chair, raising an eyebrow. “What’s the plan, then? Scout the normal places and hope he turns up? Tanner hasn’t been in Atlanta for months, and I doubt he’s coming back anytime soon.”
“Nope. I know exactly where he’ll be,” Seth says, smiling now. “Word’s out that Tanner got himself a girlfriend at the Titty Twister.” He adds air quotes around girlfriend, drawing out the word and making Vanessa snicker.
Kate, on the other hand, nearly chokes on her orange juice. “Did you say Titty Twister?”
“It’s a bar, Baby,” Richie says, patting her on the back gently as she recovers.
Vanessa laughs again. “You even old enough to drink, jailbait?”
“I’m twenty-one, Vanessa.”
“Whatever you say.”
"Where we're going, you'd probably be an even bigger hit if you were underage, princess. Twitty Twister’s a total shithole," Seth says, face twisted in disgust. "I'm not surprised Tanner ended up there. Most likely the only place left where he can actually get pussy."
"The only place left he can buy pussy," Richie amends.
Kate whacks Richie on the shoulder, since he's closest. "You both are nasty."
"Baby,” Seth says, like it exhausts him to say it, “you gotta toughen up, cause you're gonna hear shit a lot worse than that."
"And see a lot worse shit," Vanessa says. Her hand goes to her injured shoulder, almost like a reflex, and the look she gives Kate isn't mean. Just careful.
Exhaling slowly through her nose, Kate shakes her head. “I can handle whatever it is we’re heading to. Doesn't mean I like to hear it.”
“Very princess-like,” Seth says. “Fitting.”
Kate chews on her toasts with a crunch, eyeing Richie from the corner of her eye. She does that a lot, now; watches him with the others, gauges his reactions. Wonders if he realizes that the word pussy is nasty, yeah, but also something else entirely when it comes from his mouth.
He’s already looking at her when she glances him over, and it makes her blush a little bit, turning her head away to refocus on Seth and Vanessa.
“So we head down there, find the rat, make him squeal?” Vanessa asks, matter-of-fact.
"That’s the plan.” Seth opens his mouth to speak, then pauses, like the words he’s about to say aren’t able to come out. “I’ve also heard Tanner goes by a… different name now. It’s why he’s so hard to find.” A long, suffering breath. “He calls himself Sex Machine.”
This time, Vanessa's the one choking on orange juice, nearly spewing it all over the table as she cackles loudly. Kate starts to laugh, too, because it's just so ridiculous, which makes Richie smile and Seth roll his eyes.
"A guy who calls himself Sex Machine is supposed to be our saving grace?" Vanessa finally says, catching her breath. "Spectacular."
"It's all we got right now," Seth replies with a straight face. That kind of ruins the mood, because it's pretty depressing to think Sex Machine could be the only thing standing between them and complete disaster.
After a bit of silence, Kate finally asks, "Well, where are we going, then? Where's the Titty Twister?"
She'd asked the question to Seth, but it's Richie who replies, looking at her closely. "Mexico."
-
They set out a few hours later, anxious to get moving now that they have an actual plan.
It’s been a very long three weeks.
A cooped up Seth and Richie was annoying enough on its own; an irritable cooped up Seth and Richie was unbearable. They’d both gotten frustrated trying to work out problems from afar and coming up with only dead ends, keeping the whole house on edge while they waited for something to happen. Anything. But Malvado was a ghost, so far as they knew; and patching up holes was nearly impossible when you had no idea where to start.
It didn’t help that word spread quickly the Geckos were in hiding. Not only was their reputation as the top dogs in Atlanta damaged, it bruised their egos more than Kate thinks they’d ever admit.
Out of everyone, Seth’s taken it the hardest. This is more than a job to him, more than just a climb to the top, she thinks. He’s been building this with his brother for years, cementing himself as someone you don’t fuck with. And for a long time, no one has. Now everyone wants a piece of the Gecko brothers’ downfall.
Richie doesn’t like it much more than Seth, but he also doesn’t take it so personally. At night, when she and Richie speak in hushed tones about the future, the uncertainty, he mostly worries about her and Seth. What could happen to them. What this all could mean. He cares about what they’ve built, sure, but Kate gets the feeling Richie’s always looking elsewhere, farther than the rest of them can see.
Kate just wants things to go back to normal. Wants back the ease of their routine and the life she'd lived as Baby, when everything was so much simpler. But when she thinks back to the look in Kisa's eyes at the diner, eerie and sad, another part of her wants to watch Malvado lose. Whatever he’d done to Kisa, he’s doing to other people, too. Children. Could’ve done it to Kate, if she hadn’t been lucky enough to get out first.
The thought of Malvado, of everything falling apart, makes her sick—like her body can’t hold all the fear and anxiety and anger building in her insides. For the first time since she met Seth and Richie, it bothers her to be on the sidelines, hopelessly out of her league while she watches their world turn upside down. The same could be said about Vanessa, maybe, but at least she has a solid claim already, a history in this world that predates the Geckos; they expect Vanessa to hold her own. Kate's nothing more than the girl they picked up off the street.
Usually, she’d work off energy like this by driving, or maybe hot-wiring a nice sports car. But even that’s been impossible since they left Atlanta. The cars they have are nondescript, tied to license plates in other names, but they tell her it’s too dangerous to take them out; can’t take any risks. She knows they’re right, doesn’t want to make things worse, but fuck, it makes her skin itch. More than getting things back to normal, more than taking down Malvado, Kate Fuller wants to drive.
Thank God for Mexico.
As promised by Seth, Kate gets to take the wheel first for the trip down. Before the rest of them have even left the house, she’s out detailing their shiny new Chevy Impala, sliding into the seat and getting a feel for it. Nondescript indeed, but fast enough to placate her. She hums, pleased with their choice for the drive, and pulls out her playlist for a few last minute additions. Eventually, the rest of them mosey out, locking up the safe house and piling their stuff in the car. And then they’re off, Kate whipping out of the driveway and onto rural country road quickly—maybe a little too quickly, if Vanessa’s scream is anything to go off of.
Before they left, Richie told them it would take about a week to get to the Titty Twister (ugh), meaning lots of driving shifts and seedy motels. Seth suggested cutting out the motels and driving through the night to save time, which made Vanessa furious.
“Rushing there won’t change anything here,” she’d said, cutting Seth off before he could interject. “And I’m not sleeping in this car with the three of you, without showers, just so we can hightail it to a fucking dive bar in the middle of nowhere. End of discussion.”
Kate joined Vanessa’s side quickly while Richie just shrugged. After a few minutes of pointless arguing, Seth finally had to concede, grumbling about it as he went to pack.
Honestly, Kate wouldn’t have minded sleeping in the car; she’s slept in worse places over the last few years. But she does want to draw the trip out as long as they can. This is business, sure, but it’s also the first time she’s ever left Atlanta.
As a kid, Kate had begged her family to go on a road trip—to see the Grand Canyon or Mount Rushmore or Los Angeles or anything, really, but they’d always told her no. When you’re older, Katie; when we have the money, Katie; why do you wanna leave so bad, Katie?
She couldn’t explain the feeling, then, of something missing. Like the world was spinning on around them and they were blind to it, always staying still. Her family believed in the suburbs and bible study and family meals every night at 6. There was no room for adventure in that.
After they died, she lost the motivation to leave. No money, nowhere to go, no one to do it with. At least in Atlanta, she knew where she was, knew the kind of ugly you got. She was no longer interested in seeing how terrible the rest of the world probably was.
Now, with Vanessa and Seth talking in the backseat and Richie fiddling with the radio, Kate can’t help but smile, just a tiny bit. It feels like the closest thing to family she’s had in a long, long time.
Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom
“Baby, watch for cops,” Seth calls from the back. “Don’t need us getting arrested before we make it across the border.”
Rolling her eyes, annoyed, Kate presses harder on the gas. “I got it.” To drown him out, she ups the volume a few notches.
It's only right that you should play the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound of your loneliness
When Seth’s attention strays, she feels Richie’s fingers touch her knee, and the smile starts to come back, slow and infectious.
A road trip really is a great idea.