"All right," said Sully. "What did you think of?"

Stiggy chewed his thumbnail. He hadn't thought of anything.

He'd spent all day worrying and trying to watch Dead Poets Society on Netflix in Sully's living room, hoping it would clear his mind. He'd watched a third of the movie, pausing it every few minutes and worrying.

"They won't find me," he said, saying out loud what he'd been thinking. "They don't know I'm up here."

"Yeah, they'd fucking better not."

"They know you retired and took off. That's it. They don't know where or anything else. They don't know that we even still talk. And fuck if they're coming all the way out here over a collar."

"And?"

"And that's all I've got."

"You can't stay here, Stiggy."

"I know. But they don't know I'm here. So I'm fine for now."

"That has nothing to do with what I just said. You need to just go give him his fucking collar."

"No, I can't do that," said Stiggy. "I do that, I'm a stain on King's office floor. I have to keep moving. I don't even know if I should go back to my apartment."

"Why not? It was an honest mistake."

"Maybe."

"What do you mean maybe? The girl left the collar. You shit on her parents' front porch. So what? Just go give it the fuck back and give him the money. What's a grand to you? So what? It'll be over."

"...I can't."

"Why not?"

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"Because that's not all I did."

Sully shut his eyes.

"What did you do?"

"...I sent a text."

"What kind of text?"

"...an aggressive one."

"And you're just mentioning this now?"

"Yeah."

"What did the text say?"

Stiggy told him.

"Fuck, Stiggy," said Sully. "You insulted him directly."

"I didn't know it was him."

"Yeah, you did."

Sully paced the room, glancing at the TV where young Ethan Hawke was riding his bicycle down a green hill toward a roadway lined with vintage 1940s cars. Geese scattered in young Hawke's path.

"This movie is so gay," Sully muttered. "Nice cars, though..."

He kept thinking and pacing.

Stiggy let him think.

"You gotta go," he said after a few more seconds. "Favor or no favor. You can't be here. I can't get mixed up in this."

As Stiggy protested, Sully grabbed him off the couch and led him to the door.

"You were never here," he said over Stiggy's protests. "Bye."

He shoved Stiggy outside and slammed the door.

Stiggy waited a few seconds. This wasn't something he'd wanted to do.

"You either help me or I'll tell him," he yelled. "I'll go back there and when he gets me I'll tell him everything. I'll have no choice."

Silence from the other side of the door.

"I'll fucking tell him, Sully."

The door slowly opened, revealing Sully's glowering face.

He held a gun, a Glock.

He grabbed Stiggy by the throat and pulled him inside.

Stiggy figured it would come to this.

"You're giving me no choice here," said Sully, jamming the gun against Stiggy's forehead. "This is the most logical course of action here."

"I'd have to," said Stiggy, calm as this wasn't the first time he'd been in a situation like this. "Either you get me out of here or I go back and tell him. He'll be way more interested in you than me. I don't want to, but I will."

Sully didn't say anything, just clicked off the gun's safety.

"For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings," said Stiggy. "That then I scorn to change my state with kings."

It worked. Sully's eyes flashed stunned recognition, then a bottomless sorrow.

"You talked to her?"

"I did."

"After all this time?"

"She's been hiding," Stiggy said. "She reached out to me. Didn't know where to find you. Couldn't let King find out."

"Where is she?"

"If you kill me, you'll never find out."

Sully studied Stiggy. They looked into each other's eyes for a good few moments. If the situation was different, it might've been romantic.

Finally, Sully withdrew the gun from Stiggy's forehead.

"You little fucking rat," he muttered under his breath.

"Just help me figure out what to do," said Stiggy. "That was the deal. 'I helped you, you help me when the time comes.' That's what you're good at. And then you never have to see me again. Just help me get my shit and get out of town, set up somewhere else away from King's reach. Just like you."

Sully stepped aside.

"Let's get this over with," he growled.