Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jake
After commiserating with Elias for an extra ten minutes while Emily and Dale checked over Ben, I’ve run out of things to say. Not that there’s anything wrong with Ben. His vehicle is built like a tank, but Emily appears as interested in avoiding me as I do in pretending she doesn’t exist.
We’ve discussed the specific damage to his baby, his dislike of oversized vehicles being allowed on the streets, the overcompensation for small dicks by those who drive said pickups, the best places to get bodywork done, and the need for a full traffic light in Brookhaven versus the blinking one that he ran.
The latter is humorous, but Elias isn’t in a laughing mood, and neither am I. The sound of Emily’s amusement feels like a velvet caress covered in shards of glass as it strokes and jabs along my skin.
Now, we’ve resorted to the game on television last night. I didn’t see the game because I was too busy with Emily. Until she left me. In the middle of the night. Like I was a random asshole she fucked in the bathroom of a bar.
The scent of her jasmine and vanilla laced perfume swirls around me, setting my teeth on edge. I don’t have to turn around to know she’s approaching our position.
She walked out on me. She got up in the middle of the night and walked the fuck out on me. I spent six blissful hours worshipping her body, touching her, tasting her, being surrounded by her. Sleeping beside her. It was heaven or as close as I’ll ever get.
And it was nothing to her. I swallow over the acid in my throat. This is why I stopped sleeping around.
After Emily chose Spencer, I doubled down, going from woman to woman, trying to fill my head with anything but her. It didn’t work. And one day a few months later, I woke up with a girl in my bed. I didn’t know her name, and I realized I didn’t care to know it.
She woke up with stars in her eyes. I got out of bed and told her to leave. It didn’t matter that I’d explained in detail that I was only looking for a good time when we met the night before. By morning, I could tell she wanted something I couldn’t give her.
Hope. Me. A future. I couldn’t give her any of those things.
That was the last time. The tears in her eyes left me feeling like a selfish asshole.
And now, Emily did the same thing to me. She was only looking for a good time, and I built it up to be something. Everything. Only to have the door slammed in my face. Maybe I deserved it.
I straighten my shoulders and take her in. Her face is clean of makeup, revealing the dark circles under her eyes. She’s pale. Is she sick? “Are you okay?”
She frowns and ignores my question. “Elias, are you suffering any injuries?”
“No, I’m fine.” One corner of Elias’s mouth quirks upward. “Now if you want to give my car a checkup, you’re going to find different results. My poor baby is flatlining.”
Emily smiles in response to his attempt at levity. “Boxy has seen better days.”
“Ah….” His eyes light up. “You know Boxy’s pet name.”
“Of course.” She laughs as I shove my hands into my pants. Seriously? She’s going to flirt with this guy in front of me. He’s almost twice her age. “Everyone in town knows that Boxy is your baby.”
A flush settles across his cheeks. “I guess that makes me sound a little shallow.”
“Not at all.” She rests her hand on his upper arm, and it takes everything inside of me not to grab her hand and remove it from him. Especially when he inches closer. The tow truck turns down the street.
“Are you going to Callahan’s this weekend?” He looks like an eager puppy ready to chase her around like a bouncing red rubber ball.
Everyone goes to Callahan’s Bar in the city because our dive bar is just that–a dive. Rusty Nail Tavern is okay to grab a beer on a hot summer night, but not a place you want to party. Or even hang out.
“No.” She drops her hand down to her side and frowns. “I don’t have time to go.”
“That’s too bad.” His voice is low as his eyes rake over her. I’m going to poke his eyes out.
“Elias, the tow truck is here.” He needs to get away from her before I lose my shit. “You’d better check in with Nate, or your car might end up at one of those chop shop places in the city.”
“Right.” The color in his face disappears as he eats up the ground between us and Nate who’s climbing out of his tow truck. The man’s T-shirt is smeared with grime from where he’s swiped his hands on his clothes after hooking up a vehicle.
“Did you have to flirt with him?” I growl low enough that no one else can hear me.
“I wasn’t flirting with him.” Her response is not nearly as quiet, causing Dale to turn his head toward us so he can better listen, while pretending to be in a conversation with Ben.
“You could’ve fooled me.”
“You’re a fine one to talk.” She crosses her arms over her chest.
“What?” I wrinkle my nose as I try and figure out what she means. I’ve not spoken to a female since she drove up.
“Never mind.” She turns on her heel.
I grab her arm and hold her in place. “What’re you talking about? I’ve not been flirting with anyone.”
Her eyes are shrouded as she turns her head away from me. “Forget I said anything. I didn’t mean anything by it. Now let go of my arm so I can get back to work. People are looking at us and wondering what’s going on.”
“We couldn’t have that, now, could we.” I drop my hand to my side. When’re you ever going to get it into your thick fucking skull? There’s no future between you and Emily.
Twenty Minutes Later
Once the accident scene is cleared, I drive the streets of Brookhaven in a grid pattern. Every day, we travel a different pattern based upon a randomizer. The worst thing a police department can do is be as predictable as a mailman.
We don’t have much crime in Brookhaven, and varied surveillance gives us an additional advantage over people who have fleeting thoughts about vandalizing or breaking into someone’s house.
I was supposed to switch out with Ramirez but begged off. The last thing I want to do is hang out at the station where I can see Emily coming in and out of the ambulance lot all day.
A young girl of about sixteen, dressed in a black pair of sweatpants and a matching T-shirt with a band emblem on the front, travels along Cedar Ridge with a couple of grocery bags in her hand.
When she glances up, she stops in mid-step. It’s Mackenzie, and I’m not her favorite person. Likely all police officers are not her favorite people. I pick up speed as she spins on her heel as if she’s going to retreat to where she came from.
But instead of fleeing, she squares her shoulders and stops on the sidewalk, slowly changing course. And waits.
I roll down the passenger window and shift the cruiser into park. “Hello, Mackenzie.”
“Officer Thompson.” Her jaw is tight as she surveys the block, scanning to see if anyone is watching her talk to me.
“Is everything okay?” The dark circles under her eyes are nearly bruises. Compared to the smudges under Emily’s eyes, these are the real thing.
“Yes, I’m fine. Once again, the baby isn’t mine, and I need to get going before my brother gets up.”
“Is he not working today?”
She laughs, but it isn’t a humorous sound. Rather, it’s filled with mirth. “Chad only works long enough to get a fix and then he bails out of the world for a week. He’s on day three of a crash. When he wakes up, he’s going to be pissed and take it out on me if I’m late getting his breakfast.”
“Do you need to go somewhere safe? There’s a shelter in the city. It’s a good place. They help young girls and women get away from abusive family situations.”
“No.” Her eyes are wide as she shifts backward and takes a step away from the curb. “I can’t go.”
“Yes, you can.” I don’t need her to draw a picture to know what she’s dealing with. If she doesn’t get the food to him in time, he’s going to use her as a punching bag.
“No, you don’t understand.” Her knuckles are white as she fists the plastic bag handles.
Son of a bitch. It pisses me the fuck off when assholes have people running this scared.
“You’re right. I don’t understand, but I can get you somewhere safe.
Get in, right now, and I’ll take you to a shelter.
He’ll never know where you are. The shelter is top-notch.
They’re adamant about safety and have the funds to back that promise up. ”
“My mom went to one of those places.” Her eyes turn cold. “And my father found her. That’s why I’m with Chad. My father is serving ten years for involuntary manslaughter, and everyone knows that’s a joke. There was nothing involuntary about what he did to her.”
Fuck. Mackenzie is sixteen years old for fuck’s sake. She shouldn’t be living like this. “Listen–”
“I’ve got to go.” Her eyes narrow into slits. “I don’t need your help. Do you understand?” Her jaw is fixed as she waits for me to respond. She arches an eyebrow. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Watching her leave to go back to that house with her asshole half-brother is worse than finding out Emily left my bed without a word. Emily’s life wasn’t in danger while I’m certain Mackenzie’s is.