4.
Z ANE
“Of course we’re gonna tow the fucking car when the house is crowded with people,” I grumbled as I adjusted the straps on my Kevlar vest.
“In Joan’s defense, there’s really not a time when a house like this isn’t full of people,” Logan said as he stopped in front of me and bent his knees so I could adjust the neck flap on his vest. Once I was finished making sure it was secure, he did the same for me and then said, “Are you sure we shouldn’t try the diversion? ”
“They wouldn’t be able to hear anything over that music they’re blasting.”
“I like that song,” Cooper said cheerfully.
“Because you’re stupid and have no taste,” Jonas snapped.
“Are there ever times when you wish we didn’t know each other’s families so well so we could throw out some good comeback?” Cooper asked.
“Like what?”
“Yo Mama jokes, that’s-what-your-sister-said jokes . . . things like that.”
“I beat the ass off of pretty much anyone who talks about my mom,” Jonas replied.
“So do I,” Cooper agreed. “We’ve got two moms, man. Imagine the field day you guys could have with that if you didn’t know them.”
“True, but we do know them and understand that either one of them could kick our asses, so we leave the moms out of it,” Logan replied. “They’ve done it before.”
“And we all know what would happen if we insulted one of our sisters,” I added. I grimaced before I said, “They’d grab their brooms, unite like a Transformer, and kill us all.”
“I thought that was the Power Rangers,” Logan mused.
“Transformers had Devastator,” I reminded them.
“Are we set?” Cooper asked.
“Yeah. I already flipped the switch to turn the lights off,” I told him as I stepped onto the tire and hopped into the back of the tow truck.
As soon as Jonas was in the truck beside me, Cooper started it up.
We listened as Logan’s truck pulled off, and within just a minute, he gave us the all-clear for us to move in.
Luckily, we were only a few blocks away from our target, so it didn’t take long to get there, but just as Cooper turned the wheel to back us toward the vehicle we’d been searching for, Logan’s frantic voice came through our mikes.
“There’s movement on the porch, but it doesn’t look . . . It’s a woman, and she does not belong here.”
I sat up in the bed of the truck and got ready to jump out.
At this point, there was no way for us to avoid being seen, so we might as well get the car since we were here anyway.
I had just gotten out of the truck and attached the end of the strap when I heard a voice I recognized.
Before I had finished ratcheting it tight, I knew that Logan was right - my coffee buddy was right in the middle of a situation where she did not belong.
I turned around in time to see her reach past her younger brother, who had answered the door, and grab the woman behind him by her hair.
She yanked her out of the doorway and flung her off the porch before I even had a chance to blink.
By the time I realized I should probably do something, she was straddling the woman while she decimated her face with her closed fists.
Somehow, the men inside hadn’t realized what was going on yet, so we were still alone outside, but I knew that wouldn’t last. I had no idea what I was stepping into, but I was well aware it was not my business, and we should be hauling ass right about now.
But instead of leaving, I ran onto the porch, grabbed Courtney’s brother by the shirt, and tossed him toward Jonas. He let out a loud yelp and started squirming the second Jonas’ arms went around him, but I didn’t give him more than a passing glance.
I needed all my faculties with me when I waded into the catfight on the lawn.
I had learned my lesson at a very young age - when two women were pissed off enough to start swinging, interrupting them before they were finished was dangerous. Very dangerous. I had a scar going through my left eyebrow to prove it.
Apparently, that scar was old enough for me to have forgotten the lesson it taught me because I grabbed Courtney around the waist before I took off toward the truck where Jonas was wrestling with her brother.
She was still squirming and fighting to get back to whipping that woman’s ass when I managed to get us into the back of the truck.
I barely had a grip on her when Cooper took off with Logan following right behind us.
Suddenly, Courtney realized that she’d basically just been kidnapped and spun around with her fist raised to come at me.
I put my hands up and yelled, “Not it!”
I heard Jonas laugh before he grunted and warned, “That was your one free shot, you little shithead. Do it again, and I’ll take off my belt and whip your ass!”
Courtney put her palms on my chest and shoved with each word as she asked, “What. The. Fuck?”
“I could say the same thing. What’s a prim little lady like you doing beating somebody’s ass in the front yard of a drug dealer’s house?”
“I knew it!” Courtney screamed. She reached over and yanked her brother out of Jonas’ grip before she sniffed him like a drug dog.
Her nose twitched, and she looked into his eyes before she whispered, “I’m gonna drug test your ass in the morning, and if there’s anything other than Tylenol in your system, I’ll send that bitch back to prison on life support! ”
“I fucking hate you, Court! I hate you! How could you do that to her?”
“Is this where you’ve been sneaking off to at night?” Courtney asked in a deadly calm voice. “For how long, Dayton?” When the young man didn’t answer quickly enough, she hissed, “How long?”
“It’s none of your business! She’s my mom! I should be living with her, not you!”
“I wondered how that bitch got her claws in you, but now I know. That will be the last time you set eyes on her, little man. The very last fucking time.”
“So, I feel like I should introduce myself before I ask what the fuck is going on and become a witness in federal court,” Jonas said cheerfully.
Courtney cut her eyes to Jonas and gave him a terrifyingly cold smile before she said, “Hi, I’m Courtney. And you are?”
He gulped before he said, “Jonas.” He flushed before he said, “Jonas Dean.”
Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed, and she gave him a real smile before she said, “Thank you for your help.” She looked at me, and her smile faltered before she said, “And thank you too. I’m sorry if I scratched or .
. .” She bit her lip when she realized mine was bleeding and added, “Or that.”
“What the fuck did I just . . . Was that your mother ?”
“Yes!” the boy screamed.
“I guess she’s out,” Courtney said calmly as she studied her nails.
She looked over at her brother and said, “And that’s the last time you’ll see her or speak to her because I’m sure it’s a violation of her parole to have any contact with any of us.
I’m going to figure out who her parole officer is in the morning and remind him of that because I’m a law-abiding citizen. ”
“No, Court! She’s doing great. She’s clean and sober . . .”
“Right.”
“And she’s not gonna do anything to violate her parole.”
“Other than live in a dealer’s house surrounded by criminals.”
“She doesn’t live there! She was just helping them get clean. She lives in a garden and even has her own house!”
“Are there little fairies flitting around the garden sprinkling magic dust on everything?” Courtney laughed bitterly before she said, “I doubt it. She gets downright violent when a single particle of her favorite dust is wasted.”
“She lives in a garden?” I asked.
“Yes! She said that I can come live with her soon if I just help her.”
“Is that what happened to your PlayStation?” Courtney asked. I could tell by the look on the kid’s face that it was, and so could she. Finally, she asked, “And the rest of the shit that’s come up missing?”
“She had to because you won’t give her any money!”
“Give me your phone.”
“No, I . . .”
We all lurched to the side when Cooper took a corner too fast, and after we braced ourselves and found our bearings, Courtney said, “Give me the phone because you’re not gonna fucking like it if I have to get it myself.
” The boy passed a phone to her, and she set it aside before she held her hand out and said, “Now give me the other one.”
“I don’t have another one. That’s my phone.”
“Bullshit. You know I see a copy of every text that’s sent and received from that phone. Give me the other phone, Dayton.”
“But that’s the only way she can get in contact with me.”
The boy started squirming and stopped when Jonas extended his hand. As Courtney took the phone, he said, “It was in his back pocket.”
“Since we’re airing our dirty laundry out for the whole world to see anyway, I might as well just say it now.
You aren’t ever going to talk to her again because I won’t allow it.
Someday, when you get older and pull your head out of your ass, you’ll understand why.
Until then, you should mind your p’s and q’s, little buddy, because Ben and Liam have both volunteered to take you off my hands. ”
“No! I don’t want to leave Rojo! All of my friends are here!”
“Consider that when you’re fucking up, Dayton, because I’m not sure how easy it will be for you to make friends on an army base in Bumfuck, Nowhere!”
“Let’s go back to the part about your mom living in a garden,” I suggested as we drove through the gates into the yard to secure the car we’d just picked up. Right before we pulled into the storage building, I asked, “Is it over there?”
“Yes, it is. She bought a house over there!”
I looked down as I tried to figure out how to break his heart gently instead of ripping it out through his chest and leaving him in tears.
“What do you know?” Courtney asked. When I shook my head, she narrowed her eyes and said, “We’ll discuss this later.”