Chapter 9
Nine
I didn’t grow up with an “oh no, do you need a Band-Aid” parent. I had a sister who liked to say ‘oh no. We may need to chop it off.’
—Text from Calliope to Searcy
CALLIOPE
I stared at the old man in shock.
“I don’t know that this is a great idea, sir. I’m not sure…”
“I Googled it. UPS drivers are allowed to get tips, though they discourage cash tips. So I’m giving you a Christmas basket. I just really appreciate you bringing this up here for me. The last driver used to deliver it in the yard, and sometimes the neighborhood dogs used to take them.”
I hated that I was hearing about the old driver again.
Seriously. Did she have no soul?
“Are you sure?”
The old man looked at me with a nod and said, “Absolutely. Thank you so much.”
I smiled and took one last Reese’s Christmas Tree from the bucket—the man had been waiting for me to knock like it was freakin’ Halloween—and smiled at him. “See you next time.”
The old man waved, and his decrepit looking dog gave one last exhausted bark before the door was shut.
I walked back to the truck with my spoils—a bucket that had the Grinch on it that was filled to the brim with candy, cookies and a few random drinks—and had a smile on my face as I did it.
When I’d first tried to decide what I wanted to do with my life, never had it occurred to me to do anything like this.
But I was finding that I really liked it.
It was peaceful, and I got to listen to audiobooks all day while doing my job.
I couldn’t find anything bad about that. Plus, I got my steps in.
The smile stayed on my face until my phone rang four deliveries later.
“Hello?”
“Calliope?”
I stiffened at the sound of my sister’s voice so close to tears. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Because if my sister was calling me, there was something seriously wrong. Because Anders didn’t call me unless it was an emergency, and I was the last resort.
I sort of felt badly about that and all, but I was exhausted from having to help raise them.
It’d been years, but the animosity still somewhat lingered. Which sucked, because I didn’t ever want Anders or Kent to feel like I didn’t love them. I did. I just hated that I had to help raise them when I wasn’t an adult myself at the time.
Anders sniffled then said, “Can you come get me?”
I looked at the brown truck and then back toward my phone. “I have like four more deliveries to make, and then I can drop my truck off and come get you.”
“Okay,” she hiccupped. “Please hurry.”
I didn’t linger on the deliveries. I also didn’t volunteer to help like I usually did when I got back. Instead, I got into my truck and…nothing.
It didn’t start at all.
In fact, it didn’t even make a noise indicating that it was trying to.
Just a bunch of nothing.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Come on,” I grumbled as I got out.
I noticed the hood slightly ajar and walked to it woodenly, hoping that it would be an obvious fix—like a battery cable disconnected.
But no such luck.
And no such battery.
There wasn’t one, actually.
The space where the battery used to be was empty.
Fucking great.
The last thing I wanted to do was call anyone for help, because I just knew that motherfucker was going to tell me “I told you so,” but I did it anyway. Because Anders didn’t call me crying for no reason.
And seeing as Searcy was busy today with the kids at some Santa function at the local smokehouse, I wasn’t going to call her.
I had no other choice but to call Doc.
“Calliope,” he greeted me in two rings.
I gritted my teeth. “My stupid truck won’t start, and there’s something wrong with Anders and I have to go pick her up from school.”
I wouldn’t admit that the truck wouldn’t start because there was no battery in it.
If I was a guessing girl, that wouldn’t be the only thing wrong with it, either.
He paused. “I thought Hush fixed it for you.”
I ground my teeth together for a few seconds before I said, “He did. But it seems to be broken again.”
He sighed. “Where are you? I can’t come. We’re at a retreat outside of town working on some training.”
I didn’t point out that I hadn’t asked him to come.
“Do you mind asking one of your friends to give me a ride?” I begged. “I just need a ride to the school, then back to my place. I’ll deal with a tow truck and my truck once I get home.”
“I’ll send someone now.” He hung up before I could reply.
I just prayed that it wasn’t “Hush.”
Jasper really fuckin’ liked to get on my nerves, and he wouldn’t miss a single opportunity to really rub this in.
I paced in front of my truck, hoping beyond hope that the man coming wouldn’t be the one I had a feeling was about to show.
My luck didn’t hold out.
Jasper was, of course, who I got.
Hush rode up in his sparkly red pickup and pulled right to a stop directly next to me.
I didn’t waste any time getting into the back seat, since I noticed his ‘friend’ was in the front seat. Not to mention there were so many fuckin’ bags in the back that Anders wouldn’t fit with me.
The woman was gorgeous, and I fucking hated her.
“What’s wrong with your truck?” he asked, sounding amused.
I didn’t reply. “Need to get to Anders’s school, please.”
Jasper chuckled quietly, and I wanted to reach around the seat and chop him in the throat.
I did none of those things and stayed quiet as he started to drive.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Jazz?” the blonde bombshell in the front seat asked.
“No,” Jasper answered. “No point.”
I tried not to let that hurt me.
Instead, I crossed my arms over my chest and stayed silent.
If he didn’t want to introduce me, I would allow that.
But I wouldn’t be introducing myself.
“You’re so bad.” The blonde bombshell sighed. “Hi, Calliope, right? I’m Harlow. Harlow Degraw. This goofball is my best friend.”
I flicked my gaze to hers then to “the goofball” then back to hers before grumbling, “Nice to meet you.”
When I didn’t say anything else, Jasper sighed. “I told you there was no point.”
The fucking ass.
If he hadn’t been an all-out jerk and introduced me, maybe I would’ve been a little bit nicer.
“Which school?” Jasper asked after a few minutes of driving.
“The middle school,” I answered. “The one with the metal flowers outside.”
“On it.”
Again, I stayed silent.
It was either that or I’d ask questions I had no business asking.
I pulled my phone out and texted Anders, getting nothing in response.
“Such a stupid fuckin’ law,” I muttered to myself. “What’s the goddamn point of it, anyway?”
“What’s the point of what?” the woman asked.
I ignored her.
“What’s the point of what, Calliope?” Jasper asked.
I ignored him, too.
He muttered something under his breath, and you’ll notice that I didn’t ask him what he meant, even though I heard his ‘pain in the fuckin’ ass’ loud and clear.
I left him to his thoughts, and I didn’t put my nose in his business.
Even though I knew that the “pain in the ass” he spoke of was me.
“Where do I go?” Jasper asked after a while.
I looked around at the school and shrugged. “My best guess would be the shack at the gate.”
I mean, duh.
Jasper rolled his eyes and pulled up to the guard shack where a man appeared bundled up in a bright green coat and scarf.
“What’s your business?”
“Came to pick up a sick kid,” Jasper lied.
Such a smooth liar, too.
“License?” the guard asked.
Jasper handed it over, then said, “Anyone else going in?”
“I am,” I replied through gritted teeth.
“I’ll need your license, too.”
I didn’t have my driver’s license, just my license to carry, since that was the only one that I carried around with me in my phone—stupidly I’d left my purse in my truck behind—and waited.
“You don’t have your license?” Jasper asked.
“No,” I grumbled.
“I wouldn’t give you access,” Jasper muttered.
“It’s still an ID,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but you don’t hand some school security guard a license to carry ID when…”
The security guard came back out with two fluorescent green badges and said, “The office is right there up front with the awning over it.” He handed the passes to Jasper.
Jasper nodded his thanks and handed me the pass as well as my license.
I shoved it back into my phone case and barely refrained from sticking my tongue out at him.
He would know, though.
He worked with another Truth Teller, Gunner Penn, at his business—Angel Security. Angel Security specialized in making schools safe for students to be in. I knew he was right, but I can’t say that my priority had been getting my license as much as getting to Anders.
Again, for her to call me…
The moment that we got to the entrance, I jumped out and barreled toward the door.
I, of course, got hung up at the damn metal doors for so long that Jasper eventually caught up with me.
I noticed, also, that he’d shed his Truth Tellers MC cut and was only wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. Oh, and those stupid fucking boots that should be ugly but they weren’t.
The door buzzed, and we were let into a vestibule that felt like I was in a prison cell.
“Can I help you?” a robotic voice asked.
I looked toward the Plexiglass window and said, “I’m here to see my little sister, Anders.”
Her eyes swept me up and down, and I could see the disgust in her eyes. The voice matched as she said, “ID?”
After retrieving it once again from my phone case, I gave it to her, sliding it through the small window.
The woman’s gaze flicked toward Jasper, and back to me. “Are you together?”
I shrugged.
I wasn’t sure why that mattered.
I just wanted to see my sister.
Jasper reached into his back pocket and produced his ID, handing it over. “We are.”
She took the IDs and walked to the computer off to the side of where she’d been standing. She typed in a few names and said, “Are you taking her home?”
I didn’t know.
Anders was a smarty pants, and her favorite place in the world was school. She wouldn’t want to go home, I didn’t think. But I wouldn’t rule out that option.
“I’m not sure.”
“Then why are you here?”