Chapter 25 Nacho #2
"No."
"Jessica, please."
"I said no."
The mask cracks again. "You'll regret this. When they get tired of you, when they move on to the next shiny thing, you'll come crawling back. And I won't be there."
I feel Jessica flinch beside me.
My control snaps.
"Time to go." I grab his shoulder and haul him away from the meat case. Spin him toward the front of the store. "Before I decide that assaulting someone in my county is worth the paperwork."
"This isn't over."
"Yes, it is." Jessica's voice is small but certain. "It was over the moment I ran from that church. You just didn't know it yet."
Callum stares at her. For a moment, I see genuine confusion in his eyes. Like he really can't comprehend how she became someone who fights back.
Then his expression hardens into something ugly.
I walk him toward the front of the store. My hand stays on his shoulder. Firm. Unyielding.
The automatic doors slide open. November air rushes in, cold and sharp.
"If you come back to Largo Waters," I tell him quietly, "I'll arrest you. I don't care if your father plays golf with the mayor. I don't care about our history. You're not welcome here."
He jerks away from my grip. Straightens his sweater. "You're choosing her over years of friendship?"
"You made that choice when you grabbed her."
He stares at me for a long moment. Then turns and walks to his car. A black rental with out-of-state plates.
I watch him drive away. Watch until his taillights disappear around the corner.
Then I turn back into the store.
Jessica is standing in the middle of the dairy aisle, surrounded by abandoned shopping carts and staring shoppers. Her arms are wrapped around herself. Her whole body is shaking.
The crowd parts as I walk toward her.
"Hey." I reach for her slowly. Giving her time to pull away if she needs to.
She doesn't pull away.
She falls into me.
I catch her. Arms coming around her automatically. Pulling her against my chest. She's so small like this. Fragile in a way she never seems when she's arguing with my deputies or reorganizing my evidence room.
"I've got you," I murmur into her hair. "You're safe. I promise."
She doesn't cry. Just shakes. Her fingers twist in my uniform shirt, holding on like I'm the only thing keeping her upright.
Maybe I am.
Around us, people are starting to move again. Whisper. The show is over.
"Your groceries," I say after a moment. "You were shopping for something."
"Cookies." Her voice is muffled against my chest. "For the team. But I don't... I can't..."
"I'll get them." I pull back just enough to see her face. "Come on. Let's finish shopping and get you home."
I keep one arm around her as we walk through the aisles. Grab chocolate chips, butter, eggs, flour. All the things I've seen her buy before. All the ingredients for the cookies that make teenage hockey players worship her.
At the checkout, Mrs. Johnson is working the register. She doesn't say anything. Just rings up the items with steady hands and gives me a look that says she saw everything and approves.
"That boy needed someone to tell him no," she says as she bags the groceries. "Should have happened years ago."
I pay. Take the bags. Keep Jessica tucked against my side as we walk to the parking lot.
Carlos's truck is parked near the entrance. I help her into the passenger seat, load the bags in the back.
"Wait here." I pull out my phone. "I'm calling your brothers to come get you."
"My brothers?" She looks up at me with red-rimmed eyes.
The slip registers. But I don't correct it.
"Yeah." I dial Carlos. He answers on the first ring. "Need you at the grocery store. Now. Bring Sergio."
"On our way."
I climb into the passenger seat beside her. Leave the door open so I can watch the parking lot. Watch for any sign of that black rental coming back.
"He said I was nothing." Her voice is hollow. "In front of everyone."
"He's wrong."
"Is he?" She turns to look at me. "I ran from my wedding. I'm living with four men I barely know. I can't even grocery shop without causing a scene. What if he's right? What if I am nothing?"
"Stop." I reach over and take her hand. "You're not nothing. You never were."
"Then what am I?"
I could give her platitudes. Could tell her she's strong and brave and surviving.
Instead, I tell her the truth.
"You're the woman who ran from a wedding because staying was worse than leaving." I squeeze her hand. "You're not nothing, Jess. You're everything."
Her breath catches.
"Nacho..."
"I'm not asking for anything. I'm just telling you what I see." I brush my thumb across her knuckles. "What I've always seen. Even when you were with him. Even when I wasn't supposed to look."
A tear slides down her cheek.
I reach up and wipe it away.
"He's gone," I tell her. "And he's not coming back. I'll make sure of it."
A truck pulls into the parking lot. Navy blue. Negrorio Carpentry logo on the side.
Carlos jumps out, Sergio right behind him. They take one look at Jessica's face and their expressions harden to stone.
"What happened?" Sergio's voice is deadly calm.
"Callum." I don't elaborate. They can see the evidence. The shaking. The tears. The protective way I'm sitting beside her.
Carlos's jaw clenches. "Where is he?"
"Gone. For now." I look at Sergio. "We need to talk. All of us. Tonight."
He nods. "Agreed."
Carlos moves to Jessica's side of the truck. Opens the door. Crouches down so he's at her eye level.
"Hey, sunshine." His voice is soft. Gentle. "Let's get you home, okay?"
She nods wordlessly.
He helps her out and into his arms. She goes willingly, pressing her face against his neck, breathing in his scent.
Sergio moves to stand beside me. We watch Carlos settle Jessica in his truck, watch him buckle her seatbelt like she's something precious.
"He grabbed her," I say quietly. "Hard enough to leave marks."
Sergio doesn't respond. Doesn't need to. I can smell the rage rolling off him. Cedar and smoke, sharp with fury.
"I threatened him. Told him to leave town. Made it official."
"Good."
"He's not going to let this go."
"I know." Sergio's eyes are hard. "We'll be ready."
Carlos pulls away with Jessica.
Sergio and I stand in the parking lot, watching them disappear.
“Years of friendship," Sergio says. Not a question. A statement.
"Against one woman we all love." I meet his eyes. "Not a hard choice."
"No." His mouth curves into something sharp. "Not hard at all."
We stand there for another moment. Two brothers who just crossed a line we can never uncross.
Then Sergio claps me on the shoulder.
"Pack meeting tonight. Seven o'clock. We make a plan."
"Agreed."
I watch him walk to his truck. Watch him drive away.
Then I go back inside to get those steaks I never paid for.
The store manager sees me coming and waves me off. "On the house, Sheriff. For handling that situation."
I nod my thanks. Pay anyway. Leave a generous tip.
When I get back to my patrol car, I sit in the silence for a long moment.
My hands are shaking. The adrenaline is wearing off.
I could have killed him.
The thought comes unbidden. True.
When I saw his hand on her arm, when I heard him call her nothing, something in me wanted to forget the badge and the oath and the law. Wanted to show him exactly what happens to men who hurt women in my town.
I didn't.
Because I'm the sheriff. Because I'm supposed to be better.
But God, it was tempting.
I start the car and head back to the station.
Friday is coming. Callum's dinner. The confrontation we all know is inevitable.
When it happens, we'll be ready.
All four of us.
United.
Because Jessica isn't nothing.
She's everything.
And we're not letting her go.