Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
SAbrINA
I was sitting there, minding my own business, waiting for Cal and Cricket to come, when a woman approached me. I’d seen her when we came out of the doctor’s office, and she’d given me a filthy look. She waited for Cal to walk away before she approached. At first, she just stood near me and stared—or more like glared.
I ignored her. What else was I supposed to do? I scrolled through my watch, checking messages, but scrolling on a watch was its own sort of torture. Cori had sent some photos. They were pictures of us at the community center and line dancing, and they showed a closeness, a bond. More than our attraction.
There was one with Cal, me, and Jace that reminded me the way we’d been in college. The divide starting with that event in Vegas could no longer be seen. The beauty we’d had in college existed today, and the only thing to change was our age.
“I know who you are.” The woman moved to stand to the side of the bench, like she’d been trying to look at my phone.
Damn, my situational awareness blows.
“And exactly who do you think I am?” I shouldn’t have asked, because I could smell the anger rolling off her and knew that was trouble.
“You’re one of those assholes that did that program at the community center.”
“And that’s bad because…?”
Shut your mouth, Sabrina. I should have excused myself and hobbled away. Put space and some crutches between us.
“Because you all walk around like you live a good life when you don’t. You ain’t any better than the rest of us. That man of yours has it all wrong. Showing a girl some attention ain’t bad. Sometimes they mean yes when they say no.”
I felt a flare of pride when she called Cal my “man,” but it had been extinguished quickly with the next remark. “You’re a woman, and you’re saying that?” I asked. “Not to sound cliché, but no means no. It literally means to refuse, not sorta kinda agree.”
A kid Rod’s age walked up and stood next to her. He had a sucker in his mouth and a red mark on his cheek.
“Well, that nurse said yes to my sister’s boy, and then when she thinks she’s too good for him, she tells the poh-leece that he’s harassing her.”
It took me a moment to connect the pieces, but I believed she was talking about Casey.
“All he wanted to do was give her some good attention. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.” She pointed to her kid. “And this one gets in trouble at school just for exercising his amendment rights. All he did was say the truth. That feral Jamison kid jumped him and marked up his face. He’s as worthless as his father.”
So this was the kid who’d hassled Rod. It totally made sense. I’d had enough. There was no point in engaging in a conversation with this person. I pushed to a stand, got my crutches underneath me, and was three steps away before she rushed to stand in front of me.
“What? You don’t like what I have to say? You think because you live out on a fancy ranch you are better than me—than us?”
This woman was all over the place with her accusations. I didn’t know anything about her, yet it was hard not to make assumptions. What I did know was I needed to get away.
“Please step aside.” I used my firm teacher’s voice, but it didn’t work.
She put her finger in my face. “You think you can just do what you want, say what you want, without repercussions? My nephew was arrested. My kid is in trouble, and he’s only in second grade. And it’s all because of you all thinking yer better than us, that we’re here to serve you.”
“You ever think that it’s a you problem?”
Before it left my mouth, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. Her eyes were crazy with anger, and up close, I smelled whiskey on her breath. But apparently, I was exactly who she accused me of being, because I’d just said what I wanted to say.
My gut told me I’d pushed her too far and was about to get hit. I had to let go of my crutches and put my wrapped foot on the ground to try to block her, but I was a few seconds behind when she delivered a heel punch to my temple. That surprised me. I’d totally thought she would be a fist-punch person.
“Now it looks like you have a problem. What are you going to do about that?” she asked.
Honestly, I made the decision before I was even cognizant of it. My weight had shifted to my injured ankle and my right fist had pulled back. I made sure my thumb wasn’t tucked, like Cal had told Rod. And I socked her in the eye.
“That’s what I’m going to do about it.” I shook out my hand and shifted back to my uninjured ankle because, holy crap, the pain in both my ankle and hand was powerful.
She reared back, her hand over her eye, and moved into feral mode. She brought her arms up like she was going to claw me to death, and my heart sped up. I would have to use a crutch as a weapon.
Suddenly I was in the air. Cal picked me up by the waist and spun me away from her, using his body to block me from her. “What the hell?” I cried.
She charged but came to a dead stop when she collided with him. He didn’t even wobble. He was a brick wall.
I dangled a few feet in the air and tried to look over my shoulder to see what was going on. The woman was on the ground, having bounced off Cal and fallen back. He offered her a hand to help her up, but she snarled, one hand still over her eye.
“Ma’am,” he said.
“She hit me.” She pointed at me.
“You hit me first,” I retorted. Oh my days, it was like being transported back to the playground.
Cricket joined the fray. “Kathy, what the hell is going on?”
The woman glared at her.
“Can you put me down?” I asked Cal.
He took me to the bench and lowered me to the seat. “How’s your hand, slugger?” His voice was quiet. He held my chin in his hand as he inspected my cheek. “You got a nice welt.”
“I think she had a ring on her finger.”
He brushed his thumb across it, then picked up my hand and checked out my knuckles. “I always did say you had a mean right hook.”
“Because I know to keep my thumb out.”
“Good girl. Though I’d rather you not punch people.”
“Me too. Her son is the one who Rod got in a fight with, and I think her nephew is the one stalking Casey.” I kept my voice low so as not to trigger her.
Fort joined us. He looked between me and Kathy.
“Arrest her. She assaulted me.” She jabbed her finger in my direction several times.
Fort sighed. “Well, now, let me ask you if you hit her first. Because just in the short walk here, five different people—we’ll call them witnesses—told me what they saw, and they all said you started it.”
“You’re on their side. I should have known.”
A deputy rushed up and handed Fort two bags of ice. He handed one to Kathy and one to Cal, who put the bag gently on my face. “Five minutes, then switch to your hand. Five on, five off.”
I nodded.
“Look over here, Kathy.” Fort pointed to the lamppost next to the bench and then a few more on the path. “And there and there. There are cameras on all those. All I have to do is watch the film. So I’m not sure if you can claim assault and know that Sabrina might be able to claim self-defense, but we’d have to get lawyers involved and all that. You want to do that?”
The disgust slid from her face replaced with worry. She shook her head.
Fort nodded. He turned to the deputy. “Take Kathy and Bobby to the diner and get them some coffee and food.”
The two of them were hustled away.
Fort raised a brow at me. “How ya feeling, Rocky?”
“Foolish. I really feel badly. I hit her in front of her kid.” The awfulness of it all was starting to come into clarity. I had a hard time meeting Fort’s eye.
“Sadly, it’s not the first time,” he said.
I groaned and covered my face. “That makes it worse.”
“You wanna press charges?”
I shook my head. “No. Of course not. Not that I condone this, but I get the feeling there is more at play here.”
Fort took a seat next to me. “And you would be right.” He looked at Cal. “Remember Casey from the community center?”
“Her nephew is Casey’s creeper,” I supplied.
Fort nodded again. “Apparently, some of Casey’s family members talked her out of doing most of the suggestions you gave. Said you were being dramatic. No outdoor-motion sensors. No house alarms. But she did add a safety latch to her door, so when he showed up the other night and she wouldn’t let him in, he lost his shit. It took a while for him to kick down the door. Gave her enough time to hide in a closet and call us. He’s got a record for this sort of stuff in two other states.”
Cal gave a low whistle through his teeth. “This is what I mean about my dad affecting my credibility. Someone other than me is gonna get hurt—did get hurt.” He tapped his watch, and I moved the ice to my hand.
“Take me home,” I said to Cal, who wasted not a second scooping me up. Fort handed him my crutches.
“I can walk. I just meant that we should leave.” I laughed.
“I’m a little shaken here, Reenie. I didn’t like seeing you get hit. Even if it was by a woman.”
“I’ll text you to reschedule,” Cricket said.
I felt foolish being carried like a bride. “No, come to the ranch if you can. We can figure everything out there.”
She nodded. “I’ll be right behind you.” Then she took off.
“Listen,” Fort said before turning away. “I’ve got a bead on Jamison’s whereabouts. I’ll let you know if it gets confirmed. Looks like he took a trip to Mexico.”
I sighed. “And the day started out so promising.”