41. “It’s Texas. Don’t act brand-new.”
“IT’S TEXAS. DON’T ACT brAND-NEW.”
HALE
Sal ended it the way a man might separate two fighting dogs. One hand. No hurry. More disappointed than angry.
I never saw him cross the lot. One second, I had a fistful of Shaun’s shirt and both of us were going down into the gravel. The next, Sal’s forearm was braced across my chest, moving me backward whether I wanted to go or not.
He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t need to. When a man built like Sal decided the night was over, the night was over.
Now we stood in the two camps he’d made of us.
Shaun leaned against his truck with a rag pressed to his mouth. Blood showed on his teeth whenever he pulled it away to check. He kept checking every few seconds, as if the result might change.
Annie stood beside me, cradling one wrist, her eyes still hot enough to start the whole thing over.
“Let me see.”
“It’s fine.” She flexed her hand and winced. “The grab was worse than the shove.”
I held out my hand.
She sighed and gave me her wrist.
No swelling yet. Nothing that looked broken. But the skin was hot where his fingers had closed around her, and I could feel four places it would come up dark by morning.
My jaw tightened. I let go before my grip tightened with it, and made things worse.
Annie glanced toward Shaun, then back at me. “For somebody who told me to stay quiet, you sure got loud.”
“He put his hands on you.”
“I noticed.”
“I’d already been looking for a reason.”
“Noticed that too.” Her mouth tipped up. “Happy to help.”
“Don’t.”
Sal stood several yards away with his arms crossed, watching all of us.
He’d made one call from the doorway a few minutes earlier, the phone looking small against his ear, his eyes on me the whole time. I hadn’t heard what he said, but I didn’t need to.
A man didn’t keep a place like this running by letting a fight in his parking lot grow legs.
The law was coming.
I should have been worried about that. Instead, all I could think about was Yasmine.
She had two weeks left. Then a plane. Then the biggest thing she had ever worked for waiting at the end of it.
If this landed on her, became something she carried down to the ice and turned over at night when she should’ve been sleeping, then I hadn’t protected her from anything. I’d handed her one more weight and called it love.
Headlights came up the county road and slowed. A cruiser turned into the lot, dirt grinding beneath its tires, and stopped near the building.
The engine cut, and a deputy climbed out, late twenties, uniform crisp, moving with the tired patience of a man who already knew what he was walking into.
He went to Sal first.
They spoke near the door, Sal’s voice too low to carry. The deputy listened, glancing toward us twice. Once at Shaun and the bloody rag. Once at Annie holding her wrist beside me.
Whatever Sal told him, he accepted without much surprise.
Then he walked toward us.
He gave Shaun a long, unimpressed look before turning to me.
“You Hale?”
“Yeah.”
His gaze dropped briefly to my knuckles, then he looked at Annie. “Annaleigh.”
Annie’s smile came out weak, the bravado slipping just long enough to show the nerves underneath before she pulled it back into place.
“Hey, Darryl,” she said.
He motioned for Shaun to come closer then asked, “Anybody need an ambulance?”
“No,” Shaun said.
The officer looked at Annie.
“I’m fine.”
His attention dropped to her wrist. “That doesn’t look fine.”
“It looks worse than it feels.”
He exhaled, then faced the three of us. “Anybody want to make a report?”
“I do.” Shaun pointed at me. “He hit me first.”
The deputy looked at Annie’s wrist again.
“You sure that’s where you want to start?”
Shaun’s mouth went flat. “He stole my truck.”
“Did you see him take it?”
“No, but he sent me a picture.”
“From his number?”
Shaun hesitated. “No.”
“Did you see him driving it?”
“No.”
“Anybody else see him driving it?”
Silence.
He nodded toward Annie. “What I can see is an injury on her wrist. What I have are multiple witnesses who saw you grab her first.”
“I didn’t hurt her.”
Annie laughed, short and flat, but Darryl kept his eyes on Shaun. “She gets to decide whether she agrees with that.”
Shaun worked it over, looking for the angle.
The deputy waited.
Finally, Shaun wiped his mouth and muttered, “I don’t want to file anything.”
“Fine.” He turned to Annie. “You?”
Her gaze went to Shaun, then to me. “No.”
She had the marks to prove it, and the deputy had all but put the pen in her hand. Instead, she’d said no because yes would have meant somebody looking harder at me. I liked that less than I’d liked the fight.
The deputy nodded once. “Everybody is making thoughtful decisions tonight. I’m proud of us.”
Shaun gestured toward the truck. “What about my truck?”
“Call a tow.”
“It’s the middle of nowhere.”
“You found your way here.”
“I came in a rideshare.”
“Then you already have the app.”
A few of the men near the bikes laughed under their breath.
Shaun’s face darkened. “My phone’s almost dead.”
He pointed toward the bar. “I’m sure somebody inside owns a charger. Ask politely.”
Shaun looked toward Sal.
Sal did not move.
“Or don’t,” he added. “Your choice.”
Shaun’s eyes cut toward me.
The deputy stepped into his line of sight.
“You’re going to wait by your truck. You’re going to keep your hands to yourself. When the tow gets here, you’re going to leave.”
Shaun held there another second, pride fighting common sense. Fortunately, common sense won, and he walked back toward the truck.
The moment he was out of earshot, the deputy turned to Annie.
“You cannot keep doing this, Annaleigh.”
She sighed. “How did you even know I was here?”
“Sal recognized you. Called Pop Pop, and Pop Pop called me before dispatch finished giving me the address,” Darryl said.
Annie rubbed both hands over her face. “Jesus Christ.”
“Aunt Maggie called too.”
Her hands dropped. “Fuck me.”
“Pop Pop got to her first. Told her you were having supper with him and that everybody needed to stop harassing his granddaughter.”
Annie’s whole face softened. “Aww. Pop Pop.”
“Please don’t make that face,” her cousin said. “I’m in uniform.”
“Fuck you.” She lifted her middle finger, but her smile wobbled. “Thanks for coming.”
“I came because I was working.”
“Thanks anyway.”
“Not enough. You still owe me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”
His smile came slow, and suddenly he looked a lot more like Annie. “Mama’s been trying to get somebody to sit with her at the missionary breakfast.”
“No.”
“You’re taking my spot.”
“I said, no.”
He reached for the notepad in his pocket. “Now, let me think. Is grand theft auto a felony?”
“Darryl.”
“Is it five to ten, or fifteen to twenty?”
“You don’t know?”
“Bet Aunt Maggie does.”
Annie stared at him hard enough to blister paint.
He clicked his pen.
“Fine,” she said.
“What was that?”
“I said I would be honored to attend the missionary breakfast with Auntie Nella.”
“Thought so.” He tucked the notepad away. “Six a.m. Wear something modest.”
Annie glared at him. “Go to hell, Officer Darryl.”
I’d spent the whole night managing her. It hadn’t once occurred to me that she came with people who’d been managing her a lot longer.
A grandfather who’d already lied on her behalf, an aunt on the phone, and a cousin collecting payment in church attendance.
Must be something.
He smiled, then turned to me.
“Appreciate you stepping in,” he said. “Could’ve gotten uglier.”
I looked toward Shaun, standing across the lot, still holding the rag to his mouth.
“Got ugly enough.”
Darryl nodded. “You two are good to go. I’ll stay until the tow gets here and make sure he doesn’t decide to get creative.”
“I’ll ride with Hale,” Annie said.
“Figured.”
He pointed toward her wrist. “Ice it when you get home. If it swells or you can’t move your fingers, get it checked.”
“Yes, Officer.”
“And call Pop Pop.”
Her expression softened again. “I will.”
We climbed into the Chevelle.
The doors had barely shut before Annie sank into the passenger seat. “I can’t believe I got away with that.”
I turned the key. “Did you, though?”
She grimaced.
I glanced over at her. “Pop Pop.”
“Shut up.”
“You’ve got a Pop Pop.”
“It’s Texas. Don’t act brand-new.”
I pulled out onto the county road, leaving the lights of the bar behind us.