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I need your help. Please come get me at Jimmy’s Range.
“What now?” I say, as I type out a reply that I’m on my way.
I don’t want to leave, but if Billy needs my help, then it’s necessary. I get dressed in my wet shirt and my skirt, then hurry out to the backyard to say goodbye to the family. Ganny gives me a kiss on the cheek, and I hurry out of there. I’ve got an old beater that I was using before Billy gave me the stolen Hyundai.
I get in, roll down the windows to let in fresh air, and start the engine. The front door of the Taylor house slams, and Jesse descends the wooden porch steps, pulling on a shirt.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“Huh?”
“Is it Billy?”
I bristle. “None of your damn business.”
“When are you going to realize that you don’t have to run after him?” Jesse asks.
“That is so fucking hilarious, Taylor. You have no idea what you’re talking about. Literally. It’s easy for you to judge when you’ve got your perfect family who does potlucks, and brothers and sisters who love you, and a father—” I cut off. “You don’t know. So how about you do us both a favor and stop acting like you do.”
And then I drive off.
He stands there, watching me, and I force myself to focus on the road rather than the rearview mirror.
Nine
JESSE
I sit at the long,worn wooden bar in Longhorn’s with Cash and Savage on either side of me, my hand on a beer. I’m not driving my squad tonight, but I don’t live too far from Longhorn’s anyway, and I like the walk home along the beach.
All I can think about is walking home.
That’s not true. All I can think about is Marci.
Her body underneath me. My hand resting on her throat. Her puckered nipples. The angry words she shouted at me before she drove off.
I squeeze the beer bottle and then drink a sip.
Longhorn’s is alive tonight, with plenty of locals dancing on the wooden floor, music thumping through the speakers, and the back doors thrown open wide onto the beach sands. It’s cooler than summer, but it’s still pleasant at the start of fall, and there are folks sitting out at the tables, kidding around.
Couples with their arms around each other. I never got it. Committed relationships. Not because I can’t care for somebody else, but because I don’t see how or why they would care for me exclusively. That kind of shit is a gateway to hurt.
I take another swig of beer.
“You want me to get you a napkin, brother?” Cash asks. “You look like you’re about to cry.”
Savage thumps me on the back. “He’s not wrong. What’s up?”
He’s infamously quiet, Savage. He’s got a sense of humor, but he tends to keep to himself. He’s more beast than man, especially after he came back from the military.
“Nothing,” I say. “I’m good.”
“Good?” Cash asks. “Usually, you’ve got a woman on either arm by this point in the evening.”
I shrug.
Casual sex is fun, but it gets boring.
Savage stiffens incrementally next to me, and I glance up at his face and then follow his gaze. June, Hannah, and Marci have entered the bar together. Marci’s red hair is tied up in a messy bun, and she’s wearing a pair of skin-tight jeans that hug her shapely thighs. She’s wearing a silky green top that’s frilly at the bottom and ruched at the top.
