I wanted to hit Lefty again and again, until he just never got back up, even if I got the needle for it.
Thank God Rock was making his case. The deputies were sympathetic. You could see they all knew Lefty Wheeler was trouble. They’d been waiting for an excuse to pull him in.
Lefty hit Rock’s Nina with his car, broke my arm, and threatened a service dog.
You tell ’em, baby.
Lefty was about to find out the spiderwebs on his elbows—cheap flash he’d probably gotten at the mall—wouldn’t endear him to anybody inside.
He was going to walk in believing he was some kind of badass, and the general population was going to tear him apart like fresh bread.
I didn’t have a lot of experience feeling sorry for fuckbuckets like Lefty Wheeler, but I almost... almost...
Nah.Who was I kidding?
Lefty getting a big steaming pile of everything he deserved couldn’t happen soon enough for me.
My eyes drifted closed—
Toot, toot. The Vicodin Express is leaving the station. “All abooooooooooooard...”
Before Dad died, we went to a resort in Galveston for a few days. We played and picnicked during the day. Swam for hours in the warm waters of the gulf and fell into our beds exhausted and happy at night.
My bed always felt like it was out on the water, bobbing like a bit of cork on the waves, rising up and falling just as gently. Like someone was rocking the bed—some leftover magic, carrying me off to new ocean-going dream adventures.
The squeak of wheels brought me back to the present.
“Ready to go, Sky?”
Declan came in pushing Chandler’s wheelchair. Rock and Maisy following them in.
I startled awake.
I wasn’t handcuffed anymore.
I blinked to see if it was a mirage. Talked stupid.
“Wait. What?”
“Home.” Chandler narrowed his eyes like I was about to contradict him and he would have none of it.
As if the wordhomemight not be enough, he jabbed the finger of his good hand toward the door. “Go.”
I sat up groggily. Braced my hands and swung my legs over the side of the bed.
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re discharged,” said Rock. “Ryder’s bringing Elena’s car around. He’ll take her and Chandler back to the Rocking C. They’ve called for someone to wheel you out. We’re going in Declan’s SUV.”
“I’m—”I don’t trust his words.“I’m going home?”
“Of course. You didn’t—” Rock’s expression changed to one of horror. “You assumed you were going back to jail, didn’t you?”
I nodded. “Once I assaulted Lefty? Yeah. Pretty much.”
“Sterling told them what happened. He won’t let them blame you for something Lefty did.” Rock grinned. “Actually, I’m the one who’s in trouble. We all have citations to appear, but we can talk about that later. The most important thing is getting you and Elena and the Boss home where we can all relax.”
Just then, Andi and Declan came into the room with an orderly, who jabbed a thumb in the direction of the hall. “Your chariot awaits, Mr. Brody.”
