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Thirty

The potholes where I used to live will knock the tampon right out of ya.

— Searcy to Posy

POSY

The kid was admiring his handiwork.

“Why’d you do it?” I asked.

The kid gasped and turned, his gaze going from me to the four bikers behind me.

“W-what?” he stuttered, his gaze bouncing around comically.

“Why’d you burn it down?” I asked. “And why are you getting your friends to pretend like they saw Calliope here doing the burning?”

The kid looked green for a short second before he attempted to lie. “I didn’t do that.”

“No?” I asked. “Then why are all the witnesses here saying that they saw you, dressed like a girl, lightin’ it on fire?”

He scrunched up his nose. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t,” I snorted. “But I’m sure that I could go get a couple of your friends to talk. We could ask them why.”

His eyes turned from scared to cold. “That bitch fucked me up. She deserved to have her house burned down.”

“Kudos to you for waitin’ as long as you did,” I mused aloud. “If you had been a bit more careful about who saw you, I wouldn’t have thought it was you. But why frame the little sister? Why not frame the older one who actually did the breaking of your bones?’

“Calliope, the little cock tease, always gets into trouble. It was more believable that she would do it than the one who’s too busy protecting those asshole siblings of hers.

” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And prove it, man. No one’s gonna think it’s me.

I didn’t go to the cops pointing fingers at who broke my hand. Why would they think it was me?”

He was right.

But that also meant no one would look twice at me, either.

“Your dad works at the Skeeter place, right?” I asked. “Think he’ll want to keep his job?”

The kid’s eyes flashed. “Why?”

“Because I already told him what would happen if you stepped out of line,” I clarified. “Know a lot of people in this area. Happened to save the big boss’s kid from a burning car a couple of years ago.”

The kid’s eyes went wary.

“I think it’s time for y’all to move,” I suggested. “Maybe move somewhere less…busy.”

The kid crossed his arms over his chest. “I want y’all out of my town by the end of the month. If you’re not, you won’t like the consequences.”

The kid bared his teeth at me, but I turned around and gave him my back, showing him how little he intimidated me.

He must’ve thought to strike when my back was turned, because Webber stepped to the side and took the kid and his swinging arm with him.

He landed in the dirt, the thunk of his body hitting the fucked-up asphalt road so hard that he bounced several feet before coming to a stop.

Webber stepped on his good hand, and the crunch of bone was loud enough to be heard a block away.

Getting down onto his haunches beside the kid, he growled, “The Hodges and the Hicks are nothing to you. I don’t want to see you anywhere near them, or the Truth Tellers, ever again. Do you understand me?”

On the outside, Webber appeared to be a big teddy bear, but he was anything but.

He moved fast, was so fuckin’ smart that you never saw it coming, and reacted before logic would tell most people to.

In all, he was a big bear of a man that thought quick on his feet, and was so fuckin’ scary that I was intimidated myself to prospect for the club years ago.

He was still scary as hell, but at least his scary as hell was on my side.

“I’ll leave,” he blurted out. “I’m eighteen. Leave my dad alone, though.”

“Your dad goes, too,” he informed him. “All of you carrying your name, as well. I don’t want to be lookin’ over my shoulder for the rest of my life.”

“Y-yes, s-sir.” He swallowed hard.

Webber got up, stepped off his hand, and we walked the rest of the way down the road to our bikes.

As we drove home, we all split off at different exits.

When I got back to my place, it was to find Searcy at the door waiting for me in nothing but my t-shirt.

When I got up the porch steps and pulled her into my arms, she didn’t ask where I’d been.

She didn’t say a word but to ask how long I got to sleep before I was expected to get up.

And it was only then, once I’d admitted to myself and Scottie that I wouldn’t mind selling this place, that I finally admitted that it might be nice to sleep in for once.

Lazy Saturdays in bed with the woman that I was in love with seemed like a step closer to heaven.