Page 93 of Sean's Sunshine

Sean got in on one side of Senior and Andres got in on the other, and then they shut the doors, knowing that the vehicle, being off, would have zero ventilation, and the close, sweaty smell of bodies and past residents would be nasty and uncomfortable, and their perpetrator was weak.

Soon he’d be doing anything to get out of there.

“What?” Senior asked, after about a second of silence. “Is this where you tell me it’s in my best interest to talk?”

“No,” Sean replied pleasantly. “This is where I tell you that if I ever see you outside of a prison cell, I’m going to pin your balls together with your service medal for beating the shit out of your family, you gutless fucking weasel. This is where my partner offers you the deal of the century while you imagine what a testicle piercing would feel like.”

Senior sneered at him, but he didn’t say anything, which was good. Sean would have given—quite literally—all the breath in his body to shut this fucker up.

“Wow,” Andres said. “I’ve never heard him threaten someone like that. You should listen to him, man. I think the joint’s the best thing for you.”

“For what?” Senior asked, keeping his eyes carefully off Sean. “I didn’t do nothing. That useless kid did all the robbing.”

“Are you sure?” Andres asked. “Are yousurethe kid did all the breaking and entering? Because, you know, if you, say,coercedhim into doing the breaking and entering, that’s corruption of a minor. That carries the sentence of grand theftplusthe seven years for corruption of a minor. But, say, if it wasjust you and nobody else, then that’s just grand theft.”

“Much smaller sentence,” Sean said.

“Would a lawyer tell me that?” Senior asked suspiciously.

“Yes.” They both nodded, because it was the truth.

“But only,” Andres added, “if you phrase it as a hypothetical and keep your son’s name out of your ungrateful rotted mouth forever after, amen.”

“Which one of the little fags blew you?” Senior asked meanly, and they knew the interview was over—but they also knew they’d won.

“You have the right to remain silent,” Andres began, reciting the Miranda rights. “Anything you say—”

“Okay!” Senior whined. “Okay, okay. It was all me. Not the kid. All me. I stole the shit. I shot the fuckin’ dog. All me. Ungrateful little bastards. Their mother was a stupid bitch, and—”

Sean hit him in the nuts and didn’t even feel a little bit guilty for punching down.

Guillermo Morales Senior was still retching and sobbing as Sean got out of the car and Andres finished reading him his rights. Idly he wondered if he was going to get cited for brutality, but deep down he knew he’d take that citation, and if he never hit another perp, that one would be worth it in a thousand different ways.

But that momentary satisfaction wasn’t going to make the next few hours okay, no matter how much he wished it could.

Trusting the Future

BILLY YAWNEDand stretched in bed, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Then he heard the shower and sat bolt upright, wondering where his head was. Monday morning. Sean was up! He was in the shower. How late was it? Did Billy have anywhere to go?

He took a deep breath and calmed down. He went into work orientation on Wednesday. He had school on Tuesday and Thursday and Friday morning. This morning, after he and Sean had gotten home at fuck you in the morning, was free.

His eyes narrowed, and he leapt out of bed and stomped into the bathroom.

“You looked like shit last night, cop,” he snapped, shucking his boxers and pulling the shower curtain open. Sean was standing there—not sitting—squinting through shampoo. “What are you doing up so early?”

Sean squeezed his eyes shut and wiped the water from his face. “Good morning, sunshine. I thought I’d get up at my usual hour and go to the dog park today and tell people that we found the bad guy and he’s in jail.”

“The bad guy—”

“Who has no relation to you,” Sean said soberly. “Get in or get out, sunshine—you’re letting all my nice steam out, and we only have so much hot water.”

Billy glared at him, but he got in, turning Sean’s body so his back was to the spray, then ducking so he could rinse his hair.

“And that part about you looking like shit?” he growled, still afraid for Sean’s health.

“I’m going to overlook that as concern, because I already have one mother, and she hasn’t seen me naked since I was five.”