Page 86 of The Vows We Keep

“We’re not leaving here until you hand us those men,” King says.

“Cut it out,” I whisper to him. “It’s a public place. Way too many witnesses. If the cops let those men out of their cars and they wind up in a hospital or anywhere else, the whole world will know it’s you. Let the police take them.”

Clutch grips Gwen’s face and kisses her tenderly. “Wanna kill that fucker for putting his hands on you.”

“Join the queue,” King adds.

“Catalina’s speaking sense,” Halo says.

“Plus, you’re all being real party poopers,” Iris says.

Briar loops her arm through Iris’s and chuckles at her words. “Party poopers.”

“Speaking as an impartial observer, they’re kinda cute when they’re drunk,” Vex says. “I hate cops. If any one of them gets itchy trigger fingers, you know they’re pointing that gun straight at me first. Can we get out of here?”

Rae nods. “Yes. This was a bonding experience of sorts. Now we old ladies know we’ve got each other’s backs. Well, Cat’s got more of our backs, but we did good, all things considered.”

Gwen turns to Iris. “That trip you caused was impressive.”

“And Briar landed that punch on the one Brotherhood guy with the Packers jersey,” Rae says with a grin. “The way his head spun.”

I nod toward her arm. “Next time, you need to punch from your shoulder, not swing with your arm. That’s how you break your forearm.”

King tugs on his hair. “There won’t be a next time. You can’t—”

“Next time,” Rae says, “we’ll be better prepared. Catalina drop-kicked one guy into next week.”

“She did,” Briar says. “You know how that feels, Clutch, yeah?”

“Fuck me,” Clutch says, shaking his head. “Will you all ever stop talking about this?”

“I used this,” Iris says, raising a knuckle duster in the shape of a cat with pointy ears. “I think there might still be blood on it.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Spark says, tugging it off her fingers. “When I bought you this, you weren’t ever meant to need to use it.”

“But she did,” I say. “And in a moment of chaos, she remembered she had it, pulled it out, and used it to protect her friend. I know shit happened to her, but you might want to trust your old lady a bit more. She’s stronger than she looks.”

“I think I might be sick,” Briar mutters.

Saint reaches for her. “We should get you home.”

“No,” she says firmly. “We were going to get hoagies and sit down by the shore while we sober up a little.”

“Oh, yes. Hoagies,” Gwen says, resting her head on Clutch’s shoulder. “Want to put me on the back of your bike and get me one with extra cheese?”

Clutch rolls his eyes. “Hoagies by the shore in fucking February. Glad we showed up, or we’d have been picking up frozen dead bodies in the morning.”

The bartender steps outside and nods to Saint, who steps over to speak to him. When he returns, he hands King a piece of paper. "The bartender caught wind of where they were staying. A motel down the shore, or in this case, the opposite direction to where the cops are taking them.”

King takes it. “If we all go, there’ll be too many witnesses. Spark and I will go,” he says.

Halo whips the paper out of his hand. “No offense, Prez, but you two have got old ladies who just went through some shit. I think what you meant to say was that Bates and I should go.”

King looks to Rae, and then nods. “You’re right. That’s what I meant to say. Find out everything you can. Just don’t get seen, and while it’s rare I feel inclined to help the police, make sure you leave any evidence behind for the cops to find. And what happened to Howard and Clive?”

“Chasing tail at the bar when it all when down,” I say. “They were worried you were going to kick their asses when you found out.”

“So, they left instead of being men about it?” Clutch huffs. “I’m gonna do more than kick their asses.”