Текст книги "Finders Keepers"

Автор книги: Nicole Williams

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“I never thought you were trash. Never.” She shook her head against me. “I might have thought I hated you for a while, but I never thought that.”

If that was true, she was one of the only people who didn’t associate the Blacks with trash. Poor, redneck trash that found all of life’s answers at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. I kissed the top of her head because that was the only response I was capable of.

“Do you remember that party we had at my place the summer after sixth grade? The one where we played Spin the Bottle?”

My forehead lined. Going from me being or not being a piece of trash to reminiscing about the summer we were twelve was a sudden topic change. “Yeah. That was the night you dumped orange soda down my new white shirt.”

“Spilt. I spilt it,” she clarified. “And I apologized a thousand times. Are you wanting another one?”

“It was a nice shirt,” I said, faking insult.

“Fine. I’m sorry. For the one thousandth and first time.”

“And for the one thousandth and first time, you’re forgiven.”

Josie laughed and played with one of the buttons on my shirt. “It really was a nice shirt.”

“Damn straight it was. There were girls at that party, we were playing Spin the Bottle, and Clay felt moderately guilty since the night before he’d clocked me pretty good with an empty bottle of Jack.” My mind drifted back in time. I’d been a whole hell of a lot more hopeful at twelve than I was at twenty-one. Even the hardened me had to admit that a few weeks with Josie was changing that though. Not totally, but enough. Hope didn’t feel like such a sham anymore . . . It seemed almost plausible again for someone like me, with a past like mine. “But after that orange-stained mess, I gave up on color and decided black was a safer option. At least when you were around.”

“I’m flattered. Thank you,” she said dryly. “But do you know why I was so upset that I ‘accidentally’ spilled orange soda on you?”

I turned onto the highway and shrugged. “You felt like it?”

Josie grumbled something I couldn’t make out. “For a solid week, I’d been practicing Spin the Bottle in my bedroom where I knew we’d be playing it.”

“Hold up.” I glanced at her for a moment. “You actually practiced spinning a bottle on the floor? I didn’t realize that was something that required practice. I kinda just thought you put your hand on the bottle, gave a twist, and voila, there was your kissing partner.”

“I wasn’t practicing how to spin the bottle. I was practicing how to get it to stop where I wanted it to,” she said, totally unfazed by my sarcasm.

“And why were you so concerned with perfecting your bottle-stopping skills?”

“Because I wanted it to stop on a certain person.” Her fingers stopped playing with my shirt button and dropped to my leg.

Jesse. She’d been hoping it would stop on him. I didn’t realize I was gripping the hell out of the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white.

“Garth”—Josie sat up to look at me—“that person was you. When I spun that bottle, I wanted it to land on you.” My eyes flickered back to hers, but they couldn’t stay there long. Dark country highways were dangerous enough with a person’s full attention on the road. “So all I had to do was figure out where Megan Phillips would sit in the circle, and that’s how I knew where to practice stopping the bottle.”

“What does Megan Phillips and where she sat have to do with me?”

“She had the biggest boobs of all the girls who’d be there that night, so I knew you’d sit right next to her. Since Megan and I were pretty much sworn enemies even back then, I knew she’d sit across from me, as far as she could get.”

I played that night out in my head. I hadn’t thought about it in years, so the memory was a bit foggy. Whenever Josie was involved, I’d managed to make a memory of it. I might not have had any picture albums, but I did have memory albums. On every page was one of Josie. “But, Joze . . . I didn’t sit by Megan that night.”

She shook her head. “No. You didn’t. You sat by me.” She paused, looking like she was reliving the memory as well. “So when I spun the bottle, it landed on Ben Clovis and yours landed on Megan Philips, and that’s why I—you’re right—dumped orange soda on your brand new shirt.” That was coming at me fast, and I couldn’t keep up. Why had Josie wanted the bottle to land on me? Why had she wanted to kiss me? Why had Josie wanted . . . me? “You know, I wasn’t even all that put out that I had to kiss Ben Clovis and that you had to kiss Megan Philips. I was upset because I knew that would probably be the only time I had an excuse to kiss you. The only time you’d have a reason to kiss me back.”

We were just pulling up to the old gas station, and even though I had dozens—possibly hundreds—of questions on my mind, I couldn’t seem to ask a single one. So instead, I slid my hand behind her neck and pulled her close. “But now you get to kiss me whenever you want.” I kissed her gently, and she kissed me back just as gently. After our serious make-out session, it was a welcome break.

“No bottles required,” she said, smiling at me.

“Thank. God.” Opening my door, I slid out and helped her crawl down. “Why don’t you head on home now? I’ll hang out here for fifteen or twenty minutes before I leave. Just so your parents don’t have anything to be suspicious about.”

“No, don’t wait around. Just follow me,” Josie said, fishing her keys out of her purse. “Besides, now that Colt knows about us, it’s only a matter of time before someone tells my parents.”

“He better not or that thread I’ve been hanging on by is going to snap.”

Josie wound her hands around my waist. “What’s the big deal? I want my parents to know. I don’t want to keep us a secret any longer. You’ve proven that you’re ready for this.”

“I’ve proven myself? Joze, it’s been three weeks.” I tipped my hat back a bit because, from that look in her eyes, we were going to be lip-locked pretty soon. My lips had had a solid half-hour break, so we were good to go.

“And you’re saying that three weeks aren’t like three lifetimes to you, Garth Black?”

She always had a point. She always seemed to know me that much better than myself. “You’ve made your point—except three weeks are more like three millennia for me.”

Josie laughed, coming closer until she’d rested her head against my chest. “I want to tell them. I want them to know you’re the person I want to be with. I want them to know you’re the person I’ve—”

The sound of screeching tires and flying gravel made us both whip around. A jacked-up, shiny, and expensive truck slowed as it approached, its headlights shining directly on us.

“Hope we’re not interrupting anything!” someone shouted from the truck.

I spun around and locked eyes with her. “You need to get in your truck and get home. Now.”

“Is that Colt and his brothers?” Her eyes were taking longer to adjust than mine. “What in the hell are they doing here?”

That Josie had to ask demonstrated just what opposite kinds of lives we’d lived. When a full truck of guys barreled toward me in an abandoned parking lot late at night, I knew a serious ass kicking was on the horizon. Josie saw the same thing and thought I wonder what they want? The way we Montana boys figured things out was: You took my girl. I kicked your ass. We were square. It took a hell of a lot of balls and maybe not a lot of brain, but we settled matters the rough-and-tough country way. We didn’t sue or knife tires—we kicked ass. That the Mason boys had left enough of their hippy California roots behind to bring it like true country boys earned them a smidgeon of respect in my book. Mason’s truck had rolled to a stop, and I heard doors opening.

“Josie, baby, please . . . your truck.”

Her face went soft as her eyes shifted from the truck to me. “That was the first time you called me baby.”

Kissing her quickly because I couldn’t help it, I led her to her truck. I heard the Mason boys’ boots crunching gravel our way. “Unless you get in your truck and leave now, that baby will have been less a term of endearment and more a reference to the way you’re behaving.”

“Stop.” Josie pulled her arm out of my grip. “If you think I’m leaving you alone with the Masons after what went down earlier, you’re the one rationalizing like a baby.”

“Joze—” I wasn’t above begging.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She crossed her arms and held her ground.

From the footsteps, we were out of time for her to escape anyway. “You are so damn stubborn.”

“I learned it from you.” Glancing over my shoulder, her eyes narrowed. “Colt, what the hell are you guys doing here?”

“We followed you,” Colt replied, standing in the center of his four brothers.

“No one was following us.” I’d checked my rearview the whole drive, half expecting the encounter.

“We didn’t have to tail your truck to follow you,” one of the older brothers, Finn or Frank or Fart or hell, Filly, said. “All we had to do was follow the stink of trash.”

Josie lunged, and I just barely stopped her. I knew enough about the Masons to know they weren’t there to hurt Josie—that was about the only point I could give them—but that didn’t mean I wanted her within arm’s reach of any of them. She didn’t fight me like I’d expected.

She said, “Those are awfully tough words coming from a guy who studies managerial accounting on the East Coast and orders a Blue Hawaiian in a bar.”

I couldn’t help it—I smiled. Literally seconds away from having five grown men jump me, and all I could do was smile at the firecracker in my arms.

“And those are mighty judgmental words coming from a girl who cheats on a good man with this piece of trash.”

Josie wiggled in my arms. If she didn’t stop fighting me, I would be worn out before I got to the actual fight. “Since your dad basically bribed the county prosecutor to have a DUI dropped from your record, I’m putting it on record that your ideas of what a good man is are a tad skewed.”

The F-named Mason’s face went murderous. When he took a few steps our way, I moved Josie behind me and lifted my hands. “Not another step, Filly. Not another fucking step. I know why you’re all here, and that’s all fine and dandy, but you’d better wait until Josie is out of harm’s way before charging us again. So help me god, I might not be able to hold all five of you off, but I will kick those pretty white teeth straight down your throat if you keep coming at me with Josie right here.”

He slowed, but he didn’t stop. Colt and one of the younger brothers had to block his way. “You call me Filly one more time, and it’s your teeth getting kicked out.”

The testosterone was really starting to zap to life, and I think the moment was catching up with Josie. It felt like she was trying to herd me into her truck with her. “I don’t know your name, big guy, sorry. I’m just keeping with the family tradition of naming one son after a barnyard animal and running with it.” I pointed at one of the brothers still trying to hold Filly off. “Colt,” I stated, moving my finger to the next one. “Horses’s Ass.” And another Mason. “Jackass.” On to the youngest Mason. “Dumbass.” Ending on the oldest Mason—whose face had miraculously managed to get a shade redder. “Filly.”

Yes, I was stirring the hornet’s nest, but that’s what I did. If I was going to get into a fight, I expected my opponent—or in this case, opponents—to hit me like they meant it. No shots just because. There’d better be some intention and hate behind each hit or else that was just an insult to the fight. “By the way, just so we all have our facts straight, Josie didn’t cheat on Colt. It’s hard to cheat on someone when they’re not even your boyfriend.” Another Mason came for me, the one a year or two younger than Colt.

“Harrison, wait,” Colt ordered. “Garth’s right. Not until Josie’s out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere, so all of you just stop trying to make me!” Josie hollered.

Colt and I both sighed. He said, “You might see things one way, Black, but Josie and I have been together, on and off again, for close to a year now.”

“Emphasis on the ‘off!’” Josie piped in.

I had an urge to kiss her again. Thankfully, I repressed that urge because I don’t think Colt could have taken me kissing the girl he was rather convinced had been his for the past year.

“Fine, you see things your way, and I see things differently, but all of that’s beside the point. You all came here with one thing in mind.” I unsnapped my cuffs and rolled up my sleeves. It looked like another new shirt would be getting ruined. “And we all know it wasn’t to talk this out.”

“There’s nothing to talk about when some trailer trash piece of shit thinks he can take one of our girls.”

All of the Mason boys looked like they’d been drinking, but I could smell the alcohol on Filly’s breath. In a fight, alcohol was a tricky deal. If a man had consumed a few shots, he was more dangerous because he still had full control of his motor skills, but his inhibitions were lowered. However, a man who had consumed a few shots past the point of drunk was an easy target—as I’d proven that night Colt had beaten the shit out of me. No motor coordination and too temporarily brain dead for a logical train of thoughts.

Filly looked to be the only one who fit that drunk-as-a-skunk profile. The rest were all varying degrees of dangerous drunk. I was one tough son of a bitch, but up against five big guys who had everything from a baseball bat to an empty glass bottle, I knew the best outcome I could hope for was to leave the fight standing. I wasn’t walking away the winner, but hopefully I’d still be walking. I would make sure most of the Mason boys woke up tomorrow groaning. Clearing my throat, I stared down Filly. “You got that wrong, big guy. It’s you rich California posers who think your shit doesn’t stink thinking you can take one of our girls.” My girl, I added to myself.

“I can’t wait to rub your face into the gravel with my boot.” Filly tossed his jacket aside.

“Okay, enough comparing dicks here. Time to show what they’re actually capable of.”

One of the older brothers held out his arms. “Ready when you are.”

“Joze”—I glanced over my shoulder—“time for you to leave.”

She shook her head hard. “You boys need to get back in that truck and get the hell out of here. We were minding our business until you came along, so why don’t you go mind your own business and leave us alone.”

A couple of Colt’s brothers chuckled, but Filly, of course, was the one to reply. “You made this our business when you cheated on our brother with this waste of space.”

Before I knew she’d moved, Josie braked to a stop in front of him. “The only thing that’s a waste of space around here is you, Finn.” Josie slapped him hard across his cheek.

And that’s when things started getting ugly.

Finn grabbed the wrist she’d just slapped him with. The second he put his hands on her, I went into action. I rushed toward them and drove my fist into his jaw as soon as I was within reach. That made Finn let go of Josie, but since the first punch had been thrown, the rest of the Masons were closing in. Right as I was about to wrap my arms around Josie and drag her back to her truck, something shattered against the back of my head. It wasn’t the first time I’d had a bottle cracked over my skull, but it was the first time Josie had been around to witness it. She screamed, her eyes widening as I fell to my knees. The bottle had rung my bell, but I wouldn’t stay on my knees long. Especially with Josie still out in the open and five guys getting ready to unleash hell.

“Look who’s the tough guy now.” Finn lunged at me, his fists ready. Just as I was bracing myself for the hit, someone leapt in front of me.

“Josie, no!” I yelled, trying to push her out of the way, but Finn’s fist got to her before my hands did.

The punch hit her across the cheek, sending her flying back into me. I caught her before she fell to the ground. Even though she hadn’t cried out in pain and she looked more pissed than hurt, I felt murderous rage flood my veins. If a gun pointed at Finn had magically appeared in my hand, I wouldn’t have thought twice about pulling the trigger. That’s how blind with rage I was.

“Josie, baby, are you okay?” I ran my hand down the side of her face he’d hit. It was already swelling.

She nodded, her eyes finding mine. “Now that baby was a term of endearment.” She managed a small smile and tried getting up.

“What the hell, Finn?” Colt charged his brother and shoved him hard in the chest.

“She got in the way.” Finn motioned at us, not looking the slightest bit sorry or ashamed. “If she’s going to try to protect this piece of shit, that’s what she deserves.”

The thread I’d been hanging onto had snapped when Finn’s fist connected with Josie. But fuck the thread. I’d snapped. Once I’d scooted Josie up against the wheel of my truck, I formed my hands around her face. “Are. You. Okay?”

“From that little bitch slap? Yeah, I barely felt it.” She lifted her hand to her cheek, glaring at Finn.

I would do a hell of a lot more than glare at him as soon as I made sure she was okay. “Please stay here. Let me handle this.”

She shook her head. “Sorry, Garth. If I liked hanging out on the sidelines, I would have been a cheerleader.”

“Fuck the cheerleaders—”

“You certainly did back in high school.”

I was fighting two battles: one with my fists with the Masons and one with my words with Josie. “I’m not asking you to stay here because I want to keep you on the sidelines forever. I’m begging you to stay here so I can keep you safe.” How was that not clear? Five moderately to severely drunk guys were looking to turn me—and anyone else who got in the way—into their human punching bag.

“We’re waiting, Black. But we’re not going to wait much longer.”

Josie’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Why don’t you go buy a fruity drink and make out with a guy like we all know you want to, Finn?”

A few of the Mason boys’ mouths dropped open, Finn’s mouth clenched closed, and Colt tried not to smile. Me? I laughed. Hard.

Lifting his finger, Finn took a few steps our way. I braced, ready to pounce on him if he came another step closer. “As soon as I’m done teaching this piece of trash some manners, I’m going to hold you down and sew a red A on that cheap farm-girl dress of yours, you ungrateful, cheating little—”

Yep. That was it. My rage containment threshold. Letting out a grunt of outrage, I drove my shoulder into Finn’s stomach and tackled him to the ground.

“Are we finally going to fight?” Finn yelled at me, dodging my first fist. He didn’t dodge the second one quickly enough. He grunted when my fist cracked the same spot he’d hit Josie.

With the reminder he’d laid his hands on Josie, a whole new level of rage bubbled to the surface. Phase two of Garth Black losing his shit. “No, I’m going to fight.” I cracked him in the other cheek. “You’re going to lay there and take it.” Before I could get in a third punch, Finn’s brothers piled on me. A couple grabbed my arms, and the others pulled Finn off of the ground. He was barely up before he came at me, throwing a solid fist into my stomach. And then another. And another. I lost count a few punches later. When I curled over and coughed up a bit of blood, Josie came charging toward us. Well, she came charging for Finn.

The guy had her by a hundred pounds, and she was coming at him with nothing more than sheer determination and gusto. If I wasn’t so terrified of what would happen next, I would have been bursting with pride. Right before she got to Finn, Colt leapt in front of her, stopping her from going any farther. She tried ducking around him, but he dodged in front of her. She tried again, and she almost got by him. Finn was back to turning my insides into gelatin when I sighed.

“Jesus Christ, Colt. Hold her back and keep her out of this,” I said.

Josie flashed me a glare like I’d betrayed her. If betraying her meant keeping her from getting any more hurt, that was what I would do. When Josie made another run at Finn, Colt didn’t hesitate. Cinching his arms around her, Colt dragged her away from his four brothers and me. That was the first positive mark in Colt Mason’s corner. Josie struggled, and I’m pretty sure she stomped down hard on his toes, but Colt was a strong enough guy. I had a beating from him to attest to that.

Okay, Josie was safe. Time to kick some ass.

As Finn was winding up for another round of Liquefy-Garth-Black’s-Internal-Organs, I jumped off the ground and kicked out just in time to send Finn and his fists flying backward. The sudden motion surprised the Mason boys holding my arms, so I was able to twist my arms free. I didn’t waste any time pouncing on Finn. I might not have had any issues with the Mason brothers—other than Colt dating Josie—but after what Finn had said and done . . . They’d just secured the number one spot on my most hated list.

The two of us rolled across the gravel, each landing hits as we struggled to gain the upper hand. Finn was a big guy—bigger than me even—but I was a bigger badass, so that made us about even. Even through Finn’s and my grunts and curses, I heard Josie crying out, yelling out, and finally, cussing us out. I’d lose the fight right then and there if I could go back in time and keep Josie from seeing it, but since time travel wasn’t a skill I’d honed yet, I hit harder and hoped it would be over soon.

Finn and I were a pretty even match, but his three brothers threw themselves at me as soon as I managed to pin Finn. Boots flew, fists connected, and before I knew it, I was on my back, curling into myself and hoping at least a few of my vital parts were still intact when they were done. My dick being the most vital of them all. I made sure to cup both hands over that piece of my “vital” parts.

Josie’s screams of protest quickly changed to pleas to stop. She hollered her lungs out begging them to stop, threatening to call the cops, promising she would kick all of their asses. Then her shouts turned to sobs as their kicks and hits only picked up speed. I was close to passing out, no longer able to feel what parts of my body were and weren’t working when her weeps turned to choking whimpers. That right there—hearing Josie falling apart and being unable to fix it—was the most painful blow I’d been dealt that night. I’d no sooner convinced myself of that and then Finn grabbed the baseball bat. Shit, that would hurt like a mother.

His first swing hit me in the lower back, his second a bit higher. By the time he’d moved on to his third and fourth, I was passing out. His brothers yelled at him to stop. Their hits and kicks had stopped as soon as Finn took the bat to me, but from their voices, they were scared of the same thing I was: Finn wasn’t going to stop swinging until I’d stopped breathing. It took all three of them to pull him away from me. Even then, he was still swinging that bat.

“Colt! We’re out of here, man. Get your ass in the truck, and let’s go.” One of the twins, Dufus or Dipshit, called out.

As the trio continued to wrestle Finn toward Colt’s truck, he never stopped glaring at me. “Don’t mess with me. Don’t mess with my brothers. Don’t mess with our women,” he ordered. “After tonight, you’ll have learned your lesson.”

I was beat to shit, more broken than put-together, and I had to spit blood before I could say something, but I wouldn’t let Finn think he’d beat me. He hadn’t. I hadn’t come so far mucking through life’s shit it only to be beaten by a few pairs of fists, a baseball bat, and Finn Mason. “You call that a lesson? Come back over here, and I’ll show you a lesson.”

It was true—I really didn’t know when to shut my mouth.

Finn lunged against his brothers, but his adrenaline was fading since he wasn’t using me as a human piñata. His brothers had no problem tossing him into the back of the truck and keeping him there. “I’m going to kill you, Black!”

I blew a kiss his way. “Have fun with the boys, sweetheart.”

That sent him into another fit of rage, making his brothers look like they were considering using the baseball bat on him.

“Colt! Today!” one of his brothers shouted.

Colt finally let go of Josie, and as soon as he did, she spun around, slapped him so hard it echoed, and raced toward me with a look of terror. From the looks of it, she must have thought I was about to die—or was already there. Once she reached me, she fell to her knees and draped her arms around me. Actually, it was less of a drape and more of a grab.

I grimaced. “Hey, Joze? You know I love you touching me, the more desperate the better, but right now . . . less is more, baby.”

Her arms instantly loosened. “Oh my god. Please don’t die. Please. Don’t. Die.” She was such an emotional wreck, it looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She wound up going with the latter.

I managed a smile, despite it hurting like hell. “Okay, fine. I won’t.”

Colt was heading for his truck, glancing at us like he wasn’t sure what had happened or what to do about it. Just when I was sure he was going to keep on walking, he paused. His whole face lined as he studied Josie and me spread out over the gravel. “You want me to call an ambulance or something?”

Josie shot him another glare.

“Or something,” I huffed, slowly rolling onto my back. I stretched out one limb at a time, one inch at a time. Nothing felt broken—at least no bones were. Colt slid his phone out of his pocket. “Thanks, but I’m good. If I called an ambulance every time I got in a fight, I might as well just buy the company because it would be cheaper.”

Colt shifted. “You sure?”

“Just get the hell out of here!” Josie shouted at him, eyeing the bat.

“We’re good. Do as the lady says.” In my state, I wouldn’t have been able to stop Josie if she did decide to pick up that bat and take swings at a flock of Masons.

“Okay.” Colt nodded and started for his truck. “I guess I’ll see you . . . around?”

Josie snorted and wiped at my face with the sleeve of my jacket she still had on. I stroked her cheek. It was still swelling and already bruising. Another flash of rage.

“Colt?” I didn’t wait for him to acknowledge me. I knew he heard me. “Tonight, you were my ally because you kept Josie out of all this. Come tomorrow”—I managed to lean up on my elbows to look him straight on—“you’d better steer clear of me. If I run into you, I’m treating you like any other Mason who did this to her.” My eyes scanned her face before shifting back to his. When Colt inspected her face, his eyes closed in a wince. He nodded once before leaping into his truck and peeling out of the parking lot faster than they’d peeled into it.

“Man, Josie. I don’t know who took it out of me more tonight—you or the Masons.” I cupped her other cheek and worked up another smile. It was done. The Masons had done what they’d wanted to, were gone, and we were both okay. I might need a good night’s sleep and a few Tylenol, but I’d had it worse. Unlike other fights, I hadn’t had anyone to sit beside me afterward, stroke my hand, and look like they were suffocating in their concern for me.

Concern . . . it was a fairly new concept to me. One I was sure was overrated and a bunch of bullshit. As I laid there spread over the gravel, blood pooling in my mouth and every square inch of my body throbbing in pain, I realized how nice it was to have someone concerned about my wellbeing. Someone concerned about me. Someone cared whether I was still alive come morning, and that gave my life a meaning and purpose that had been absent. She depended on me, and for right then, she wanted me in her life. It was a sobering reality. One that would take a while to figure out.

“Say something. Please,” she sniffled, wiping her nose with the same sleeve she’d used to wipe my face with. It was dotted with blood. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to fucking do right now.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She looked as close to hysterical as I’d ever seen Josie, and despite the pain coursing through my body, seeing her so undone caused the most pain. “Why don’t you help me up and over to my truck so I don’t get blood all over yours, and then let’s just get back to your place and figure out the rest when we get there. Sound okay?”

“Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital? You look bad, Garth. Really, really bad.” She bit her lip as a tear slipped from her eye.

That tear was like another baseball bat slammed into my back.

“No hospitals. They’re sick of me anyways even if I actually needed one. Which I don’t.” She looked like she was about to start screaming for an ambulance. “Just get me back, get me to bed, and I’ll wake up tomorrow good as new.” Nothing I was saying was calming her down. If anything, every word seemed to be working her up more. Gritting my teeth, I sat up so I could be face to face with her. Maybe that would reassure her I wasn’t about to be drug off to hell after taking my last breath. “Look at me, Josie. In the eyes.”

She sniffed and shook her head. “I can’t. They’re swelling shut.” She choked on another sob but managed to keep the rest of them back.

That explained why I couldn’t see anything more than a sliver of her. “Hey, hey,” I said, trying to soothe her with my words, my hands, with anything. “Where’s that brave girl who just issued the slap heard around the country? Where’s my strong girl who just took a swing at a guy twice her size?”

She fretted with my shirt, laying the rips and tears back together, buttoning the buttons that had come undone. “A lot of good me being brave and strong did to save you.”

I adjusted my head until the sliver I saw of her was her eyes. Mine might have been swelling shut, but she could still stare back at me. “You have no idea how much good you’ve done to save me, Josie Gibson. Don’t you ever doubt that.”

Josie let those words simmer for a moment, then she rolled her shoulders back, wiped her eyes, and wove her arm through mine. “Let me help you up.”

“Thanks”—I shoved off the ground, letting her guide me up—“because I don’t think I’m capable of doing it on my own.”

When I was up, Josie wrapped one arm around my waist and lifted my arm over her shoulders. “Was that you admitting you need help and actually accepting it?”