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“We’re patient, and I’m paying,” Percy told him as he handed Lila’s weighed cup to her. ‘Go sit,’ he signed, then pointed at a table.
She pulled a face but obeyed and took the window bench, happily digging in while Khai finished off his own. He gave Percy a look, but Percy refused to relent as he pulled out his wallet and handed off his card.
“You don’t owe me,” Khai said softly as Percy signed the screen for the receipt. “Lila deserved to understand what was going on around her.”
Percy knew it wasn’t a criticism against him and his slow pace, but he couldn’t help the feeling that he was still failing. But he didn’t focus on it. He knew that wasn’t fair to Khai. “It’s more than that. You pulled me out of a really terrible night, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.”
Khai smiled, then waved his hand at Lila. Percy caught a few bits of what he was signing. ‘Outside-want-you?’
Lila hopped up off the bench and shot out the door, and Percy trailed behind with Khai at his side.
“She’s safe to run around. It doesn’t get wild anywhere but the bar strip and frat row—and those are on the other side of campus.” Khai took a large bite, then licked his spoon.
Percy smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets as he watched Lila set her bowl down on a bench, then start sprinting from one side of the grassy patch to the other. “How did you know I was safe?” he asked again.
Khai snorted. “Not letting that one go, are you?”
“Sorry.”
Khai regarded him for a long moment, and then he said, “I’ve spent a lot of years learning to tell when I was in a safe place and when I wasn’t.”
“But you could have been wrong,” Percy insisted.
Khai’s gaze got a little sharper. “I could have, yes. Was I?”
“No! No, just…” Percy flailed a little, relaxing when he saw Khai’s mouth soften into a tiny smile. “I’ve been afraid of trusting my instincts for so long. I was terrified of my ex but too terrified of what my life would look like without him to leave before he got bad. And that fear has followed me since then. I hurt someone recently because I was too afraid to stand up for what was right, and he said he forgave me, but I’m wondering if maybe that’s what?—”
Percy didn’t get to finish his sentence. There was a commotion to their left, and he turned just in time to see a familiar body—one that had made him sickly green with envy—get tackled on the ground by a cop.
The officer was massive, and he was holding Ravi down with his knee while screaming at him. “I said stop resisting! Stop trying to move your hands, and tell me your goddamn name!”
Something in Percy snapped. He’d missed his chance to get it right once. He wasn’t going to do that again.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Stop! He can’t hear you! He’s Deaf,” Percy shouted as he ran for the man on the ground.
The cop looked around wildly, but before Percy could say anything, Khai was at his side, along with Lila, who was watching with wide eyes, clinging to his leg.
“Stay the fuck back,” the cop snarled, then pressed Ravi harder into the ground. “I said stop resisting!”
Percy put up one hand, using the other to keep Khai from rushing the massive man. It was all Percy wanted to do as well, but he knew it wasn’t going to help matters. “He’s Deaf,” Percy repeated. “He can’t understand what you’re saying.”
The cop’s eyes narrowed as he looked back at Percy and Khai. “You know this kid?”
“Yes,” Khai said while he signed. “His name is Ravi. I’m an interpreter here on campus. If you’d just let me?—”
“I said stay the fuck back,” the cop shouted again as Khai attempted to take a step forward.
Percy felt a sudden rush of panic. What if they couldn’t get this fucker to calm down? “Please, sir?—”
“Michaelson!” The voice came from behind a wall, and then Percy saw another uniformed cop jogging toward them. For a moment, he felt a rush of fear like it was going to go all bad, but this guy had his hands out, and Percy realized he was signing too. “Get the fuck off him. He’s not the guy from the call.”
“He was over on First,” Michaelson started to argue, but the new cop reached out and shoved him. Hard. Michaelson’s back hit the ground with a heavy thud, and the new guy was on his knees in front of Ravi almost immediately.
Percy couldn’t see the man’s hands, but he could see the motion from his back that he was signing, and he could tell Ravi was slowly starting to come around from his shock. He turned to Khai. “Are you his interpreter?”
“I’m his friend,” Khai said through clenched teeth. “Can you hang here with them for a second? I need to FaceTime someone. They’re not getting away with this fucking shit, but I don’t want Ravi to be alone.”
