“You’re welcome. Keep yourself out of trouble. I’ll be in touch.” He nods to me.
Loyal nods, and we step away from the truck. When Loyal shuts the door, Savage wastes no time backing out, Bailey waving from the passenger seat.
“Was it terrible in there?” Farrah asks, worry clear on her face.
“I should say yes so you never want to go there, but it wasn’t bad. I was fine.”
I let out a relieved sigh at his answer. I was also worried about him.
“Come on. I made dinner, but we haven’t eaten yet. You must be starving,” I ramble.
Loyal wraps his arm around my shoulders, and we head into my house. The table is already set, and without asking, Farrah goes to grab the pan of casserole from the oven.
“Thank you,” I say as we all sit down.
“You made it. It’s the least I could do.” She shrugs.
As we make our plates, I bite my tongue. I want to ask questions, but I also don’t want to bombard him.
“Okay, get it out. You both look like you have ants in your pants or something.” Loyal says.
“Are you okay?” I blurt out. “Like really okay?”
His eyes soften and he reaches over and squeezes my wrist. “Mami, I’m good. It wasn’t my first time in cuffs, and I’m sure it won’t be my last.”
“That’s not very reassuring,” I mutter, making him chuckle.
“How is your face? The way your head snapped when he hit you the first time,” Farrah says.
Loyal looks over at her and smiles. “I’m fine. It hurt for a minute, sure, but I’m pretty sure he hurt himself more than he hurt me. When I saw him last, his hand was swollen to shit.”
Her shoulders relax at his reassurance.
“Good. Mom would probably cry if your face got messed up too bad,” she jokes, making us laugh.
“Wow, way to make me sound shallow,” I tease, making her smile.
We fall silent again and begin to move food around our plates.
“My dad…” Farrah questions.
“Was still locked up when I got out. According to Savage, he might be out tonight, but he will let us know as soon as he knows,” he tells her.
“Do…” She trails off.
“What baby?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No, never mind. It’s stupid.”
“Farrah, I’m pretty sure whatever you want to know isn’t stupid,” Loyal says kindly.
She bites her lip and doesn’t look up.
“Do you think you could stay the night tonight? I know you don’t do that when I’m here, but it’s my week with Dad, and I’m…I’m afraid he might come back over here and make me go with him,” she says softly.
Her words hit me like a sledgehammer.
How did I not think of that before? I was so worried about Loyal I never thought about the fact her fear might be about something else entirely.
