Page 80 of Bound in Ashes

“It’s fine. We’ll be on our way,” I cut in.

“No, you won’t. Think you should stay overnight. Gets dark out there. Dangerous,” he said.

“But you sent your son?” Jack asked.

“Junior can take care of himself. Now I insist that you enjoy some of my town’s hospitality,” Hayes said.

I knew exactly what this was, and knew that there was no way to put a stop to it. Hayes was going to insist, and Jack, being Jack, was going to push back. Either way, he was going to be in a trap. It was up to me to make sure we could get out.

“Sure. Is there somewhere we can go?”

Jack glared at me, but I thanked God he stayed silent.

“Yeah. You know where Hale House is?” he said.

“I do.”

“Why don’t you leave Levi’s truck out front and walk on down there. You can get some food, get some sleep. Maybe shower,” Hayes said.

Then he dismissed us with some vague allusions about having to get back to work.

“What happened?” I asked as the sheriff walked away.

“Later,” he said quietly. “But tell me about that asshole. Not a big fan of yours?”

I rolled my eyes. “What gave it away?”

Jack stared at me, his eyes narrowed.

“Did he do something to you?” he asked. His body was tense, coiled tight as he waited for my answer.

“There’s nothing like that,” I said. “He’s just an asshole who used to fuck with kids who were in trouble. Delinquents, I believe, is what they called us back then. Hayes had no use for us and made that known. And even when I managed to pull myself up by my bootstraps and make something of myself, well, let’s just say first impressions don’t really change for him.”

“Easy enough, but this place is…”

“Fucked,” I supplied.

“I was gonna say off, but that works,” he said. “Let’s get off the streets.”

As we walked, we passed a shuttered hardware store and small market with crates of rotting fruit and vegetables with a sign that said FREE.

“It seems the sheriff has become a collectivist,” Asia muttered.

“Looks that way,” he grumbled.

But he didn’t buy it any more than I did.

I also sensed the rage that shimmered beneath the surface.

I knew why, too.

I’d asked him to stand down. Made him go against his nature.

But I did it for him because I knew he wouldn’t be able to.

We walked in silence that was loud with Jack’s anger.

I braced myself, ready to make him understand.