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“This is South Dakota, son. We do things a little different here.”
“I keep hearing that,” Derek sneered.
“And you keep ignoring it, seems like.”
“The guy who said it
shot
at me. Are you going to haul
his
ass in here, too?”
The police officer smiled. “Our department didn’t get a call about that one.”
“Well I’m telling you NOW!”
“Truth is, that sounds like a wild accusation from an inmate. We don’t tend to take wild accusations from inmates too seriously round here.”
Derek looked like he wanted to reach through the bars and tear the chief’s face off.
He shot daggers at Ryan next. “I’d ask you to tell him what really happened, but since we already know you’re a liar and a fucking backstabber, what’s the point?”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I told you, she and I didn’t – ”
Derek ignored him and turned to me. For a moment, the anger in his eyes turned to pain. “Why are you
doing
this to me?”
I stared at him in surprise. “I’m not doing
anything
to you!
You’re
the one who came barging up to the house –
you’re
the one who was going to punch Ryan –
you’re
the one who got in the fight – ”
“And
you’re
the one who walked out on
me
.”
It was meant to be a crushing blow. But after having already heard it before, and after Ryan’s warning –
Remember, you’re his excuse, not the reason. The reason is, he’s a fuck-up
– it was far less devastating than he intended.
Painful, yes. But a slap. Not a body slam on concrete.
I could have answered back with
And you’re the one who cheated on ME,
but I’d already been down that road. He wasn’t listening because he thought I was lying. So I decided to go another way.
“Yeah… it’s not like this is happening because you fucked up. No, I’m
doing
it to you. Everything is about
you,
and whatever you don’t like, somebody’s
doing
it to you just to spite you. Even when you did it to yourself.”
My words got the intended result.
His eyes blazed with hatred as he stared me down.
At that moment, I was truly, honestly glad he was behind bars.
Then he turned to the police chief and said quietly, “What do I need to get out of here?”
“Just agree to have one of my men drive you to the airport, and you leave town on the next flight.”
Derek looked at me with a mixture of rancor and contempt, but spoke to the chief. “Done. Get me out of here.”
The police chief called a guard and a patrol officer. The guard let him out of the cell, and the officer pulled out a pair of cuffs.
“Are those really necessary?” Ryan asked the chief.
“Not if he behaves. Are you going to behave?”
Derek smiled bitterly. “Yeah. Sure. Why not.”
The chief nodded at the officer, who put away the cuffs. “If he gives you any problems, tase his ass.”
“Can we go now?” Derek asked coldly.
“You want to say anything to your friends before you leave?”
“Those assholes aren’t my friends.” Derek started to turn away – and then suddenly stopped. “Yeah, actually, I
do
want to say something to them.”
First he looked at Ryan. “Go fuck yourself.”
Then he looked at me. “I don’t care if you’re lying or not. Fuck him if you want. ‘Cause I’m
done
with you.”
And then he walked out of the jail with the officer trailing behind him.
36
I cried halfway back to the ranch.
Over the horizon, the sun was coming up… but I felt like everything was darker and more depressing than when we first drove to the jail. In fact, it was the worst I’d felt since those first few days after Vegas.
As he drove, Ryan opened up the center console between our seats and fished out a small package of tissues. I took them gratefully.
