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Prosper’s jaw tensed in response. “Stay here,” he ordered.
And then he was gone.
“Get the fuck over here.” Prosper shoved Jack out of the keg line and into the shadows.
“What’s the matter with you pushing me like that. Hell, I got cotton mouth like you wouldn’t believe from all that road dust,” Jack growled out at Prosper, then strained to look in the direction that Prosper had just come from. “And where the hell is Maggie? She don’t know anyone here, and I asked you to stay with her, brother.”
“You mean seven-fucking-teen-year-old Maggie? Little Miss ‘I-ain’t-never-been-more-than-five-miles-away-from-home-before’Maggie?” Prosper barked out at him.
“She said that?” Jack looked doubtful.
“Might as well have!” Prosper told him. Then he scrubbed a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Brother, what the hell you doing?”
“What do you mean, what am I doing? She’s fucking gorgeous.”
“What she is, is jailbait.” Prosper snorted.
“She’ll be eighteen in a couple of hours.” Jack argued. “And when I saw her last night? The minute I saw her? Something happened to me. It was like … I don’t know … the world exploded around me.”
“That’s ’cause all the blood in your brain went straight to your dick.” Prosper shook his head. “We’re outta here in a couple of days, Jack. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Like what?”
“Like leaving her with a belly full of baby as a reminder of your stopover.”
“Where the hell did that come from?” Jack shot out. “That’s some insulting shit, that’s what that is, and frankly, I’m pretty damn disappointed in you for sayin’ it. You don’t think I know fucking better? Ilikeher. When have you ever heard me say that before? Hell, we’ve been on the road together for a couple of years now … Never once,never oncehave I been interested in getting to know a woman past the part of fuckin’ them. And you know that. But Maggie? She’s different.”
“Yeah, Jack? Different how? In a statutory rape kind of way?” Prosper scoffed.
“Jesus, this again? I just said she’ll be eighteen in a couple of hours,” Jack retorted. Then he added, “She’s … interesting.”
“Oh, so you’re intointerestingchicks now? And how the hell is she interesting? You know anything about her besides that she looks pretty good and has probably led a shitty enough life to believe the bullshit you’ve been feeding her.”
“You just said it yourself,” Jack protested. “She’s had a shitty life. And it don’t look to me like her future’s looking too rosy either, especially if she keeps trying to save that pissant brother of hers. You think about that, Prosper, while you’re spouting off your sanctimonious bullshit. You think about what’s gonna happen to her the next time she goes for that stupid bat, and then into that blood-soaked alleyway to try and save that loser brother of hers.”
Prosper remained silent because, really, Jack had a good point there.
“She deserves more than she’s got, brother. You’ve got to see that.”
Prosper scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “And you gonna give that to her? You gonna give her more, Jack?”
“Shedeservesmore,” Jack repeated with conviction. “And yeah, I’d like to give her that. I’m not a bad guy, Prosper. Done some bad things, but that ain’t who I am, and I hope the hell you know that. So yeah, maybe I can be the one to give Maggie something better. Maybe I can give her something more than the bullshit hand that she’s been dealt. What if I’m her shot at that something better? You know and I know that chances to change your life don’t come along every day. What if I’m that chance for her? That only chance, and I walk away from that?”
They both turned and looked in her direction. Maggie was talking and smiling with a group of the women who had gone over to introduce themselves.
“She is a beauty, I’ll give you that,” Prosper conceded with a sigh.
“So, you agree? She’s pretty cool, right?” Jack asked him.
“Hell, Jack, I haven’t said much more than a couple of words to her. She may be a looker but she ain’t real smart. That was a stupid decision she made, thinking she could stand up against those assholes in the bar.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that, and don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind too. Dumbass thing to do for sure. But he’s her brother, Prosper. Her blood,” Jack protested with vehemence. “Gotta give the kind of love and loyalty that Maggie has for her kin props. No matter how stupid or misguided it was, it was also a brave and standup thing to do.”
Prosper thought about it. “Yeah, I’ll give her that.”
“So, you like her?”
“I don’t know … yeah, I guess she might be okay.” Prosper shrugged. “But still …”
