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Not wanting Gary to be shocked by what he might find, I pull out my cell and send him a quick text.
Me: Hey Gary, a couple of drunk assholes attacked me in the back lot.
Gary: What?!
Me: I’m okay, someone else saw what was happening and came to my rescue. They knocked them out but they’re in your parking lot. They left before I could thank them. Probably some homeless person.
I don’t mention Mark but not just because he didn’t want me to. I don’t want to deal with the cops any more than he does. It always ends up being he said/she said bullshit and in small towns like this, it still tends to be the ‘good ‘ol boys’ club.
Gary: I’ll take care of it. I knew I should’ve walked you out. FUCK!
Me: No harm, no foul. I should’ve let you. I’m okay and that’s what matters.
Gary: I got this, you take care and don’t be a stranger, you hear?
Me: I hear! Thanks for everything!
After sending him a kiss emoji and telling him I’ll be back someday, I stomp on the gas and turn Stella toward the highway.
“Let’s get this show on the road!”
“He’ll be there.”
I stare out the window from my seat on the airplane. This is the third plane Matt and I have been on during our journey home, and I’m damn sick and tired of being cooped up in such close quarters.
“And if he’s not?” I ask, twisting to look at him. “I’ve been texting him for days, man.”
“He’ll be there,” Matt repeats, but the uncertainty in his eyes gives away his unease.
After we burned down the church, Matt and I joined the military. We knew we needed to get as far away from our hometown as humanly possible. But John is deaf, and the military wouldn’t take him. Leaving him behind was not an easy decision, but what choice did we have?
There’s always a choice.
“If he’s not there, we’re hunting his ass down,” I snap, my frustration with John’s silence bubbling to the surface.
“Agreed.”
“I don’t care what it takes, Matt.”
“Agreed.”
“We’ll go to the ends of the Earth to drag his ass back to us.”
Matt rests his hand on my forearm. “Dude, I agree. Now would you chill the fuck out? You’re giving me a headache.”
“Pussy,” I mutter.
“Ah, fuck. Pussy.” My best friend grins. “I can’t wait to get me some pussy.”
I chuckle at him. “The bitch from last night not do it for you?”
Matt hooked up with some chick he met in the airport bar during our last layover. She had a friend who propositioned me, but I wasn’t feeling it. What could’ve been a quick roll in the hay at some seedy motel turned into me standing outside a handicap bathroom mean-mugging anyone who tried to go in so Matt could bang one out real fast.
The things we do for our friends.
“Oh, she did it for me. But we’ve spent the last four years in one stupid sandbox or another, and I’ve got a lot of lonely nights to make up for.”
“Attention ladies and gentlemen.” The pilot’s voice comes over the speaker. “This is your pilot, Captain McCall. We’re currently approaching Harry Reid International Airport in Paradise, Nevada. The local time is two-thirty-six in the morning, and the temperature is a balmy seventy-seven. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened, and we’ll have you on the ground in no time.”
