I did as commanded. So did everyone else in the bar who’d watched this brawl escalate. No one, not even the Bandits, moved a muscle as everything unfolded.
Over the next several minutes, the police arrested multiple people, taking them outside in handcuffs. Connor and Mason got taken away. I didn’t see Zack and Garrett.
And then I saw Steele, looking at me, just as a cop came up to him and put cuffs on him. He grimly nodded to me, and I nodded back. It was a look that said, “This is what we do for each other.”
And it was true. Jail didn’t scare me so much as it served as an annoying inconvenience. I would gladly go there if the alternative was standing to the side and watching my boys get their asses beat.
But in some respects, even though half of us would spend the night in jail—assuming Zack and Garrett hadn’t already gone there—we had gotten lucky. The fight had taken place in a bar near the heart of downtown. The police here couldn’t be bought, at least not by local gangs, and law and order was handled by the government.
That would not be the case in Santa Maria. When we all returned to Santa Maria, this fight would continue. Boundaries would not have the same meaning as they had before.
We had to rally together and be prepared to fight more than ever. I had to get Cole’s help—no, I had to get his advice. I couldn’t rely on a father figure living in a high-rise luxury apartment to help directly; he could only guide me. This was our fight.
After Steele got arrested, the cops left. There were no more Bandits left. Zack emerged from the corner, shaking his hands, which had blood on the knuckles. Garrett had… already gone back to the blonde girl I was talking to earlier. That was an impressive commitment to getting laid, one he’d earned the right to explore since he’d helped in the fight.
“You all right?” I said to Zack.
“Yeah, got lucky.”
“The hell happened? One second I was fighting a Bandit going to the girls’ bathroom, the next, the cops showed up.”
“That’s…more or less what happened. As soon as I heard the police coming, I tried to pull the others away, but they wouldn’t listen. So, off to jail they go.”
I sighed.
“With any luck, the cops won’t know their backgrounds and will want them to stay in for a night. When they get free, we need to have a talk about getting more serious. The Bandits will not look kindly on this.”
“Agreed.”
I looked up to see Garrett leaving with his arm around the lower back of the blonde.
“Go home,” I said. “No one else here needs us. I’ll take care of everything else.”
“You sure—”
“Yes.”
I wasn’t mean, but my words were to the point. I needed to make sure Tara, Elizabeth, and Kathryn were OK.
No.
I needed to make sure Kathryn and Elizabeth were unharmed, and I needed to talk to Tara. I needed to act like an adult.
Zack left without a word. There were a few people left who had watched the fight from the sidelines, wondering if I was about to do something, but I ignored them. I walked to the women’s bathroom and knocked. Tara answered.
“It’s all clear,” I said. “But can you hang back? I want to talk to you.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” she said, her voice getting more excited with each word.
The three of them came out seconds later. Elizabeth asked where everyone else was. Kathryn said they needed to leave and she wished she hadn’t underestimated the violence in the place. Tara told them she’d be right out. The two got the hint and walked away—but not before Kathryn kept looking back at the two of us. Tara waited until they were completely gone before speaking to me.
“What’s up?” Tara said.
Even now, in a flustered state, with concern etched on her face, she still looked stunningly beautiful. She still looked every bit the apple in the Garden of Eden, the temptation I wanted to devour and have all for myself.
“What did you and Steele talk about?”
She groaned.
