Brody’s beside me in a flash. “Let me get it,” he says as he tries to grab it.
“I got it,” I grunt as I grip it hard.
“Jesus,” he replies, still tugging. “I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t need your bloody help.” I don’t need anyone’s, I think silently.
He yanks the duffle from my arms so abruptly I fall on my ass. “This is gonna be the longest fucking week of my life,” he mutters. He grabs the other duffle bag, stalks to his truck and flings them both in the back of it. Brambles, the fucking traitor, follows them into the truck bed, then props his paws on the side, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.
“Why’d he take our stuff?” Henri says with hostility as she returns to my side.
I climb to my feet, wiping dust from my ass, then grab the rest of the dog’s shit. “We’re going with them.”
Her jaw drops. “In their truck?”
I slam the trunk and lock the car doors. “Obv.”
“Are you kidding me?” She clenches her fist as her face turns fiery red.
I think she’s about to run again. I think about following her. I think about her never being allowed back to school, only getting a grade six education and living at home for the rest of her life. I walk over to Eight’s truck and yank open the passenger door. “Get in,” I say in my serious mom voice that brooks no argument.
It never did work on Henri. “You can’t make me!” she shouts.
Eight releases a frustrated breath as he walks over to her and hauls her over his shoulder. “Jesus Christ, kid,” he mutters as he stuffs her in the crew cab. “None of us wants to be here, so get over it. It’s four days. We’ll learn to get along or die trying.”
Henri kicks the back of the seat. “You’ll die tryin’. Not me.”
Oscar takes offence on behalf of his dad. He sticks his face in the back. “Did you just threaten my dad?”
Henri punches him in the face.
Oscar reels back.
I sigh.
Eight says, “Fuck me.”
Chapter Five
Eight
As I hold Oscar back from throwing himself at Henri, I wonder if it would be worth it to pay to send her to private boarding school. That way Oscar could go back to school and neither of us would have to deal with these two females ever again.
“Get in,” I say to Selkie in a dead voice as I yank open my door.
She obeys, though I know she wants to tell me to go fuck myself. I think she’s holding back because her kid just punched mine. There wasn’t much force behind it and Oscar isn’t unduly hurt, but I can see that he’s thinking seriously about how to get rid of her body. To be fair, so am I.
I motion for Oscar to get in the front seat. He complies then slams the door behind him. As I climb in the driver’s side, Oscar shouts, “Freak!” at Henri.
“You’re the freak,” Henri shouts back.
I lose my temper, which doesn’t happen. “Enough!” I roar. “I don’t want to hear another fuckin’ word out of either of you.”
“Watch the language,” Selkie says like she’s a paragon of virtue.
I twist in my seat and give her my best death glare. “You too, Fleming.”
She narrows her eyes. “We’re not going to do that, Brody. We’re the grown-ups. So Henri and Oscar, yeah. No talkin’, but you and me, you don’t tell me to shut up.”
