“So, he’s just a dick now,” I managed to say before bursting into laughter.
“How long have you been waiting to say that?” Phoenix asked once the room quieted.
“It just came to me. I swear,” I laughed. “But I’ve had No Nuts since last night.”
“Really? You, too?” Ranger guffawed.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“Repeat the last thing you said,” Dice chuckled.
“I’ve had No Nuts since last ni—Oh fuck off,” I said and raised both middle fingers in the air. “I thought of the nickname No Nuts last night. You fuckers knew what I meant.”
“We did,” Ranger laughed. “And we heard what you said. Twice!”
“I’m sleep-deprived from saving young women from a future filled with trauma and pain,” I countered.
Ranger sighed. “Way to be a buzzkill.”
Phoenix lightly banged his gavel on the table. “All right. Let’s get back on track. I spoke with Ricky in the early morning hours. I let him know what his son did and told him he should thank me for showing his son mercy. He started to get a little mouthy and made some veiled threats. While he ran his mouth, I sent him a couple of pictures from the scene and told him I could and would send them to whoever the fuck I wanted to if he gave me reason to. He mumbled something that sounded like thank you and hung up.”
“Hang on. Pictures?” I asked.
Phoenix grinned. “While you were talking to that kid in the bathroom, Flint took pictures of the room. Nothing incriminating of us, of course.”
“Are there pictures of Ariel?” I asked, sounding more defensive than I intended.
“Yes, but I didn’t send them to Ricky. In fact, I won’t send them to anyone without Presley’s consent.”
I nodded, satisfied with his explanation. Logically, I knew Flint took pictures in case evidence—or leverage—was needed later. But I felt protective of Ariel and Presley in a way I never had of anyone before.
5
PRESLEY
For the first week after my daughter was drugged at a party and rescued by a motorcycle club, I was a nervous wreck. Every time I heard a car outside, I assumed it was the police coming back to talk to us, or worse, someone coming to exact retribution. By the end of the second week, when we hadn’t heard a word from anyone, I started to calm down. Ariel’s classmate still hadn’t been found, so I remained on alert, but not to the extent that every sound made me tense and brace for the worst. Or so I thought.
Ariel was spending the weekend with her grandparents—a trip that had been planned for months—and I didn’t have to work. I was fine for the first hour or two after she left, but then the paranoia started creeping in. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t stop worrying about someone coming to retaliate. Finally, I decided the best thing to do to keep my mind from wandering was to occupy my time.
There was a recipe I’d been wanting to make, but Ariel didn’t like most of the ingredients in it, so I thought it would be a good time to try it. That also meant I had to go to the grocery store since I didn’t have the majority of the ingredients on hand.I hated going to the grocery store, but it was too late to place an order for pickup or delivery. Sighing, I grabbed my keys and headed to the store.
The way I shopped was different from most people. While the majority entered the store and went to the right to the produce section, I went to the left and started at the other end of the store. Why? So, I didn’t get stuck shopping the same aisles with some inevitably annoying person and their gaggle of unruly children, which was exactly what I was hurrying away from when I rounded the corner of an aisle and plowed my cart into another person.
“Ooof,” the man grunted.
“I am so sorry! Are you okay?” I asked and stepped around my cart to check on him.
“Presley?” a familiar, deep voice asked.
“Ink,” I said as my mortification doubled. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he chuckled. “I’m surprised to run into you like this.”
Kill me now.
“Sorry,” I repeated. “I should have been paying more attention.”
He stepped to the side. “I don’t want to keep you. Seems like you were in a hurry.”
