“Xavier, home?”
“Nah, he’s at work. Although, with this weather, he’s probably stuck inside doing office work.” Ben laughs as he grabs his bag and slings it over his shoulder.
Five minutes later, I’m cruising down Cedar Ridge Street when the first drops of rain splash against my windshield. Followed by a torrent of its friends. Time to find a place to park and wait out the storm. I flip on the blinker and turn onto Hawthorne Lane.
Halfway down the block, a girl lifts her purse over her head. I switch the windshield wipers to high and listen to the scanner for any calls for help. A tree limb flies out of an oak tree and crashes to the sidewalk, causing the drenched figure to jump backward, dropping her purse to the ground. The contents of the black bag spill in all directions.
Mackenzie. The wind whips her hair, sending a lock of it away from her face and whipping it around like a mini tornado is in the air. I grip the steering wheel and step on the gas.
Cap knew what he was talking about when he warned us about the expected shift in weather when the wind switched to the north. Thankfully, Emily is off work today, so she doesn’thave to deal with these winds. She and Grace are tucked safely at her place.
I roll down the passenger side window as I approach the girl who’s now on her knees, grabbing handfuls of her stuff and shoving everything back into her bag.
“Can I give you a lift?” Lightning snaps as more thunder rolls, shaking my car. “It’s nasty out there today.”
Mackenzie glances up with hair stuck to her skull and black mascara running down her cheeks. She looks in all directions as if she’s hoping someone else will come to her rescue.
I raise my hands in self-defense. “I have nothing against you. Your brother is locked up because of his own choices, and those choices have nothing to do with you.”
She gnaws on her bottom lip and grips the strap hanging from her shoulder.
“I’m sure living with Chad is no walk in the park but he’s not here, so you’re safe. I’ll drive you home, or wherever you were on your way to.”
“Fine.” She yanks open the door and plops down onto the seat. The black cushion swooshes under her fast entry. Not that she’s overweight by any means. She’s become gaunt over the last several weeks.
“Where to?” I clasp the steering wheel, preparing to take off. We should stay here until the rain subsides, but she was skittish enough about getting into the vehicle with me. I don’t want to send her back into the elements to get struck by lightning just to get away from me.
“Home.” She yanks the seatbelt over her chest and snaps it into the latch. “Stop the block before my house.”
“Why?” My grip tightens on the steering wheel until the whites of my knuckles show.
She slumps into the cushions. “Because if I’m seen with you….” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
I twist to face her. “You know now is the perfect time to get away from–”
“Start the fucking car before I tell your captain that you’re hitting on me.”
“Whoa.” I raise my hands in self-defense again. “I’m just trying to help you out.”
Thankfully, the car has cameras which I hit the moment it started to rain in case anything came up. And clearly, something has come up.
Her eyes narrow into slits as she glares. “Your idea of helping keeps getting my ass beat. Just because Chad is in jail doesn’t mean he doesn’t hear everything, or that one of his loser, asshole friends won’t take over in his absence.”
Fuck. My stomach cramps. Reality is as bad as I expected. “You need to get out while he’s gone.”
The street is empty as everyone else but us and Ben, who’s on his way to the airport, got the memo to keep their dumb asses off the road in a downpour.
“Start. The. Fucking. Car.” She slaps her arms across her chest and shifts her attention to the passenger side window. “I don’t need your knight in shining armor routine.”
I bite my tongue, shove the gearshift into gear and drive. Mackenzie is like a cornered feral cat. If I don’t handle this right, I’ll end up with jagged rips up both arms and across my face. And I’m not meaning it in a figurative way.
“Like I said, I know a guy in Kansas City that owns a women’s shelter.”
Her head snaps around. “My mother took us to a women’s shelter. She died, and I got sent back to them. How do you think that happened?”
“They’re both behind bars.” I come to a halt at the stop sign. “This is the perfect time. I can send Emily to pick you up in the ambulance, and we’ll get you out of town.”
Her face pales as she clasps her purse with both hands. “Do not let Emily anywhere near me.”
