Nothing’s holding Gramps back. ‘And so, to conclude. I have studied Ms Harper’s ledger in detail. As she helpfully documented all the hours she worked in your establishment, since the day she turned eighteen, including most federal holidays, by my calculations, at the Texan minimum wage rate, she has fully repaid the debt owed to you by her father, minus thirty dollars and eighty-six cents. You should consider that a good deal, because I know you pay your other girls a lot more.’
McCoy brings both his clenched fists down hard on the surface of the desk. ‘Enough! Get the hell out of here, both of you! Hurley, escort these two out. Bar them for life.’
I glance back. The man mountain that is Hurley approaches. I look at Gramps and we both get to our feet. McCoy can’t even look us in the eye.
I hold out my hand. ‘Thank you for your time, sir.’
He slaps it away. ‘Fuck you! Get out!’
I straighten my suit jacket and allow Gramps to walk out in front of me. Hurley opens the door and neither one of us looks back.
At the entrance, Hurley crosses his arms and puffs out his chest, glaring at us down his nose. The size of him, he’d make a half decent tight end. ‘Gentlemen, you are barred from entering these premisesforthwith.’
He looks to Gramps when he says ‘forthwith’, as though he’s trying to prove he was paying attention back there in the office, but perhaps to say he was impressed by my grandfather’s legal jargon.
Outside, I look at Gramps nervously in the parking lot, heading for the pickup. ‘What now?’
‘We wait,’ he responds. ‘Let that sink in.’
‘Why didn’t you open your binder?’
‘There’s nothing in it,’ Gramps says. ‘Just a few sheets of blank paper. I carry it around to make me feel like I can still pass as an attorney.’
‘Believe me,’ I smile. ‘You still do.’
At one a.m., when Serenity calls me, I’m lying in bed, wide awake.
‘I’m parked on Oak Trail. Is that near your place?’ she says.
I bolt upright. ‘I’m on Rockwell Drive. I can get in the car. Don’t go anywhere.’
‘I’m outside number 408. Near the corner of Boston Avenue.’
The house is quiet when I slip out the front door. The pickup is in the driveway. It takes me less than five minutes to drive to her location. Serenity’s opening the car door before I’ve even parked up.
When I get out, I slow my pace. In the shadows of the trees, it’s hard to see her face. My breath hitches when I finally see her, black eye makeup smudged down her face where she’s been crying so much.
‘Oh Jesus, what happened?’ I growl. ‘Did he hurt you?’
More tears leak down her face. ‘No.’
I take her hands in my mine. ‘Then what happened?’
She breaks out into a broken grin. ‘He let me go.’
My heart is thrumming hard in my chest. ‘What?’
She nods her head. ‘He said I wouldn’t go back if I knew what was good for me. I managed to say goodbye to the other girls… then I left.’
I’m speechless. I grab her in a bear hug and squeeze her to me, burying my face in her hair. Then I lift her off the ground and she squeals in genuine delight. ‘Are you serious?’ I ask, when I put her down again and cradle her face in my palms.
She’s trembling. The tears are still streaked down her face and she’s as breathless as I am. ‘Jake. My father’s debt is fully paid. Kale said I don’t have to work there anymore. I’m free.’
At the realization, I pull her back to me, crushing my mouth to hers, the moan coming out of my mouth one of intense relief, not for me, but for her, that she doesn’t have to take her clothes off for anybody else but me, and she didn’t have to pay a dime to Kale McCoy to saysayonarato that whole goddamned outfit.
I love kissing her. I would die kissing her if I could. When she breaks our kiss, she wipes continuous tears, shaking her head in disbelief and pacing on the sidewalk in the dark. I want to reach for her, but she needs this. I know she needs to process. And we’re the only ones out here. No one is gonna see us together tonight.
‘You don’t understand,’ she says, her voice quivering, more emotional than I’ve ever seen her. She pulls her sleeves up over her hands, wiping her cheeks. ‘My whole life, no one has ever done anything like this for me. I never thought this would happen. I neverbelieved… And I don’t know what you said to him… and I know I said I didn’t need a hero… but you… you came along and crashed into my world. You did this for me, Jake. YouandMac. You’re both my heroes.’
