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“I know. And you could probably get a decent punch in on a Parma ham, if you need.”

“Stop talking about ham and tell me.”

“Lou stopped him. Is there a phone charger?”

“They didn’t take your phone?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Lou gave it to me when I left.” I leave the Camry running as I plug in her phone. “He said nothing to me, really. He babbled, but it was cold and distant. Very un-Lou.”

“Like?” I take her hand.

“It didn’t make sense. How I needed to get to G. And that all of this was about G and he had no choice. But I was performing on stage B, not G.”

I pull her face to mine as she looks around. “He said G?”

“He did.”

I whisper, “And you’re sure?” She nods. I stroke my fingers over the love of my life’s stomach. “Can you breathe? Does it hurt other than the bruise? Like not cracked ribs?”

She looks up at me. “How should I know? It’s not in my arsenal of feelings.”

“Ballbuster.”

“Whatever.”

“Did he hit you anywhere else?” She nods and I brace myself for the worst. She lifts her shirt again, this time exposing her stomach. There’s some bruising but it doesn’t look swollen. I carefully press around.

“It’s sore, but not like my back.”

“That’s good, honey. And nothing is hard. Are you light-headed?”

“I puked.”

“Well, sure, who wouldn’t?” I tick my lip to the side and she exhales for me. “Breathe in deep.” She does and there’s no outward sign of damage. “Still nauseous?”

“Nope. Starved.” I kiss her nose.

“Good.”

She looks at the Walmart entrance and then back to me. “Interested in some rollback deals? What do you need?”

I lean over and pull her face to mine and kiss her hard. “Only you. Ever.”

The phone flashes on and she swipes it open. “Nothing from Brick, Boomer, or Mark. But wait. There’s a text from myself.”

I take the phone out of her hand and open the text. It’s an audio recording and a picture. Of an older man and Enzo. Has to be Cady. ‘G’ is exactly what I think it is, and Lou never turned shit.

I play the recording. “That’s him! That’s all of it.”

“Send it up the fucking pipe to Mel. Open a portal or something and get it to our resident hacker expert for safekeeping. She can get it to Mark securely. And my darling wife, Enzo, gets to double die for talking to you like that.” I can’t listen to all of it. I can’t hear him beat her. “Turn it off.”

“I love you but… I think someone’s going to kill him before you get there.” She smirks and my beautiful girl’s face should be jaded and angry but it’s not. It’s hope and sunshine. Except those fucking eyelashes she put on for the chef thing. They don’t make sense on her face. I need them gone.

I pull out my phone. “I need to see if there’s a friend in the area.”

“Can’t wait to meet this one? Prom date? How many times did you bang this one?”

“The mouth on you. That’s not you. Stop it. You know I grew up here, right? Like everyone I know is in like a thirty-mile radius.” I wave my hands all around. I search for a number while I keep chiding her. “You can’t walk a foot in Sonoma without some rando you went to gymnastics with when you were two, stopping you to fucking talk about road construction on Highway Twelve. Not to mention everyone you’ve ever kissed or slept with, aside from college, lives in that area.”