43. Max

I bangedon her door for the fifth time. Clearly, she wasn’t home, but I had no idea where else she would be. Sighing, I pounded one more time.

“Yes, hit it again. Maybe she’s just hiding from you inside,” Dash shouted.

“Hey, you don’t know where she is.”

“Yes, and clearly, pounding on her door over and over again hasn’t worked, but if you hit it one more time, it will activate a trigger mechanism, signaling her through a shining light in the sky. She’ll see it and know that it could only be you, and she’ll come running home.”

“Sarcasm is not your forte,” I grumbled.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think that was sarcasm?”

Rolling my eyes, I turned away from the door. Slinking back to the truck, I tried to figure out anywhere else she might be. “Maybe we should check the bar.”

“Or the church,” FNG shrugged.

I slowly looked up at him, anger simmering in my eyes. “The church?”

“Well, yeah, I would have mentioned it ten minutes ago, but you were having so much fun pounding on the door. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Swearing, I ran for the minivan, getting into the passenger seat. Fox was waiting in the driver’s seat, bouncing excitedly on the seat. “Did you get her? Is she there?”

“Does it look like she’s beside me?”

“No, but you are in the passenger seat. She would only fit beside you if you were in the back,” he said, his mouth running wild. “Where are we going? Should we hit the bar? The school? The dentist?”

“The church,” I said, hoping he would stop bouncing so much. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know! I just feel so alive, you know? I’m here. I’m happy. I’m alive. And I had a fuckton of Funyuns on the flight home. I’m a little thirsty, but maybe I’ll grab some of that wine at the church.”

I spun around in my seat and glared at Dash. “Why the fuck did you let him drive?”

Fox hit the gas and peeled away from the curb. I fell into the console, then struggled to push myself upright as Fox wove in and out of traffic like a man who just robbed a bank. The light turned red up ahead, and I quickly grabbed my seatbelt, struggling to get it on as he zoomed through the light.

“Fox!” I shouted, just as a car blared its horn and swerved to miss us. I closed my eyes, praying we didn’t crash before I got her back.

“I got this. It’s all good. Uh-oh!”

“Why are you saying uh-oh? There are no uh-ohs in the van!”

“Policia! Policia!” he shouted, then pressed the gas pedal even harder. We were pushing eighty, racing through town, passing the church, and flying out the other end of town.

“Fox! You missed the church!”

“They’ll never take me!” he shouted.

“Dash, do something!” I said, spinning in my seat.

He looked bored as he thumbed through a magazine. “Don’t worry. It’ll end soon enough.”

“We’re running from the police! I’m not even sure why!”

“Because Fox. That’s all you need to know,” he said calmly.

“Fox, I need to get back to the church!”

He saluted me with a grin. “You got it, mon senior!”

“It’s Monsignor,” Dash corrected him. “Not that it matters. We’ll be in jail soon.” He flipped another page and nodded at whatever he was reading. “Nice.”

Fox took the next turn, barely keeping the van on two wheels. I gripped anything I could and held on for dear life.

“Hey, get the guns!”

“What? Why would we get the guns?”

“Because we have to take them out!”

This guy was batshit crazy. “Fox, they’re the police!”

“Right? Who the fuck do they think they are? I’ve got a vat of acid with their names written all over it!” He laughed maniacally as he hit the gas and headed back into town. The line of police cars was ten long—probably the whole department out to get the crazy minivan disrupting the peace in town.

I pulled out my phone, dialing Cash. We were going to need him to get us out of this mess. “Yeah?”

“Cash! Fox has gone crazy. We’re in a police chase. He’s talking about vats of acid!”

“Huh. That sounds about right. Let me know how it turns out.”

He hung up, leaving me stunned. But then I heard a shout out the window and saw FNG raising his fist from another minivan. “I got this!”

“What? What the fuck is he talking about?” I asked Dash.

He flipped another page, still reading. “You’ll see.”

“See what? We need to pull over.”

He snorted. “Funny you should say that.”

“Why is that funny?”

“Because it’s you.”

“Do you have an opinion about everybody?” I shouted, my voice catching in my throat as Fox went head-to-head with a cop car.

“He’s gonna move,” Fox grinning, twisting his hands around the steering wheel.

“He’s not moving.”

“Oh, he’ll move!”

“He’s not moving!”

“He’s moving!”

“He’s not!”

“He is!”

“He’s not!”

Fox twisted the wheel at the last second. “Fuck! He’s not moving!”

The van flew over the gravel at the side of the road, then soared over the steep ditch, landing hard at the edge of a field. The van was out of control, barely still upright as Fox started laughing again.

“Corn!” I shouted as we headed straight for the field.

“We’ll lose ‘em in it!”

The van lurched forward and ran over cornstalk after cornstalk. I blocked my face with my hands, sure a stalk would fly through the windshield and pummel me to death.

“I didn’t even get a chance to tell her I love her!”

“And you probably never will,” Dash said, his voice dull.

Suddenly, metal appeared before us. My eyes went wide and Fox and I screamed as the van hit the irrigation system head-on. The van flew forward, then twisted to the side and rolled, landing on the hood. I hung upside down from my seat, thankful I had put on my belt.

Breathing hard, I looked over at Fox. “I did not see that coming.”

“Yeah. Who puts a large pole in the middle of a field?”

I rolled my eyes and tried to peer over my shoulder at Dash. He still had the fucking magazine in his hands and was reading it upside down. “You good?”

He gave me a thumbs up and flipped the page.

“At least we’re still alive,” I grumbled.

“We can take ‘em!” Fox shouted.

But all I heard was the rack of a gun as the van was surrounded by police.

“Still think we can take ‘em?”

Cash stoodoutside the jail cell, arms crossed over his chest as he stared the three of us down. For ten minutes now, we’d been waiting for him to rail on us. For ten minutes, I wondered how fucking long he was going to make us wait in this cell. I had places to go and people to see.

And he was standing in my way.

Well, him and the police.

“I just have one question…” Cash finally said.

“Why was Fox driving?” Dash said.

“That’s a question for another time,” Cash growled. “No, what I want to know is why you didn’t swerve out of the way of the fucking irrigation system.”

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That’s what you want to know?” I pointed at Fox. “He was hopped up on Funyuns, sped through town, avoided the cops, nearly ran FNG off the road, played chicken with local LEOs, and drove through a cornfield. And that’s your burning question?”

He shrugged. “It’s Fox. It was bound to happen eventually. But now, I have one very pissed-off farmer who’s threatening to sue me.”

“Oh, and the van is a little bit ruined,” Fox grinned, holding his forefinger and thumb together. “Thankfully, there’s a mechanic in the house.”

Dash groaned. “Don’t even mention that fucker.”

FNG rushed in the back, grinning at us. “Hey, guys! Man, that was some wild ride, huh?”

Cash swung his gaze to glare at him. “I don’t know what you’re so fucking happy about. You didn’t even do anything.”

FNG looked stricken by that. “Hey, I would have. Honest. I was just about to get into the action when things went sideways. Man, you should have been there.”

The hostility on Cash’s face said otherwise.

“I mean, I was about to jump in. It’s a shame you didn’t get to see me in action, Max. It would have been so good.”

“Yes,” I said drolly. “I’m devastated.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Now that we’re on a team together, we’ll be inseparable. And don’t worry, we’ll get her back.”

“Not stuck in jail,” Cash grinned.

I rushed forward, gripping the bars. “Cash, you gotta get me out. I have to find her.”

“Who?”

“Christa.”

A smile touched his lips. “So, you finally came to your senses.”

“Yes, and if you get me out of here, I’ll start flying again. Sober.”

He winced. “Yeah, they said they’d let Scottie back on the insurance. Apparently, you’re more of a liability than he is.”

“Okay, then I’ll…join a team and really put in an effort.”

“Yes, but for how long?”

“For…a long time.”

“I don’t know,” he grimaced.

“Okay, then…I’ll wash your car. Every day.”

“I go to the car wash.”

Was there nothing I could say to get to this man? “Then tell me what I have to do.”

The smile dropped from his face and he took a menacing step forward. “Do you really want out of here?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ll do anything I ask.”

“Yes!”

“Alright…the price to get out of here is…you’re on Fox duty.”

“What does that mean?”

Dash started laughing, pressing the palms of his hand against his eyes. “Oh fuck, that’s too awesome.”

“It means for the foreseeable future, you are responsible for Fox. You make sure he doesn’t boil anyone, or try to scalp anyone. And above all else, you make sure he never holds another class on meditation.”

“I think I can handle that.” They were odd requests, but I’d go with it.

“And one more thing.” A sadistic smile twisted his lips. “You owe me a favor.”

“Just one?” I snorted.

“Trust me. It’ll be a good one.”

I had a terrible feeling about what I was agreeing to, but I was desperate at this point. “Deal.”

It took thirty fucking minutes for him to get me out of jail. Luckily, Dash and Fox stayed locked in jail for the remainder of the day. I rushed over to the church, bursting through the doors, huffing and puffing as I ran up the aisle.

Men and women dressed to the nines turned to stare at me. It wasn’t until I was almost to Christa’s father that I realized there was a casket at the front of the church.

“Uh…hey,” I nodded, turning to face everyone else. “How’s it going?”

The woman in black with a veil draped over her face sniffled. With a quick look at the casket, I flinched back at the sight before me. Talk about a hideous dude.

“Uh…I didn’t know…that guy,” I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “But…I’m sure he’ll be missed.”

“That’s my daughter,” the woman cried.

“Seriously? Bad plastic surgery?”

Gasps filled the church. Fuck, I needed to keep my mouth shut. “Uh, anyway, sad news about her. When it’s your time, it’s your time. Only the man upstairs knows. And…I’m sure she was sad to…leave this earth.”

Christa’s dad leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Jill committed suicide.”

“Of course she did,” I muttered.

“Maybe you should sit down.”

“No, actually, I think I need to leave. Where’s Christa?”

“She actually went to find you.”

I spun around and gripped him by the arms. “What? When? Did she say where she was going?”

“No, she just said she was going to find her husband.”

I grinned, feeling pretty fucking good about myself. “I did leave quite an impression on her,” I said, thinking about our many nights together.

As if her father knew what I was thinking, he scowled at me. “We’re in church. Try to remember that.”

“Right,” I cleared my throat. “So…I’ll just be leaving. Oh, and I’m really sorry about the whole drunken marriage thing. You know how insane women can be.”

“I’m sorry, are you trying to convince me that you should be with my daughter or that you want to be buried in this casket instead of Jill?”

Chuckling, I took a step back. “You know, this is gonna be good.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.”

I looked up at the cross on the wall and did what I hoped was the sign of the cross, but looked more like an X. “Well…I guess we’ll find out soon enough, Dad.”

Yep, I was definitely burning in hell.

But, at least I didn’t set the church on fire.