Chapter Thirteen

Jesse

“That’s twice,” I said.

She stared at me for a moment, confused, and then turned her head to one side. If I hadn’t been so hopping mad, I’d have found it adorable, like a puppy who doesn’t understand a command. But my blood was boiling, not just at Arnold and Eugene but now at Charlotte too.

“Twice what?” she asked.

“Twice,” I said, “that you’ve cheated on your boyfriend with me.”

Her eyes closed, and she sighed, breathing out slowly before taking another deep breath in and opening them. Tears were clustered up in the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t look particularly sad. Almost relieved, in fact.

“Jesse, we need to talk. About a lot of stuff. There is a lot you need to know, and I need to know, and we need to go over.”

“You’re right,” I said. “There is. But not right now. I have business to take care of.”

“Jesse, stop. Nothing you can do or say right now is going to make anything better.”

“Yes, it will,” I insisted. “Without me and Owen being here, I can bet he was going to try to get Amber alone outside. And then what? Who knows? Maybe we wouldn’t see her for a few days, and when we did, she’d be on a video call saying she was calling off the wedding and never speaking to anyone again.”

“That’s a jump,” Charlotte said.

“No, Charlotte, it’s not,” I growled. “You’ve been gone a long time. You don’t know what these people have done. They are one hundred percent capable of doing something like that. Or worse. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.”

“I don’t trust them either, Jesse, but they aren’t going to just kidnap Amber.”

“Yes, they would,” I argued. “Like I said, you don’t know them. I do.”

I pointed to the scar on my skull and then to the one across my bottom lip. Scars put there by the Andersons when they beat the shit out of me, Collin, and Luke and threw us all in jail. They almost killed Luke when Collin and I got out, and if it weren’t for Amber nursing him back to health, who knows how bad off he’d be right now.

“What is that from?”

“The last time I got into it with an Anderson,” I said. “It was a lot worse, trust me. I promised myself I’d never back down from those jerks, and after they gave me these, I don’t intend on going back on that.”

“Jesse, it’s dangerous. And stupid. They’re cops.”

“They’re assholes,” I said. “First and foremost. And second, they are messing with my soon-to-be sister-in-law. And you. And I am not going to stand around and let that happen. So step back and let me do my job, as a man, and get rid of these idiots.”

“Oh my God, you haven’t changed at all, have you?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re still that teenage boy, the one who got into fights and caused havoc for everyone all the time. Aren’t you? You’re still the same Jesse James Galloway that you’ve always been.”

“Why would I change?” I shot back. “I never pretended to be anything other than who I am.”

It came out before I fully thought it through, and I could see the hurt on Charlotte’s face as the words sank in. Charlotte, who was April in her professional life, but Charlotte when I was around. She knew who she really was. And it hurt to be reminded that she’d run from it.

She shrank backwards, her mouth hanging open as if she were going to say something, but nothing came out. Shame built up inside me, and I turned away from her so I didn’t have to see her cry. It was too late to take it back. And what was happening behind me was too pressing.

Ole had arrived now, and was standing beside his brother Arnold, while Eugene had retreated to his car. My concern was Eugene was gathering weaponry, so my first move was to head toward him. But before I could make it more than a few steps, Ole and Owen had bucked up against each other and were eye to eye.

“Hey!” I called out. “Get away from my brother! Step back, Oland!”

“Or what?” Oland spat. “This little punk is old enough now to catch some hands. He’s the only one of you boys I haven’t had the pleasure of making bleed yet.”

“And you never will,” Owen grumbled. “But if you make one more move, I swear to all that is holy I will beat the brakes off you and your brothers by myself.”

“Oh, really?” Oland said, grinning. “I think that sounds like one hell of a challenge being laid out.”

“Everybody stop!”

The voice came from the porch, and I turned to see Mr. Miller standing there, leaning on his cane with his wife trying to pull him back inside. Behind him, Tamara and Amber were in the living room, Tamara still on the phone.

“Mr. Miller, get back in the house,” I said.

“Andersons! You might be police, but you have no right to be here right now! Get off my property immediately, or there will be a massive problem. Do you understand?”

“What are you going to do, old man?” Arnold shouted.

“I’m going to call Agent Griffin is what I am going to do,” he said.

Arnold laughed, and like a chain reaction, so did Oland and Eugene.

“Agent Griffin got reassigned,” Arnold said. “The whole damn case fell apart. My charges were dropped. She can’t and won’t do a damn thing.”

“You paid off the judges, didn’t you?” Owen said. “Or did you just threaten them like you do everybody else?”

“You listen here, little punk,” Arn said, pushing his brother away and getting in Owen’s face. Owen towered over him by a few inches, but the ego of Arnold Anderson was so damn big that it seemed not to faze him at all.

“I ain’t little,” Owen grumbled.

“One more word,” I said, joining Owen by his side. “One more word to my brother, and you will be looking for your teeth for the rest of the night.”

Arn and Owen continued to stare at each other for a long moment before Arn slowly slid his gaze to me. A slight grin crossed the corner of his mouth, and he spat on the ground directly in front of me. Oland and Eugene stood behind him, backing him up and making sure we were well aware it was two against three. Not that it was going to make us back down. Owen and I would have fought a hundred Andersons if we had to.

“The only person who should be worried right now is you, Jesse,” Arn said ominously.

“Oh yeah? Why is that, Arn? You gonna lock me in the jail and beat me up like you did Luke? Because I guarantee you, if you try that bullshit again, not only will we all make sure you don’t spend another day in your uniform, but I will personally see to it that you have difficulty with various body parts well into your old age.”

“Heh,” Arn said, shaking his head. “No, you just don’t understand, Jesse. Things are much worse for you than they are for the rest of your idiot brothers. The whole Galloway clan is a bunch of backward redneck con-men, but you, you’re the worst out of all of them. The absolute worst.”

“What’s the matter, Arn? You don’t like it that I have a band? Is that it? You jealous? Like you are of Luke, because Amber wants to be with him and not you?”

“Amber is making the mistake of a lifetime,” Arnold said. “And one day she will see it. Luke, just like the rest of you, is a no-good, dirty bastard. But she will wake up one day and see it. And when she does, I’ll be right there for her. Because I, unlike you or your family, am a good man .”

“That’s a fucking riot,” I said.

“And you, you are a deadbeat piece of crap, Jesse,” he continued. “See, I know someone who wants to see you in handcuffs really badly. Someone who, all they need to do is file the right paperwork, and I’ll have the authority to put you in the back of a car and bring you to jail. And when they are done with you, you’ll either be spending the next decade behind bars, or that family of yours is going to have to give up all that hoarded-up land you have and return it to its rightful owners. Foley might finally be free of you once and for all.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Owen said. “You keep dancing around saying something. Just get on with it.”

Arn grinned wider now, sporting a gold tooth I hadn’t noticed before. A remnant of a real solid shot Luke must have given him a couple months ago. It glittered in the blue lights from the cop cars.

“Oh, you’ll see,” Arn said. “You’ll see when I slap the cuffs on you and read you your rights, Jesse.”

“For what?”

“Default,” Arn said, his words dropping like lead, “on child support.”