Page 34 of Kings Fear No One
“I don’t think so! Get your hands off my daughter!” Mrs. Baxter screeches. Her hysterical call echoes across the walkway area and earns curious looks from people in the parking lot. She shoves at me to sever my hold on Teysha’s elbow. “That’s my baby girl, and I’m not letting nobody else take her away! You’re not about to sully her again!”
“Mama!” Teysha cries out.
As if shoving me away from her daughter wasn’t bad enough, Grandmother Baxter swings her handbag. It collides with my shoulder, then the side of my head.
“Get!” she yells. “Go on and go, or we will call the police!”
How the situation has spiraled to the point I’m being whacked over the head by a mother-grandmother duo, I’ll never understand. We sure as hell have drawn the attention of everybody around though.
I throw up an arm to block Mrs. Baxter’s next shot. Teysha has inserted herself to pry her grandmother away.
“You two done?” I ask, jutting my chin at them. “Or would you like to cause more of a fucking scene?”
It’s hard to say if they’re more scandalized by my challenge or the cuss word. They exchange looks, their blinks long and slow like it’ll help wake them from some shitty dream.
They’ll get over it. They’ve got no choice but to.
I round on Teysha.
“Ready?”
Teysha’s big brown eyes flick up to mine. So many damn emotions welled up in them, it’s a wonder how one person can feel so much. She gives a small nod and leans into my side.
Tension clenches from deep within my chest.
I put an arm around her and wave off the Baxter women. “Sounds like it’s decided. Teysha stays ‘cuz that’s what Teysha wants. Don’t waste your time coming by again. We’ll call you.”
“Teysha!”
“Come back here!”
“Lord, why has my daughter been led astray by such wickedness?”
I pull open the truck’s passenger’s side door and stand back for Teysha to slide in. Her family’s cries have followed us every step across the parking lot. The others in the area haven’t stopped gawking. I walk around to the driver’s side, shooting a glare in Mrs. Baxter and her mother’s direction.
My warning is clear: Teysha has made her choice. Get the fuck over it.
The truck rumbles to life at the turn of the key in the ignition. I check on her one more time before driving off.
“You alright?”
She’s shaken. Eyes wide and misty, her body stiff and uncertain. “Get me out of here.”
Teysha only needs to ask once.
The truck gives another deep rumble as we ditch the clerk’s office parking lot.
We drive for a while in silence. Just the background noises around town. School-aged children giggling on a sidewalk. Rubber tires on tarmac and the jingle from the local ice cream truck.
I glance at her in between watching the road. “I’m taking you back to my place.”
She’s turned her head toward the window and gives no sign she’s heard me. Is she regretting her decision already?
Around her family, she seemed like a wilting flower. Any personality—or spark as they’d called it—went out. She’d looked over as if pleading with me to help her. Did I misread her reactions? Otherwise, what the hell could be wrong with her?
“You sure you’re alright? I can take you back to your mother?—”
“I…” she says suddenly, then pauses a second. “I… need a drink.”
