Page 71 of Kings of Sherwood

“And where I come from, men know how to pick up signals,” I reply, willing myself not to snap the words at him. “Don’t touch her.”

“Now—”

“Don’ttouchme,” Grace says, shaky but sharp.

I don’t wait for him to move. I stand up, grab his hand by the wrist, and calmly—which is not easy, mind you—remove it from her shoulder.

All at once, their tone changes. “Sir, are you aware that assaulting an officer is a crime?”

“He didn’t assault you.” Taylor pipes up from my elbow, where she’s holding her phone aloft. “I got it on camera. Just in case your bodycam footagehappensto be erased later.”

I try not to smile too widely. Instead, just give the nicest, friendliest shrug I can. “Well, I guess that’s that, deputies. Unless there’s further business you have with our party here?”

The two of them give each other a sour look, which they levy onto me. But they back off.

“You take care,ladies,” the second one says. “Lots of girls getting wrapped up in bad situations lately. Y’all be careful.”

We all wait a good two minutes in tense silence before any of us moves, let alone speaks. Maren sweeps back in from the inside of the restaurant, breathing hard.

“Oh my God,” Mackenzie says. “That was...they were...” She gapes at me. “You’re myhero.” She looks at Maren and clutches her hand reverently. “Never let him go, girl.”

Maren smiles at me with a kind of pride that makes me feel ready to punch out a thousand deputies, and I blush, in spite of myself. “I just...didn’t want them bothering you,” I say, truthfully.

Taylor pockets her phone dutifully. “They’re just here for easy apprehensions,” she says sagely. “Whole force has gotten lazy.”

Grace just exhales hard. “I’m never breaking the law again,” she says sincerely, staring at her margarita.

“Okay, but maybe after the next round?” Mackenzie says, pleadingly.

“We should go,” I say to Maren.

She sucks her teeth, clearly disappointed, but nods. “Yeah. If I’d known those guys were prowling around, I never would’ve...”

The three other girls have fallen silent. Staring. Not...in a suspicious way, exactly. Just...curious.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Mackenzie asks at last.

“I...” Maren looks at me, helpless.

“No,” I say, just as she says “Maybe.”

That does not help matters. The college girls’ expressions go from curiosity to mild alarm.

“Sorry,” Maren mutters. “It was great seeing you guys again. Maybe at the bar, sometime?”

“Oh, yeah, for sure!” The three of them nod, give waves, and settle into perusing the menu for two-for-one specials while half-watching us hustle out of there.

“I gave the waitress two hundred bucks,” Maren mutters as we jog across the square to the car. “For their tab.”

She glances back, just one last time, and it makes something pang in my chest.

She’s a good friend.

Or would be, if she had the opportunity tomakefriends.

I chew the inside of my cheek as we slide into the car, make a little promise.

Someday. Someday, I’ll get that for her.

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