Page 77 of Marcus in Retrograde
“Good. Call her and she’ll be ready for him and me.”
“Thank you, Vin. Seriously.”
“Chase, I’m not kidding about that bill from this guy.”
“And I’m not kidding about not giving a shit,” I answered.
“All right. I’ll see you tomorrow, mid-afternoon.”
“Done.”
We closed the connections and I looked at my mother and father standing there.
My father cleared his throat. “Chase—”
“He didn’t rape anyone,” I snapped.
“That isn’t what I was going to say,” Dad answered. “I was going to ask if you wanted to get a plane ticket and we’d get the car back to you.”
“Oh.” I blinked a few times. “Thank you. It’s not even Marcus’ car. It’s his mother’s and I think I should probably drive it back.”
Mom pulled her apron off and tossed it on the railing as she walked up the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get everything packed and get you back on the road. He’s going to need your help.”
Between the two of us, we managed to get my stuff and his bag packed in under half an hour. I hauled them out to the car, and dropped them into the backseat and trotted into the house.
Abuelita was sitting at the table with my father, and they were both drinking coffee quietly. They looked up and my father nodded at me. “Would you like anyone to go with you, Son?”
“No, Dad, you all stay. I’ll have Dawn there to help me. If I need back up I’ll call.”
“You’ll call anyway?” Abuelita asked.
“I will come back for the pumpkins if I can.” I smiled. Now that shit had cleared up here with them, I wanted to bring Marcus back and show him the glory of the Garcia Pumpkin Patch in October.
But I needed to get back to the city. Giving Abuelita and my dad a quick kiss and hug in that order, I headed to the front door to get in the car and get going.
My mother walked with me to the door and out onto the porch, just to find Rider walking up with his wife behind him. He looked surprised I was heading out the door, but I took a hard right to go down the second set of stairs to the left of the house.
“Where’s your butt buddy?” Rider laughed.
“Rider, please,” Mom begged. “Your brother doesn’t need that right now. He just wants to leave.”
“I am leaving,” I said, stepping on to the first stair.
“Ooh, did they arrest him already?”
I froze.
“Rider, what have you done?” Mom whispered.
“I was at the station and I saw the fugitive warrant come up.” He shrugged. “When I saw the name and suspected location, I brought it over to Chief Prader. He sent the information to the sheriff.”
I turned slowly and stepped back up on to the porch.
“You did what?”
“Just being a good citizen,” he smirked. “Fugitive warrants are no joke. I mean, what did you really expect from a freak of nature? All homosexuals are perverts and just grooming kids to be the same kind of sick they are.”
I didn’t have a chance to punch him in the face. My mother walked up to him and I wassureher smack across his face dislocated his jaw.
