Page 130 of Wrench

---

¡°Besides,¡± Lizzie said, nudging his side, ¡°you¡¯ve basically got Charlie¡¯s Angels on your

side.¡±

Chris thanked us again and disappeared leaving me alone with Ellen and Lizzie. Ellen

was peering at me through her glasses.

¡°Samantha¡­¡± she said. ¡°I, umm¡­ couldn¡¯t help but notice you¡¯ve been especially

shook up.¡±

I rolled my eyes. ¡°I literally had a gun pointed to my head. I¡¯m not exactly jumping for

joy about it.¡±

¡°I know, but¡­¡± She bit her tongue. ¡°I saw you talking to the cop about the patches.¡±

¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

¡°Fine, I¡¯ll just say it,¡± she said. ¡°If your boyfriend is at all responsible for this¡ª¡±

¡°He isn¡¯t.¡±

¡°If he is,¡± she said. ¡°You can¡¯t stay with him.¡±

I chewed the insides of my cheeks nervously. ¡°I know.¡±

¡°All right, well,¡± Lizzie said. ¡°I need to shower this day off me. See you guys next

week?¡±

We all jumped into our respective cars. Pretending to organize my dashboard, I waited

until all their vehicles left the parking lot and snatched my phone. I needed to call Isaac. I

didn¡¯t give a damn if he didn¡¯t want me to call him¡ªI needed an explanation. Now.

The phone rang and rang, until it hung up, not giving me the option to leave a

voicemail. Impatient, I called him again. I didn¡¯t care if I seemed crazy. I just had a gun

held to my head by a man wearing his patch colors. I was allowed to be crazy. It rang

again and still no answer. And again. Finally, on the fourth try, Isaac answered.

¡°Samantha, what the fuck?¡± he said. ¡°I told you not to¡ª¡±

¡°I don¡¯t care. I need to talk to you. Now.¡±

¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

My bottom lip trembled, and I tried to explain, but instead, I started to weep. I tried to

hide it by muffling my mouth and nose with my sleeve, but Isaac wasn¡¯t fooled.

Quickly, his voice turned from annoyed to worried, and maybe a bit of discomfort.

¡°Whoa, Samantha, are you crying? What happened?¡± I began to cry harder. ¡°Hey, come

---