Good Wood (25 page)

“I need another drink.” Molly moaned quietly and climbed to her feet. I watched her weave slightly on her way toward the bar.

“She’s already a little drunk. You’d better stop teasing her.” The other girl at the table chastised Lisa. Lisa shrugged and turned back to me.

“You totally knew, didn’t you?” Lisa’s eyes twinkled as she poured me a glass of what turned out to be hard cider.

“Of course I knew.” I scoffed, and a small smile found its way to my mouth. All of Molly’s friends laughed and clinked glasses with me. “She was just a child, for the love of God.”

“Well at least we know he’s not a pedophile. Welcome to the Deadbeat Club, Joe!” Jay drawled.

The other two friends introduced themselves, and we chatted for a few minutes about what we all did for a living.

“Nice to meet y’all.” I said.

“Oh, we’ve met. The night Mason chased after us with a baseball bat.” Lisa-the girl with cat lady glasses-replied.

“Thanks for saving us from facial disfigurement, by the way.” Jay added.

My eyes flew wide. “That was you guys?”

Molly returned with a whisky sour. She pulled off the cherry garnish and fed it to me.

“Ugh. Enough. If I’m not getting any, no one gets to have fun.” Jay shot at her with mock disgust.

“Screw that.” Molly argued, stroking my neck with taunting fingers.

“Hook me up then. Is that
big
hot felon still working for you?”

She giggled. “Dirty S.? Sorry, sugar. He’s straight.”

“Straight to my bed.” Jay scoffed.

“Felon?” A sinking feeling wracked me, and I shifted Molly on my lap so I could make better eye contact. Her expression reminded me of little Jamie when she was caught red-handed getting into the Oreos.

“It’s total bullshit.” She informed me, stirring the ice in her glass with her polished finger.

I tilted my head and sternly leveled my gaze at her. “What’d he do?”

She blinked her pretty lashes at me. “He kicked his drug dealing stepdad’s ass.”

I sat back and rolled my eyes. I could feel tension creeping into my jaw.

“The guy was beating up his mom, Joe. Besides, Sanch did his time. He should have been in Juvie, but for some stupid reason they tried him as an adult Probably because he’s a Mexican.”

“Or because he is built like a Mack truck.” Based on the self-assured way Sanchez had explained how he would shank me I could see a prosecutor getting aggressive.

“Either way it wasn’t justice.” Molly looked irritated.

“Okay. Fine. I get it. But you’re letting an ex con manage your new truck. Really?” I glanced around at her table companions, hoping for some moral support.”

“It’s not the brightest move ever.” Lisa agreed.

Jay smiled. “That’s our Molly, the bleeding heart…always rooting for the underdog.”

Molly downed the rest of her drink her eyes sweeping over the three of us. “I think I want a martini.”

Jay turned to me after she left. “She’s stressed. Her ex called today to tell her they had a showing with interested buyers. But he could have just texted her.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I looked around the table in confusion.

“Yes. It’s the only reason she has any contact with him at all. But being an asshat of epic proportions, he went on to add that his new wife had her baby. They need a safer home for their little bundle of joy…one with a fenced yard.”

I nodded, and looked after Molly. She seemed to be having fun, smiling and chatting with random passersby. I figured if I was in her situation, I’d want to drink too. While she was gone, I did my best to make small talk, but I couldn’t help but worry about the Sanchez situation. Overall, he seemed like a decent kid, but his threat to cut me definitely held a bit more menace now that I knew he was a jailbird.

The song came to an end and the crowd erupted in thunderous applause. The band started some familiar tune and I was suddenly alone at the table as her friends chose to hit the dance floor. Realizing Molly hadn’t returned, I turned in the direction of the bar. She sat perched on a bar stool, wearing a slightly uncomfortable smile. Some lanky guy wearing a hat leaned in to talk to her and she shrank back from him a bit. I felt a flash of annoyance looking at the douche. My father and I didn’t see eye to eye on much, but we both agreed a man shouldn’t wear a hat indoors.

As he proceeded with his attempt to chat her up, he used a lot of sweeping hand gestures. I kept my cool for a couple of minutes, but when he reached out and ran his finger down the entire length of her arm, I bolted in their direction. As I neared them, Molly looked my way. She hopped down from the tall stool and waved happily to me. I brushed right past her and tapped the guy on the shoulder a little too enthusiastically. He winced away from underneath my finger.

“Can I help you?” He called over the music.

“Yeah. You can explain to me why you’re hitting on my girl.”

“Excuse me? I’m not hitting on anyone,
dude
. Chill.”

“So you’re telling me you weren’t just hitting on the girl in the red dress?” I blinked at him like he was slow.

“Who? Molly? She’s with
you
?” His eyes widened and glancing over my shoulder he looked amused. I was totally prepared to backhand the look from his face.

“Yeah.” I spat, sounding a little defensive.

“Looks like you’d better hurry, then.” He picked up his drink for a sip. “She just walked out the door.”

My eyes shot to the entrance and I saw Molly walk past the window outside. I struggled a little to get through the crowd without body-checking anyone, so by the time I was outdoors she was all the way down the block.

“Molly!” I shouted, chasing after her. She faltered a bit in her stride, but didn’t turn around. As I neared her, I saw she’d removed her shoes and was carrying them. Even so, I caught up to her easily.

“Hey…” I rushed around to stop her and one look at her face told me she was livid. I gripped her shoulders. “Where are you going?”

“I think I’ll just go on home.” She wrenched herself from my grasp and sidestepped me clumsily.

“I’ll drive you.” Confused, I frowned and followed after her.

“No. I’ll take a cab.” She snapped. She dropped her shoe and we both went for it at the same time. I grabbed it first and she shot back up to standing. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she held her hand out for it, avoiding my eyes.

“I’m sorry, little girl.” My face felt hot and I heaved a heavy sigh. “I just didn’t want him touching you.”

“I don’t give a shit about any of that. You walked right past me.
Like I wasn’t even there
.” The wounded look in her eyes crushed me.

“You looked like you wanted him to back off. I was fixin’ to kick his ass.” I offered, feeling lame in my explanation.

“Oh? Were you fixin’ to, Hoss?” She exaggerated her accent. She turned and was walking away again. “Spare me. I can take care of myself. I don’t need you to fight my battles.”

“What if I want to?” I shot back, ignoring her sassy comment about my vernacular.

“Why would you? I’m just some silly
little girl
still following you around.” She called over her shoulder. I caught her and when I grabbed her this time she didn’t yank away.

“Baby, your friends were just playin’ around about all that.” I tipped her chin upward so she was looking into my eyes. “What’s this about?”

A crease appeared between her eyebrows and she started to turn away again. “This was just a really bad idea. It’s obvious to everyone but you.”

“What the hell, Molly?”

“Bethany, my friends…” She trailed off as we reached a cross street and she tried to hail a passing cab. It blew by us without slowing. “You’re slumming, Joe. How long until you figure it out?”

“I’m not following this crazy train.” I said more to myself than her as I raked my hands through my hair.

“Don’t call me crazy.” She shot me a deadly look.

“You’re not crazy.” I put my hand on her arm gently. “This conversation is.”

“I’ve seen her picture.” She turned to me, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“What?” I had no other response it was so out of left field.

“Jessica. Your wedding pictures. She was…stunning. Perfect. I’ll never be able to live up to that shit.” She turned away and walked away from the street.

“Live up to what?” I blurted, without even a moment’s pause. “Molly…I love that you’re so different from her. And you’re sexy as hell.”

She spun in surprise and slowly shaking her head she stepped back from me. She was shivering in the cool night air and dropping her abandoned shoe I took off my jacket and swung it around her shoulders.

When she spoke, the sadness in her voice chilled me more than the windy night. “Joe...you don’t have to say that.”

“I mean it.” I backed her into the neighboring brick building. She must have seen something in my eyes, because her breathing quickened and her eyelids looked heavy with desire. “Quit being mean to my girl.”

“Am I?” Her voice was soft and airy as I grazed my lips alongside her cheek “Your girl?”

“Do you want to be?” When she tried to wriggle away, I forced her to look into my eyes.

“Do you want me to be?” She looked up at me through her dark lashes. I took her jaw firmly in my grasp and forced her eyes to mine. She sighed eagerly.

“I thought you already were.”

WHEN I WALKED into Dr. Greene’s office Friday afternoon, he gave me a sour look and pointed to the chair across from him.

“Sit down, Joe.”

“Sure, doc. What’s up?” I dropped into the chair and was surprised by him slapping his hand down on the desk.

“Are you serious about getting better?”

“Yes!” I sounded over sensitive. “What is this all about?”

His glare softened a bit then he picked up a folder and threw it down on the desk.

“This! A police report for a complaint about you threatening a woman named Bethany. Ring any bells?” For a moment, I was at a loss for words. Then I found several choice ones.

“That fucking bitch!
She
swore out a complaint against
me
? She came up to me and started screaming at me in the middle of The Salt Lick. I walked outside, away from her, and she followed me. If her husband hadn’t grabbed her, she would have ripped half my face off. There were dozens of witnesses to that! I didn’t do anything to them but tell them to leave me alone.” My heart was racing and my face was burning.