Alex’s punch knocked Lucas back against the El Camino and everything slowed. Lucas’s eyes rolled blankly as shouting echoed around me. Jason grabbed Lucas, preventing him from going down —
Then everything came rushing back to full speed.
Manson was in Alex’s face and Alex grabbed his collar, fingers knotting in his shirt as he shouted. As Lucas slumped dizzily against the hood, Jason shoved Alex’s shoulder hard, pushing him back from Manson and getting in between them, fists clenched, voices rising.
I wasn’t a fighter. Never had been. I could talk my way out of most situations and I didn’t see the point in escalating shit. Sticks and stones, man. I wasn’t built for it anyway; I was just a skinny stoner with a fried egg for a brain.
But I’d been dealing pills and potions since ninth grade, so being able to de-escalate a tense situation was lifesaving. Unfortunately, de-escalation wasn’t always an option. Sometimes, things went to shit.
Jason whipped back his fist, the punch landing so hard that Alex’s lip split open, blood streaming down his chin. Nate thundered toward them, but Manson watched him approach with a look in his eye that made my blood run cold.
It was high school all over again. Us against them.
Alex grabbed a glass beer bottle from the ground, smashed the end on the asphalt, and held the sharp, pointed glass in Jason’s face. “Hit me again, you fucking f—”
I was already reaching under my jacket before the sentence was fully out of his mouth. My fingers brushed against the handle of the pistol tucked into my jeans, cold determination keeping my hand steady as my fingers closed around it.
“Stop! Stop it!”
Jessica ran up and shoved herself between Alex and Jason, a damn foolish move on her part. Alex didn’t care who got in his way; she was another obstacle to be removed. His hand snapped out and grabbed her throat, squeezing, with the glass bottle still raised.
The moment his hand touched her, it was like a dark cold shadow settled over my mind.
“Hey. Don’t you fucking touch her.”
It wasn’t my voice that made everyone go still. It was the click that accompanied it, the audible sound of a bullet prepared to fire. Everyone stared, wide-eyed and still.
Alex was panting, the glass inches away from Jessica’s face. I had the gun aimed for his skull, and Manson had reached his arm around Jess’s shoulder to press his knife against Alex’s throat. Jason was right behind him and Lucas stepped up on his other side, blood pouring from his nose and staining his bared teeth red.
“You wanna go, motherfucker?” Lucas said, spitting blood in Alex’s direction. “Come on. Let’s fucking go. But you leave your hand on her another goddamn second and I’m going to break every one of your fucking fingers before Vince puts a bullet in your skull.”
Alex’s eyes flickered over to me, widening slightly. His big friends couldn’t do shit against a gun, but we still needed to get the hell out of here before this situation got any worse. We were in the middle of nowhere, and I certainly wasn’t the only one out here who was packing.
Even with Alex’s hand squeezing her throat, Jess didn’t back down. She didn’t even look afraid. She stared at him, eyes narrowed, fists clenched at her sides like she’d fight him herself. I’d pay money to see her punch him in the face, but I needed her out of harm’s way. As Alex’s hand loosened from around her, she smirked and lifted her chin a little higher.
“Move, Jess,” Manson said, his voice low but easy to hear in the shocked silence.
“You need to stop,” she said. She turned toward him and her eyes were wide, determined but desperate. “All of you. Please.”
When her eyes moved over to me, it was instantly obvious she hadn’t already noticed the gun. Her face stiffened in shock, her mouth opening and closing several times without a word.
I put down the firearm, tucking it away under my shirt. But she was still staring at me.
“What the hell, Vincent?” The words were a mere breath as she exhaled.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Alex said, as if her shock proved a point. He stepped back, closer to Nate and his big friends. The coward probably felt safer with those big bodies around him. “Still think they’re good guys, Jess? Only real gentlemen bring guns and knives to a race, huh?”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. It was our cue to bail out — the quicker, the better. I nodded at Manson, who put his blade away with a quick flash of metal. Lucas spat more blood from his mouth, but luckily, he had the sense to turn away. None of us moved until he’d gotten back into the El Camino and started the engine.
“Let’s go.” I paused next to Jason, who was standing guard beside Jessica. She looked dazed, as if the true danger of the situation had finally hit home for her. She looked me up and down like she was seeing me for the first time, and jumped when Jason’s fingers brushed her shoulder.
“Come with us,” he said softly. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Jessica!” One of her friends furiously called her name and she looked back. She gulped, and her breath came a little deeper. Her body was practically vibrating with nerves.
For a moment, I thought she’d say yes.
Then she stepped away, shaking her head. “No. I’m…I’m fine. I…” She looked at her friends again, the other girls staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. When she spoke next, she tried to sound confident, “I don’t need saving.”
But she didn’t sound confident at all.
She left to join the crowd on the opposite side of the street. Jason stared after her, his jaw clenched, nostrils flaring with frustration. I clapped my hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go. We need to bail.”
He nodded. His shoulders were hunched with tension as he got into the Subaru. Manson slipped into the back and I got into the driver’s seat, cranking the engine. People were staring, shaking their heads, murmuring. I wondered how tonight would be retold, how they’d spin out the story to make sure we were the villains.
I rolled down my window, watching Jess as we pulled away. Lucas had probably said something to piss her off, and she was trying to keep up appearances, but she was a damn fool to stay here. These people didn’t care about her, and her little girlfriends currently giving her questioning looks would betray her in a heartbeat if it suited them.
But what the hell could I do about that?
“Be good now,” I said, giving the glaring crowd a friendly grin.
“Y’all fucked up,” Alex yelled. “This isn’t over!”
No. It was never over.
