“Okay,” she agreed mildly.
Josh turned to Ethan. “Keep her with y’all, okay?”
Ethan’s eyes tracked Jesse leaving the restaurant. “Sure, dude. Don’t worry about the girls, but don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t. I’ll catch up to y’all after while.” As Josh turned and walked from the restaurant, Hannah felt the blood drain from her face as she looked over at the confused expression on Ava’s face.
****
As Josh pulled away in his truck, following Jesse and Mandy but not nearly close enough for his comfort, he didn’t waste any time. He dialed the three-digit number for emergencies and decided he’d take whatever flack was owed him if he was in the wrong about this.
He damn sure hoped he was wrong.
“Redwood Falls emergency. Do you need fire, ambulance or police?”
“Police. I need the sheriff.”
“I have Deputy Wallace here now.”
“I want Sheriff Thompson.”
“Hold on and I’ll see if I can get him”
A few seconds later, the sheriff came onto the line. “Thompson.”
“This is Josh Turner. I hope like hell I’m not overreacting.”
“What you got?” the other man barked back, worry in his voice.
“Jesse Whitaker just left the diner with … a girl. I’m following them now.”
“Did she look to be under duress?”
“Not really, no sir.”
“Okay, well, where are they headed?”
“West of town, just past the cemetery now.”
“You need to wait until I can get there, Josh. Don’t confront him over something that might not transpire and might get you into trouble. If she showed no duress—”
Josh concentrated on keeping the truck in his line of vision as he interrupted, “It’s Mandy.”
There was dead silence on the end of the line. “My Mandy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m five minutes behind you. Don’t lose them,” the sheriff barked with both anger and entreaty in his tone.
Josh was trying to hang back far enough so Jesse wouldn’t notice his truck, but he was new at this ‘following’ shit, and the main thing was, he didn’t want to lose him. Jesse’s truck was too far ahead and when Josh saw the truck in front of him disappear up ahead where he knew there was no intersection, he grimaced. “I won’t. I’m pretty damn sure he’s pulling into the dirt path behind that old abandoned house next to the J.C. Long place … you know where I mean?”
“Yeah.”
“You better get here fast because I’m not in the mood to put up with anymore of his bullshit.” And then he added, “Sir.”
“Hold him off for five minutes, Josh. Don’t let that bastard hurt my girl. I’m right behind you.”
Josh ended the call and eased his truck into the rutted path leading behind the old, ramshackle house. The roof was falling in and there were weeds head-high in the drive that made the going slow. Josh couldn’t see the truck anymore and he was scared shitless he’d made a mistake and they hadn’t pulled in this way.
And then he saw Jesse’s truck, partially hidden behind an old barn. Relief surged through him. His first thought was to pull up right behind Jesse’s truck and lay on his horn. He knew the noise would stop Jesse from doing whatever he’d intended long enough for the sheriff to get there. He wouldn’t be able to leave because Josh had him blocked in.
But Josh knew he might not ever have a chance like this again. He wanted to beat the shit out of Jesse. He wanted it so badly he could taste it. And he’d wanted to do it since the night that Jesse had raped Katie and changed her life forever. She’d been a happy, outgoing girl and Jesse had changed her into a girl who was afraid of her own shadow. He’d changed her into a girl who didn’t date anymore; he’d changed her to an introverted, unhappy person.
And Josh finally had a reason he could get away with beating the shit out of Jesse without any repercussions. Jesse had been so goddamn stupid, he’d driven off with the sheriff’s daughter. And Sheriff Thompson wouldn’t say a damn thing about Josh bringing blood in defense of his own daughter. Josh was as sure of that fact as he was as sure of his own name.
It was too good an opportunity to pass up. Rage and anticipation boiled in Josh’s bloodstream.
Without any more thought, he slammed out of his truck and within seconds, he was standing at the door of Jesse’s truck and hauling it open. Josh registered a look of shock on Jesse’s face and an expression of relief in Mandy’s eyes as she saw Josh. She already had tears streaming down her face and if Josh had been pissed before, it only intensified when he saw the fear on Mandy’s face.
He grabbed Jesse by the collar and pulled him bodily from the truck and threw him to the ground. Josh slammed his fist into his face, satisfaction running through him hard and fast when the skin broke on Jesse’s cheekbone and Josh felt the scrape on his knuckles and then the spurt of Jesse’s blood on his skin.
Jesse’s head fell back and Josh pulled him back up and slammed his fist into his stomach three times in rapid succession. He heard the other boy groan and then Jesse turned over as he began to retch violently into the weeds beside him. Josh heard the patrol car drive up and growled down at Jesse, “You’re lucky the sheriff’s here, motherfucker. Three more minutes, fuckwad, and you’d be eating your food intravenously. But I’ll get another chance, I promise you that. You remember what I told you before, ‘I’m always watching you.’”
Josh released Jesse’s collar and stood to his feet, brushing his hands off. As the sheriff walked up to the scene, pushing through weeds and brambles, Josh moved away from Jesse and looked in on Mandy. “You all right?”
The girl was openly crying now. “Yeah, I guess.”
Josh studied the girl and realized, thankfully, that she was more scared than hurt. “Nobody told you he’s a fucking scumbag?”
“I didn’t believe the rumors. He always seemed so nice and I’ve known him for so long.”
As her father walked up and opened the passenger door to check on his daughter, she began sobbing in earnest.
Josh looked at the sheriff. “You got this?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I gotta get back to town. I left something important in the diner.” He turned to go.
As the sheriff held his daughter, his gaze caught and held Josh’s. “I owe you one, kid.”
Josh nodded once and answered, “No problem.”
****
Josh made it back to the diner within minutes and inhaled his food while he was bombarded with a million questions. The questions came from Ethan and Ava, while Hannah sat next to him silently, a worried expression on her face. He reached down between them and squeezed her hand, and then continued eating.
He wasn’t going to start disparaging Jesse in front on the other two, because then he’d have to bring Katie’s name up and that wasn’t going to happen. The only thing he’d told Ethan and Ty had been that Jesse had scared Katie, so badly that she never wanted to talk to him again. Ethan and Ty had taken that at face value, and they’d both lost respect for Jesse that day.
Josh had no idea what the conversation had been while he’d been gone, but he changed the subject now and Hannah and Ethan both helped him steer the conversation away from why he’d left so abruptly. He swallowed his last bite. “What do y’all want to do now?”
Ava’s face brightened. “My dad’s got something going on in the garage. He won’t let us go in there, but I think he’s almost finished. We could sneak behind the house and check it out.”
Ethan frowned. “What’s he doing?”