Page 71 of The Ones We Fight For

Before Walker could jump to his passenger’s defense, Diaz shot back a quick response. “Mira,pendejo. I’ve got three older brothers. If you think I don’t know how to fight, you’re sorely mistaken. One of us will come out with the upper hand, and it won’t be you.”

Harden snapped his mouth shut, smartly choosing not to provoke Diaz further. Diaz raked his fingers over the mop of dark curls on his head and yawned like he was legitimately bored with the conversation.

Amused, Walker continued with his spiel, injecting his voice with the maximum level of condescension. “Just to educate you a bit further, Harden, sex is more fun when all parties involved want to be doing it. And manipulating women who don’t want to doesn’t make you a god, it makes you a massive fucking creep. So, if you so much as look at Piper wrong again, I’ll make sure everyone in school knows that you’re in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for the world's smallest micropenis. Delete her number from your phone and stick to your right hand. Capiche?” Walker clicked his tongue, and Diaz snickered beside him.

“O-okay,” Harden frantically bobbed his head. His comrades mimicked the gesture in unison like the lemmings they were. Diaz raised up a polite hand like he was in class.

“I would love to assist you with that.” Diaz glanced into the backseat and cocked his head at Harden with a wide smile.

“Great. And your name is?” Walker asked.

“Leo. It would be my absolute pleasure to help spread the micropenis agenda.” Leo stuck out his hand and Walker gave it a firm shake.

“Perfect. If Harden or any of his friends make any advances toward Piper, feel free to make their lives a living hell. Have a fantastic day, Leo.” Walker barely acknowledged the rest of the teenagers as he hopped out of the car and swaggered toward his own vehicle.

By the time Walker started up the minivan and pulled away from the curb, not a single kid but Diaz had gotten out of the douchemobile. Walker watched in his rearview mirror as Leo flipped off the boys sitting in the backseat of the Mitsubishi and strode away from the car, slinging his backpack casually over one shoulder. Apparently, Harden’s parents weren’t paying the kid enough to deal with their son’s shit anymore. Walker chuckled as he flicked on his blinker to turn back home. He had a good feeling that Dickwit would be leaving Piper alone for the foreseeable future.

Chapter 27

Talia

The engine started, and Talia heaved a sigh of relief, her hand dropping away from the ignition to shift into reverse. After her Lexus was towed to the dealership a week before, her car troubles, even small ones like the tiny rattling sound that used to sing with her air conditioning, had taken a hiatus thanks to Walker. She wanted to text and thank him, but she wasn’t sure if it was appropriate given that he had told Roscoe to take credit. She wasn’t stupid, though; Walker was the only one who knew where she bought her car. That, and Roscoe let the truth slip about two minutes later under the hard gaze of his wife. Roscoe didn’t even need a badge to tell him to uphold his morals when he had Amala to force them out of him.

The sixties playlist Talia had opted for when her Bluetooth auto-connected started off with Etta James’ “At Last,” and she quickly swapped it out for “Respect” and queued up “Suspicious Minds” and some others just so she wouldn’t have to listen to love songs. She would have just put on her punk playlist, but she wasn’t in the scream-your-feelings kind of mood. Her heart felt like more of a dull ache, and she was much too tired to attempt any head-banging thanks to her recent lack of sleep.

The dull ache could have also been coming from her feet. It was the first time in months she had pulled a pair of heels out of her closet. The live auction at Archwood High was the perfect excuse to dress up. The tight black cocktail dress she was wearing accentuated her curves in all the right places, and she was relishing the idea of showing it off.

Coincidentally, Walker would be in attendance.

It had felt like such a long time since his eyes had lingered on her the way they used to. Despite the danger it would put her heart in, Talia had pulled the black number out of her closet hoping it would make him look. She craved that look, the one that set her insides aflame. The hunger. It was a terrible, no good, very bad idea that she knew she should have abandoned, but it was too late. The little devil on her shoulder had screamed at her to throw on a bit more makeup and paint her nails and lips candy apple red. Piper had mentioned several times that this was a dress and heels type of event, so Talia figured that was as good an excuse as any.

Colin, Piper, and Carter were all weirdly adamant that Talia come support the school’s student organizations and sports. They mentioned it for a few weeks leading up to the event, as if she’d somehow forgotten the last eighty times they had mentioned it. Talia didn’t need any convincing, though. With Colin’s mathletes team fundraising for state, Carter’s basketball team fundraising for new jerseys, and Piper’s soccer team fundraising for an athletic camp during the summer, there was plenty to support. She had even offered to scrounge up something to auction off—a basket with baked goods from Lydia’s, a gift card, something—but all three siblings declined. Multiple times. Talia briefly wondered if they thought she was incapable of making a cool enough basket to show off. The next time there was an auction, she would just show up with an auction item, regardless of their protests.

Since their friend break, Talia and Walker had kept things cordial, but she missed him. Missed the way he could make her laugh and the way his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he smiled. She hadn’t seen him smile once since their friendship was put on pause, and that pained her more than anything else. The distance had done nothing to stop the swell in her chest when she thought of him. The fact was, Walker made her happy. He made even the most mundane of tasks fun. Talia had finally decided that despite the fact the love hadn’t left her like she’d planned, the pain of staying away was becoming worse than the pain of knowing they wouldn’t be together. Companionship was going to have to be enough. It would be, because there was no other option. She couldn’t stay away anymore. It wasn’t helping. Tonight, she would tell Walker that she wanted to drop-kick their pause downfield. Screw her feelings, she needed her friend back.

After lucking out when she found the one parking spot left in the lot, Talia followed the crowd of classily-dressed adults into the theater room. When she made it through the door, a hand latched onto her arm and pulled her in the direction of the stage. Her fight-or-flight response let up when she realized it was Piper, wearing the navy blue dress they had picked out a few months ago together. She looked beautiful. To see Piper looking so alive filled Talia with pride.

“You’re here!” Piper beamed with nervous excitement

“I told you I was coming,” Talia laughed. “Did you really think I wouldn’t?”

“No, but I’m presenting one of the auction items with Colin and Carter and I was hoping you could come onstage with us. We’re supposed to have an adult onstage with us,” she added, eyes darting to her left.

“Where’s your uncle?”

“He’s supposed to bid on our item, so he can’t be onstage,” Piper said, practically spraying the words as fast as she could get them out.

Talia peered out at the audience through the red curtains on the side wing of the stage. “Where’s he sitting?”

“He’s the one looking extremely bored directly in the center, second row back,” Carter said, shuffling over to Talia’s other side, joined by Colin.

“I made sure he had a good view.” The corner of Colin’s mouth ticked up.

“Perfect.” Talia’s mouth formed the words before she had a second to realize that what she was saying perfect to was Walker’s ability to see her. Carter mumbled something under his breath and received an elbow to the side from his sister, who was playing with her arms, swinging them through the air like she was spinning a pair of yo-yos. Watching her made the nerves spark up Talia’s spine. She had led several boardroom meetings when she was a lawyer, so she wasn’t so terrified to be presenting. It was more who was in the audience that made her stomach knot.

“You’re up first,” a high school student, looking very authoritative with a headset and all-black outfit, pointed at Piper. There was a weird undertone to the directive, and Talia swiveled to watch the conversation play out, intrigued. As far as she could remember, Piper hadn’t mentioned anyone remotely similar to the guy standing just to the right of her with dark curls sprouting out from under the band of his headset, but he had a certain look about him that felt familiar.

“I know that,” Piper rolled her eyes at the newcomer. “I’m not just standing here for fun.”

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