Page 74 of Love Takes Home

“I asked the same thing!” Roger replies, while I only chuckle.

“Is Lucas really in this fucking case?” Joker leans close and whispers.

“Umm-hmm,” I confirm. “So, let’s get it in the truck and take it to service? The bridge broke.” I look beyond his shoulder and notice Keith standing at the steps, squinting at us. “Like now?”

Joker looks around quickly and sees what I see. He rolls the case to his truck and lifts it like it weighs nothing. I tell Aubrey’s dad the address and they head to their car while I get in the truck with Joker.

“Drive safe,” I tell him.

“What the fuck is going on?” he demands.

“I don’t know, but Lucas is freaking out. Half the baseball team is after him, and Keith isn’t far behind.”

“What did he do?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just get him home and safe, okay?”

He starts up the truck and pulls out of the spot. Keith watches us until we’re out of the parking lot.

“So, you didn’t do anything to the security system when you fucked with it, did you?” I ask.

“Why?”

“If he watches the cameras, he’s going to know for sure it was my room Lucas ran to and how we got him out.”

He pulls out his phone and makes a call. “Hey, it’s me. Need a favor. Erase the security footage at the high school for the music room for the last hour. Yeah, thanks.” He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes. “Done.”

“Thanks. Not sure it’ll really help, but we need to try.”

When we pull into Trish and Davis’s driveway, there’s already more cars there than normal.

“What did you do?”

“Called in the calvary, what else?”

“Thanks. Not sure what they’ll be able to do, but the more brain power, the better, right?”

We get out of the truck, and Joker jumps up into the bed. He’s getting ready to unzip the case when I see a sedan driving down the road. “Nope, we carry that sucker in. Keith just drove by.”

“Shit. Can you hang on for another minute, bud?” he asks the case.

“Whatever,” comes the response.

“Get back in the truck,” he tells me.

I do as he says, and when he backs out of the driveway, I look at him. “What are you doing?”

“You’ve got a broken bass that needs to go to the shop. You’ve also got a twatwaffle following you, thinking you’ve got a kid he’s after. We’re taking the bass to the shop.”

“You’re hot when you apply logic to things,” I smirk at him.

“I’ll remind you later that you said that.”

He drives the three blocks to the small music shop we have. I think I’ve single-handedly kept them in business for the last twenty years. When we get there, I go in and tell them we have an emergency and need to carry the case directly to the back. No questions are asked, all faith is given.

We get the case into the store and, once in a safe place, I unzip it, freeing Lucas.

“Thank goodness. The car ride was fun, but I really have to pee.”

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