Page 57 of The County Fair Queen

"I think he means 'convenient,'" I attempted, thinking I might be of some help. The look Rivers gave me told me I hadn't. He reached for me, grabbing my hand and jerking me up from the stool.

"We need to talk. Now."

As he pulled away from the cameras, I glanced over my shoulder, expecting to see Brenda/Carole following behind to rescue me. But she was still with the crowd, unmoving. Her assistant approached, holding a handful of pills and a stack of handwritten signs. Brenda/Carole took the signs and began handing them out to the crowd.

What the hell? That wasn't part of the plan.

"What do we want?" someone in the crowd cried out.

"Justice for pigs!" the crowd answered back.

"When do we want it?"

"Before they've been killed!"

"Son of a gun," Rivers hissed, his nails digging into my wrist. "What the hell, Phillip? Are you trying to incite a riot? Do you know how bad this is going to look for me?"

I jerked my hand away and took a step back. "Excuse me?"

"What?"

"This isn't about you. This is about Beau. He's terrified that all the little pigs he's been trying to raise are going to wind up on your dining room table. You're worried about your career?"

Then I saw it. The anger. The bitterness. The look of complete betrayal swimming in his eyes. I knew prison-breaking his son out of school was a gamble, but this seemed excessive. Without saying a word, he pointed behind me, toward the crowd. I turned around, instantly realizing the source of his anger. The protestors were practically foaming at the mouth, screaming at some nonexistent foe in front of them as Brenda/Carole hyped them up.

"What the hell is she doing?" I mused.

"What do you think? She's trying to manufacture drama that doesn't exist. That's what she does. I've put up with it this long because I know you need this for your career, but I can't condone this. Next thing you know, she'll have them holdingsigns demanding I resign." His eyes widened in horror as he stared off into the distance. To my horror, Brenda/Carole had handed Albert-slash-Leopold a sign written in black sharpie that said,RECALL RIVERA.She moved to her next target, Danvers, and scrawled the same message on a sheet of yellow legal paper before handing it over.

I was moving before I even realized, clearing the distance separating me from the crowd in seconds. "This isn't a Rivers Rivera hate session," I said, snatching the sign out of Albert-slash-Leopold's hand. Danvers was standing beside him, and when I grabbed the sign out of his hand, he hissed, sucking in a sharp breath before crying out in pain.

"Son of a bitch. He just papercut the shit out of my hand," he shouted to the rest of the crowd. The crowd grew louder, chaotically shouting out their displeasure. I watched in horror as a Danvers' hand appeared in front of me. In the time it took to for me to blink, his fist swung forward, slamming into my nose. I heard a crunch, and then my vision went spotty as an unbearable wave of pain spread across my face.

"Fuck," I shouted, covering my nose with my hands. When I pulled them away, blood coated my skin. As muscadine madness spread through the crowd like a plague, someone scooped me up, throwing over their shoulder. As I was rushed away from the crowd, I watched Rivers unleashing holy hell on the protestors. He was splitting his time screaming and ranting at them, and shouting for Beau to follow after me. Jordan rushed into the crowd and scooped up Beau with one arm, and Fudge into the other.

Danvers was screaming something at Rivers I couldn't make out, then Rivers balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into his face. The person carrying me stopped when we were across the red brick road and lowered me to the ground.

"You okay?" Preston cupped my face in his hands, tilting it side to side as he assessed the damage. "Dammit, Phillip. I told you this was a bad idea." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He lifted it to my face and dabbed away the blood draining from my wound.

"He hit me," I said, still in shock. "I've been assaulted."

Preston rolled his eyes. "What the hell did you expect? I warned you about this." As he continued lecturing me, he held the cloth to my face, pinching the bridge of my nose. "We need to get you looked at."

I turned around, trying to spot Rivers, but he wasn't in the crowd anymore. Wasn't by the camera crew. Wasn't heading back to town hall. Where the hell was he? I tried to head back toward the crew, thinking they might know where he'd gone, but Preston's grip was strong, anchoring me in place.

"I need to—"

"You need to get your damn nose looked at. That's what you need."

"But, Rivers—"

"Will be fine," he finished for me. "He's a grown man. He can handle himself. You on the other hand…" He sighed, squeezing the back of my neck. "We need to make sure you're okay. I'll go look for Mayor Rivera once we get you to the medic."

I nodded, unable to do much more.

Ten minutes later, I was—yet again—sitting in the back of the ambulance. My legs dangled over the bumper as a surly little man with a pinched expression nursed my wounds. After the bleeding stopped, he bandaged my nose and gave me something for the pain. With my broken parts patched and mended, I stood up and scanned my surroundings. Ahead of me, muscadine revelers had scattered across the city square. I was feeling a little woozy, but I wasn't sure if it was from blood loss, or the littlewhite pill Brenda-will be getting an earful when I find her-Carole had given me.

I needed to find Rivers. To apologize for dragging him into this. I was hoping the whole Recall Rivers ordeal was well and truly over, and we might be able to laugh about it once he'd forgiven me.

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