Page 95 of Stay Toxic

The tray was sat down, and then Brecken said, “Dig in!”

Then, very quietly, she disappeared out of the room, hoping not to be noticed.

I knew, but I didn’t bring attention to her or her issues.

Instead, I ate, and wondered how it was that we already had this level of contentment in our relationship that I didn’t care if she was exploding in the bathroom or not.

My phone rang after about thirty minutes, and I got up to answer it in the hallway after seeing who it was.

Alexi.

“We found him,” Alexi said.

I didn’t ask him who.

He was only tasked with finding one man, after all.

“Where?” I asked.

“Trying to break into the gate,” he answered. “We called the police because there are a few witnesses.”

Fuck.

Of course there were witnesses.

“Who?” I asked.

“The man’s parents.” He paused. “And a sister of his. We had to call because they were already on the phone with the police, saying that we were holding his baby captive, and he wanted his child.”

What he likely wanted was his fifteen minutes of fame.

He had a big case coming up that he wanted to win, and to do that he had to get his name out there and garner as much support as he could.

Because the case he was working on now was a doozy.

A cop killing a dog in front of a kid.

Though, that cop was fully justified in the shooting.

The dog was about to bite a three-year-old,again—for the fourth time—when the officer had come on scene. The toddler’s mother was freaking out, screaming and begging for help. All the while the black lab’s owner was watching it all go down, not trying to help in any way, while she watered her begonias in the flowerbed while drinking a cup of coffee with her kids playing in the front yard.

The cop had done what he’d had to do and had shot the dog when the dog wouldn’t be contained any other way. In front of the family that owned the lab.

It was heartbreaking all the way around, and the entire community was divided.

“Fucking wonderful,” I said. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“We’ll be here,” he said.

I carefully picked my way through the large farmhouse, correctly guessing that if Brecken was going to disappear intoa bathroom, it’d be one not easily accessible for the rest of the guests.

I was right, finding her in a back bedroom that looked like the master bath.

The door was closed, and the only reason I knew she was there was the moaning.

I winced. “Brecken?”

The moaning stopped, and then a wheezed, “Please, please tell me you’re not directly outside the door right now. That I might have misheard.”

---