Page 138 of Dirty Pucker

“Is his mom okay?” I ask.

Sophie nods. “Yeah, she’s fine. Del stopped him before he could do anything.”

I let out a breath, relieved.

“Del roughed up his dad a bit trying to keep him from getting to his mom,” Sophie says. “That’s why he got arrested.”

“That’s not right,” Maya says, upset. “Del was just protecting his mom.”

“It sounds like it was all pretty chaotic,” Sophie says. She looks at me, her brow furrowed in worry. “Del’s been taken to the county jail.”

“Fuck that, let’s bail him out,” Dylan, one of the other players on the team, says.

All the other guys shout in agreement.

My head is spinning, processing everything.

“Does Dakota know what happened with her mom and Del?” Maya looks between Sophie and me.

I shake my head. “Probably not. She went home right after the game because she has to work early in the morning. She should know what’s going on though.”

“I’ll call her right now,” Sophie says before grabbing her phone.

The rest of the guys on the team are talking, trying to figure out what to do.

“Shit…”

We all look up at Dylan, who’s staring at his phone.

“What is it?” Isaac, another Bashers player, asks.

Dylan lets out a heavy sigh. “The video of his arrest is all over the internet.”

“Fuck,” Isaac mutters.

I step over to Dylan. “I want to see it.”

He looks at me, then back at his phone, then back at me. “Ingrid, it’s not pretty?—”

“I don’t care. Let me see it.”

Dylan hands me his phone. The footage is grainy, but I can make out Del easily in the video. I see him running and shoving an older man away from a car—his mom’s car, I’m guessing.They fall onto the road. His dad says something I can’t hear because they’re too far away. A second later, Del punches him in the stomach, then again in the face.

I cup my hand over my mouth. He yanks his dad up by the collar of his shirt. Del’s face is twisted in anger as he speaks to him. Then he drops him back on the ground. He stands up and instantly goes to his mom. I watch them hug. I see the pain on his mom’s face as she cries and he holds her.

My heart shatters. She looks terrified.

A few seconds later, I see Xander, Theo, and Blomdahl run over. Then a police officer appears.

He says something to Del, then Del steps away from his mom. The officer handcuffs him, and the video ends.

When I look up, all the guys are talking to each other and looking at their phones. Maya and Sophie are looking at me expectantly.

My body is buzzing in the confusion and chaos of this moment. But one thing is clear: I need to go to Del. I need him to know that I’m here for him, that I’ll support him every step of the way through this.

I grab my purse and dig out my credit card. I hand it to the bartender and he swipes it, then gives it back to me.

After I close out my tab, I turn to Sophie and Maya. “Let’s go.”

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