Page 40 of The Art of Dying

Kelita smiled. “Anything I want. And everyone in this town would back me up.”

The bar cheered.

Mason glowered at her and then let Will escort him out.

“Holy shit,” Alecia said, letting out the breath she’d been holding.

“Thank you,” I said, staring down at the beer bottle in my hand. I relaxed my grip, allowing my knuckles to go from white back to peach. I hadn’t realized I was holding on to it for dear life.

“Hey,” Kelita said, touching my arm. “He’ll never hurt you again.”

“You have the security system,” Alecia said, touching my other arm.

“He’s going to come for me,” I said. “And when he does, I’ll kill him before I’ll let him touch me.”

All the softness from Kelita’s face vanished, and she sat up. “I didn’t hear that.”

“Kitsch is going to freak out,” Alecia said.

I shook my head. “We can’t tell him.”

“Mack,” Kelita began.

“No,” I blurted out. “He’ll worry. He might even come back; who knows what he’ll do if he runs into Mason.No onecan tell him.”

“Well,” Kelita began, “if you don’t, someone will.” She scanned the bar. “A lot of people saw your exchange. Saw that he came right up to you. Saw his anger.”

I closed my eyes. “Shit.”

“It’s gonna be okay, Mack,” Alecia said. “But don’t let him hear it from someone else.”

“I’m just going to pray everyone assumes I’ll tell him,” I said. “We say nothing. Promise me.”

Alecia and Kelita glanced at each other, then reluctantly agreed.

“He’s going to hate me,” Kelita said.

“I need to go home,” I said, standing.

“I’m going home with you,” Alecia said, quickly digging in her purse for cash.

Kelita pulled a fifty from her pocket and placed it on the table. “I got it. I’ll follow you home.”

“Thank you,” I said with an appreciative smile.

Alecia stared forward the entire drive to Kitsch’s parents’ home. We didn’t speak. There was nothing to say. Mason was back, and at any moment I could run into him, or worse, he would try to come to the house. I wanted to believe he’d been embarrassed enough to stay away, that his gargantuan-sized ego would keep him from bothering me, but I saw the look in Mason’s eyes. He wanted to punish me—for getting involved with another man, for people finding out what he did to me, and for what happened at Ody’s—and he had all the time in the world to think of ways to do it.

I parked, and we walked into the house in silence. Kelita was right behind us. She looked around before hugging me and sitting in the recliner. Alecia sat next to me on the couch, her hand on my thigh. She patted me and then grabbed my hand.

“You should turn on your alarm system,” she said.

I nodded, but Kelita stopped me.

“I can’t stay long. I’d only gone to Ody’s for one drink. I have the early shift tomorrow.”

“Can you keep extra patrols on the house?” Alecia asked.

“Already made a call.” She stood, brushed off her pants and then left.

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