Page 124 of Give Me Redemption

Harrison sits down on the other sofa. The TV playsIndependence Daywith Will Smith, and I take a sip of my beer, my mind thinking back on the courthouse.

Bryce is out. He’s going to be able to live a normal life with his girl. I can’t believe he gave up Red.

He’s shocked even me.

Like always, my mind goes back to Dalton. Seeing her like that in the courtroom with black dress pants and a white flowered blouse. She had a gun on her hip and a badge.

She looked fucking hot.

I mean, I’ve mostly only seen her in jeans and a T-shirt, and maybe a dress or two. That time she met me out at the Halloween festival she was dressed similar. Shewascoming from work, just not the work I was thinking.

A fucking librarian.

I knew that didn’t fit her.

Don’t get me wrong. She’s smart, but she has this toughness about her, and now I know why.

Dressed like she was earlier fits her personality. This is what she was meant to be.

Who was that man she was walking beside? She was laughing with him.

I won’t even lie and say it didn’t make me jealous. I lean my head back on the couch as we three watch TV in silence before the door opens and Lou and Monnie walk in.

“Hey,” she says. “I brought food.”

I jump up. “Fuck, I’m starving.”

Mary fetches plates from the cabinets, and Lou opens the pizza boxes. I’m the first one to walk back into the living room with a fresh beer and my plate stacked full of pizza and breadsticks, and I don’t even care.

I haven’t eaten shit in days. My brother is free, Harrison doesn’t seem that mad at me anymore, and I saw Dalton. That look in her eye earlier. She wants me still, even after I treated her like shit.

“Damn, did you save any for the rest of us?” Harrison jokes.

“I haven’t eaten much,” I say.

She smirks. “Yeah, I’m with you.”

“Go eat,” I say, taking a huge bite.

She gets up and walks over to the counter. “You okay, kid?” I hear Monnie ask her.

“I am now,” Harrison replies.

“Yeah. Bryson gave us a scare. I always knew that place was going to get him in trouble, but I never said anything,” Lou says, tsking.

I chuckle. She did say something a time or two about it, but it was overlooked. Went in one ear and out the other.

“Well, it’s done now,” Pops says. “Let’s just be glad he got off so easy.”

“How did he get off so easy?” Mary asks, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

I look back at Harrison, chewing my food, wondering what her response is going to be. And like it’s a total fucking mystery to her, too, she says, “Luck. I guess,” with a shrug of her shoulder and two pieces of pizza on her plate.

Mary eyeballs her as she takes of sip of hot black coffee.

“Here’s to luck,” Mary says, lifting her cup. Harrison smiles and I look back at the TV. This could have turned out so bad. We’re all sitting here eating pizza and having a beer. Bryce is coming home. This is good.

But there’s one thing wrong.

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