Page 11 of Justice for Radar

It was hard for me to trust and to warm up to people, but apparently, Radar was as good as his nickname because he seemed to get that. Lucia smiled at me encouragingly and winked at me too at one point as we all four sat at the counter along stools and stuffed our faces.

Radar was a talent in the kitchen. His fajitas were really good. After dinner, Lucia got up and started cleaning up without being asked and I got up too.

“Where you going?” Atlas asked jovially, and I flinched at being called out and blushed.

I said, “I thought I would help.”

Lucia looked back over her shoulder from where she rinsed dishes at the sink and said brightly, “You don’t have to!”

“I would like to,” I said. She nodded and I went to the open dishwasher, taking a dish from her and loading it neatly. I felt the eyes of Radar and Atlas along my back as they sipped beer and the small talk continued.

“Feel like going for a walk?” Radar asked.

Lucia shook her head and said, “I’ve been on my feet all day. I’m just down for some Hulu and to call it a night.”

“I would, actually.” I cast Lucia a smile and said, “I’ve been on my ass all day and I need to get some fresh air.”

She giggled, shook her head, and said, “You go right ahead.”

“Let’s walk down to the boulevard and take a stroll,” Atlas declared. I considered it and gave a nod.

“Let me grab my sandals,” I said.

“I’ll grab my cut,” Radar said.

I didn’t know what that was but when I came back out of my borrowed room, he stood in the entry way to the house with Atlas, wearing the same rough-looking leather vest covered in similar but not precisely all the same patches on the front.

“Shall we?” he asked, and I nodded, a bit apprehensive now that it clicked what those vests were. I wasn’t used to seeing the people that wore them walking around but the motorcycle in the garage… The guys turned around to go out the front door and I got a look at their matching backs.

The Kraken arched above a patch depicting a giant squid dragging a broken ship beneath the waves, the bottom below that readFt. Royal, FLand in a box next to the colorful orange and brown patch with its subtle blue at the bottom was a box that had a bigMCin it.

Never judge a book by its cover,I thought, not unironically, considering I designed them just for that purpose for a living now.

I was almost as tall as Atlas while Radar was just above my shoulder on my other side. Not for the first time today, it surprised me that he was shorter. I mean, despite his height deficiency, as far as I could tell, he was the tallest of our trio as we walked down the sidewalk back toward the diner. He just had a presence.

“You doing alright?” I snapped my head up from where I’d been watching the sidewalk and looked over. Atlas was ahead of us by a bit and Radar had me fixed with a considering look at my side.

“Hm? Yeah, why?” I asked.

“Just look lost in thought in a big way.”

I forced a smile and nodded. “I am,” I agreed with a gusty sigh.

“I can’t blame you,” he said, nodding, his hands thrust into the pockets of his cargo shorts. “Just feel like I should tell you, you’re alright… you know?” I blinked in a bit of surprise and reached up to swipe some errant hair from my loose ponytail behind my ear.

“Come again?” I asked.

“I know the shit feels deep, but you’re okay. You’re safe and you’re going to make it back home just fine. I promise you that.”

I swallowed, laughed nervously, and nodded. We paced one another silently, following Atlas’s right turn onto the busy, touristy boulevard through the center of town.

“Thank you,” I murmured a little bit later, the tightness between my shoulders easing, the Gordian knot of anxiety like a fist in the center of my chest finally loosening just a little bit, making it easier to breathe.

“It’s no sweat,” he said. “I’m serious.”

“You know what you need after a shitty day?” Atlas called from ahead of us. I looked up as he paced backward down the busy sidewalk, laughing, slightly mollified as he just sort of expected everyone else to pay attention and to get out of his way and surprisingly? Theydid.

“What’s that?” Radar asked and Atlas came to a stop. We paced forward to close the gap between us and Atlas pointed off to our right, his left.

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