Page 127 of Outcast
“I’ll be okay. Whatever it was, it was worth it.”
The sheriff climbed into the car and started it up. He turned, giving us a hard look. “I don’t want any trouble from you two. Keep your mouth shut, do what you’re told, and we’ll get you processed into jail for the night.”
“For the night?” Bailey asked in a small voice.
I spoke up. “He gets a phone call, right? This kid wasn’t really even fighting. He was just trying to break things up.”
The sheriff turned up the radio, ignoring me, and twangy country music filled the cab of the car as he drove us toward town and the jail cell waiting for us.
Beside me, Bailey glared out the dark window, though I doubted he could see anything.
“I’m not a kid,” he said.
“I was just trying to get him to take it easy on you,” I murmured.
Bailey shot me a look. “Maybe you should worry about yourself. I’m tough. Just as tough as my brothers.”
His brows drew together, and he looked like such a little boy posturing in the attempt to be as brave and strong as his big brothers that my heart clenched.
I wasn’t sure how it had happened, but somewhere between falling into bed with Gray, joking around with his brothers, and making smiley-face, chocolate chip pancakes, I’d gotten attached to the whole dang family.
A protective urge rose inside me, and I knocked my knee against Bailey’s.
“Maybe you should look out for me, then. As a favor to Gray.”
He swallowed hard. “Yeah. Maybe I will.”
I smiled faintly, amazed that even in the midst of this clusterfuck, there was a sense of rightness. I didn’t want to be in the back of a sheriff’s car in cuffs. I sure as heck didn’t want to spend the night in a jail cell. But if I had to be there, I was glad I was with a bunch of loyal guys who would have my back, just as I would make sure to have theirs.
I didn’t care what Dallas said. When my father bailed me out, I wouldn’t leave Gray, Axel, and Bailey behind. If Holden hadn’t already bonded them out, I’d do it myself.
Because I loved them all.
My heart wrenched.
Fuck.
I loved Gray, didn’t I?
If I could feel so strongly about his family, then I was a lost cause when it came to him.
Talk about a sucker punch. I struggled to breathe through the emotion swamping me.
The way Gray stood up for me made me want to be brave. Made me want to grab onto him, and fuck the consequences.
Maybe it was just the adrenaline, and once it crashed, I’d go back to cringing away from disappointing people. But right now, in this smelly patrol car, I promised myself that I wouldn’t give up Gray if there was any other way.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Emory
“All right,Emory, you’re good to go,” Deputy Harvey called, pulling out keys to the door of my holding cell. My father stood behind him, brow furrowed.
My internal clock told me it was early morning, but not much beyond that. The sheriff had tossed me and Bailey in one cell and Gray and Axel in the other and told us to “sleep it off.” As if the altercation with Dallas was just another drunken brawl.
The upside was that there didn’t seem to be any charges. We had Deputy Harvey to thank for that. I overheard him telling the sheriff that Dallas started the fight by hitting Gray with that barstool.
Dallas hadn’t ended up in a jail cell with the rest of us, though. Once again, the sheriff’s son got a pass.
