Page 128 of Outcast
“You all right?” Dad asked as Deputy Harvey slid open the heavy jail cell door.
I smoothed down my sweaty hair, grimacing at the locker room smell of the cell. There’d been no air-conditioning for us, and I was dying for a shower. “Fine. Just ready to get out of here.”
“Come on, then,” Harvey said, waving me forward.
I hesitated. “What about the other guys?”
“Let them worry about themselves,” Dad said. “Let’s get you home.”
I stepped out of the cell, but I shook my head as Harvey slammed the door shut behind me. “There’s no reason to keep holding them. Let them out too.”
“There’s three of them to process,” Harvey said. “It takes time.”
“So we’ll wait,” I insisted. “I’m not leaving without?—”
“What’s gotten into you?” Dad snapped. “You don’t argue with the law. Do you want to get tossed back into jail with these guys?”
“I just want to make sure they’re okay.”
“They’ll be fine. They’re grown men who make their own bad choices.”
“You don’t even know what happened,” I protested.
“I know this isn’t like you, getting thrown into jail.” He cast a stern look at the brothers in the holding cells. “After everything we did to help you out, this is the thanks we get? You go and drag my son into trouble?”
“That’s not what happened,” I insisted.
“Then what did?” Dad said. “Because I don’t even recognize you right now.”
I opened my mouth to explain, but?—
Shit. How could I explain without telling him everything? I cast a look at Gray, heart torn between disappointing my father and letting down the guy who meant so damn much to me.
Gray stepped up to the bars. “It’s okay, Emory. Holden’s on his way. We’ll be fine.”
“But…”
“Go on home. We’ll talk later. I’m just sorry you got arrested. It wasn’t right.” He pinned Deputy Harvey with a hard stare before shifting his gaze to my dad. “Emory didn’t do anything wrong, sir. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
My dad glared at Gray. “On that, we can agree. Come on, Emory. Enough stalling. Let’s go. Your mother is worried sick.”
I reluctantly followed, accepting a plastic bag containing my wallet and phone at the front counter before stepping outside into bright sunlight with my dad. I squinted, eyes adjusting after a night spent enclosed by gray cinder block walls and weak lighting.
We got to my Dad’s Lexus in relative peace, but that’s as long as it lasted. As soon as I buckled up, Dad exploded. “What the hell were you thinking, Emory?”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “It wasn’t my fault.”
He scoffed. “You should have never been at that trashy pool hall in the first place. Since when do you hang out with that crowd?”
I crossed my arms over my chest, jaw clenching. “What? You think I’mslummingit? Don’t be so judgmental. You don’t even know those people. You don’t know?—”
“The Forresters? I know them well enough to lend them money, thanks to you. What have they gotten you involved in, Emory? Be honest.”
“Nothing! We were just having a drink, Dad. Dallas started some shit. End of story.”
“Dallas?” Dad’s tone turned incredulous. “They picked a fight with the sheriff’sson? They must be fucking idiots.”
“No,” I snapped. “Dallas picked a fight with us. We just didn’t let him get away with it like everyone else does.”
