Page 75 of The Slayer
“I know.” Wyatt laughed. “I saw.”
“Isn’t there anything better for you to do?” Tino snapped as he pulled up his pants and glared at Wyatt. “Instead of spying on us?”
Wyatt shook his head. “Not currently.”
Chuito was feeling dizzy again, so he went back to the bench and sat. Tino started bouncing his ball, and Chuito couldn’t help but groan and bury his face in his hands. “Come on, man. I’m gonna puke. The constant bouncing is making my head worse.”
“Are you all right, Chuito?” Wyatt asked. “You got a pretty bad bruise. Think it’s a concussion?”
“I’m hungover.”
It wasn’t a total lie.
“Hey, can I have my phone call?” Tino huffed, as if sensing Chuito needed intervention. “I need my lawyer.”
“I’m not booking you,” Wyatt admitted, but he still sounded like a chiding parent. “Seeing how you two have a clean record—”
Tino laughed.
Dumbass.
“And you’re fine, upstanding members of the community—”
Now Chuito laughed.
“You teach the free classes at the Cellar to help the at-risk teenagers and did donate considerable time and money making up the school-supplies backpacks for the low-income kids last week.”
“Wow, we actually did that shit.” Tino sounded as surprised as Chuito felt. “Weareupstanding members of the community. What the fuck are we doing in jail, Wyatt?”
“Never,everdo this again,” Wyatt finished with his parental dressing-down as he unlocked the jail cell. “Unless it’s in the cage. Then I don’t give a shit. Beat the hell out of each other.”
Tino did a very good job of imitating what he probably thought an upstanding member of a community was supposed to walk like and sound like as he swung his arms while stepping out of the jail cell and said, “Yes, sir, mister sheriff, sir.”
Tino bounced his ball again as he headed down the hallway.
Chuito wasn’t feeling quite so spry. He rolled to his feet and grunted as he stood. He gave Wyatt a dull look. “You locked me up with Tino and didn’t take hisballaway.”
“Then lesson learned.” Wyatt didn’t sound too sympathetic, but he did look at him in concern. “You probably should have someone sit with you tonight. I know you got a concussion whether you admit it or not.”
Chuito grunted again but didn’t respond.
He just followed Tino down the hallway to the front of the sheriff’s office.
Jules was leaning against the dispatch board, arms folded over her chest in a way eerily similar to her brother.
“Big mama!” Tino reached out to Jules with his good arm when he got to her. Tino hugged her and kissed her cheek despite the fact that Jules didn’t bother unfolding her arms. “I didn’t know you cared.”
“I saw the bare-assed bullshit,” Jules said rather than hug him back. “I can’t unsee it either.”
“Only took two years to be vindicated,” Chuito mumbled, because there was a time when Jules and Romeo accidentally showed him some things he couldn’t unsee.
Jules turned her head and glared at him, even though Tino was still hugging her as if waiting for the affection to be returned.
Chuito just smiled in response. “Karma’s a bitch.”
He more than anyone knew just how true that was.
Jules finally hugged Tino, probably because he wasn’t giving her a choice in the matter. She pulled back and frowned at her brother-in-law. “How’s your shoulder? Wyatt said your arm was dislocated. He should’ve taken you to the hospital.”
