Page 21 of Heart of Stone
“It’s your daughter, you fucking loon. It’s Amy,” Hunter yelled over my mom’s hysterical cries.
I lowered my arm and lifted my face. Hunter had hold of the shovel, and he held my mom’s arm. Mom stared at me for a second as if she was trying to figure out why I looked familiar. Her eyes were glazed and unfocused from the medication.
“Amy, my god.” She sobbed, covered her face and ran back inside.
Hunter’s chest rose and fell with deep breaths. I glanced back to his house. He’d crossed the space between our houses as if he had rockets on his feet. His visitor was still standing on the porch. She’d witnessed the whole embarrassing episode.
Hunter lowered the shovel and reached for my face.But I stepped back. The last thing I needed was to feel his touch. He looked at my front door and then at me. “Fuck, Amy, you’ve got to?—”
I held up my hand to stop him. “No, don’t Hunter. I don’t want to hear this tonight. She’s just on new meds is all. They always take awhile for her to get used to.” I was holding it together, but it was an act. Inside, I was ripping apart. “Go back to your slumber party.”
He stood there towering over me and staring down at me as if I’d just pulled out any final strings still holding his stony heart in place. Then he stomped down the steps and swung the shovel at our tree, hitting it hard enough to wedge the metal end into the trunk. I turned around and went inside.
My mom had climbed into bed and had already fallen back asleep. I went down the hall to my room, shut the door and slid to the floor. I wrapped my arms around my legs, pulled my knees closer and cried.
TWELVE
HUNTER
Slade and Colt were already sitting in our usual booth when I walked through the door at Lazy Daze. I didn’t see Amy, but her car was in the lot. It had been three days since our conversation on the porch. Shelly had stepped out to interrupt and remind Amy that I was a complete asshole. Not that she ever needed reminding about that.
We hadn’t gone on a job in a few days. Thebosswas dealing with shuffling in new people and getting rid of old, namely Nelson, his ex-right hand man. While we waited for our next job, I’d carried my tools down to Amy’s father’s boat. She’d mentioned wanting to fix it up, and working on engines was the one thing that could keep my mind out of the black hole that kept wanting to swallow it. The hard, cold reality was that I missed Amy so much it hurt. I shifted between wishing I’d been a real guy with a real job and a future and wanting to fall into an abyss and get sucked down into hell where I belonged. It was the darkest my mood had been since I was fourteen. Back then, my dad had beaten me so badly, I’d actually plotted how I might kill him. It had only ever been a fantasy, a macabre plan that had him in thebathtub with me tossing in a radio or hairdryer, something that would fry him up good. It'd been one of the darkest periods in a life that had never seen too much light.
Slade and Colt were staring at me as I slid into the booth. “Shit, is my hair on fire or something?” I asked.
Slade grinned at Colt before turning to me. “No. But it might be soon.”
Jade came over with a beer and tequila shot. “Thought you might need this.”
“Yeah? If you say so.” I threw the tequila back. All three of them were staring at me. Amy came out of the office. She wasn’t wearing her apron and had put on the green, curve-hugging dress I’d always loved, a dress that I’d nearly ripped off of her more than once. She glanced our direction and paled the second she saw me.
“What the fuck is going on?” I reached up to my head. “Did I forget to tuck my horns in? Or are all of you just nuts?”
Jade looked at Colt. “You didn’t tell him?”
Colt lifted his hands in surrender. “You didn’t give me time.”
Jade scurried away as if I really had sprouted horns. I took a long drink of beer. Something told me I was going to need it. I slammed the mug hard on the table. “One of you asswipes should tell me what the fuck is going on.”
Slade leaned forward with a small, almost gleeful smile as if whatever was happening was entertaining to him. “Well, brother dearest, it seems Amy’s new boyfriend is coming to pick her up here. She’s off for the night, and they’re going out— on a date,” he added unnecessarily andwith another heap of glee.
Colt looked over at him. “Fuck, Slade, should I get you a tub of popcorn? You look excited like you’re about to settle down to a good movie.”
“What can I say? It’s boring here tonight. No hot single girls and the beer is sort of flat. But now my big brother has walked in to provide some entertainment.”
Colt turned to me. “Seriously, bro, maybe you should just head back out. Thought you were going to play poker tonight.”
“It got cancelled.” I stared across the room at Amy. She was trying her hardest not to look my direction.
Colt elbowed me. “Might be better if you take off, don’t you think?”
I was trying to tamp down my anger and figure out what the hell I was going to do. The thought of Amy with another guy wasn’t just a suggestion, an irritating idea that I kept brushing out of my head to keep from going fucking nuts. It was a real thing, and the real guy was coming to meet her. And I had only myself to blame. I moved to slide out of the booth, thinking I needed to go somewhere else and get fucking plastered.
“What the hell? Why is Rincon here?” Slade asked.
I looked across the room. “What the fuck?” I got up and walked toward him. Colt and Slade followed. Our deliberate movement across the bar made every other patron sit up and take notice. They knew that trouble usually followed when the three Stone brothers moved in one direction together.
Rincon’s mouth dropped open when he caught sight ofus. He looked equally shocked to see us. He was dressed up as if he was off to an expensive nightclub or snob-filled party. He glanced around almost nervously as if we were the last people he wanted to meet in a public place. This particular public place wasn’t exactly his style either.
