too short. I’m not wasting another second watching you waste away.”
Paul stared at her, his mouth open, his face blank.
Amy turned to me. “I’ll be in touch, doll. I love you.” She looked to Rush. “I’m sorry. I should have let you stay in your truck. I’ve leaned too heavily on Rebel and you got caught up in that. That ends now. I hope you understand the extenuating circumstances and I hope to meet you again under better ones.”
With that, she flounced to the hall and we heard a door slam.
I gave my attention to Paul.
“Paul, you two need to chat. We’re gonna go.”
“My daughter died,” he muttered toward the hall Amy had just gone down.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“And that bitch,” he lifted a hand to the hall, “treats me to that?”
I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t say anything stupid.
Rush did not do the same.
“Man, get your head outta your ass or you’re not only gonna lose your daughter, you’re gonna lose it all.”
Paul was searing a look at Rush, but Rush was grabbing my hand and pulling me to the door.
“I’m not sure you’re welcome back,” Paul spat at Rush.
“I’m pretty sure, you keep acting like a moron, I don’t care,” Rush muttered, opened the door and pulled me out, turning back and saying, “Goodbye.”
He reached in, shut the door and moved me down their walk.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I whispered, holding tight to his hand.
“Good that happened. Amy needed to lay it out,” Rush did not whisper back.
“You didn’t have to witness it.”
He stopped me at the passenger door to his truck and looked down at me. “Would you still be in there, playing referee to those two, if I was out in my truck?”
I slid my eyes away.
“Right,” he muttered, yanking open my door. “So it’s good I went in. Now we can go home, fuck, I can crash, we can find out where the fuck your brother and his man are, get them home to you, and I can go back out and shake down more people who have no idea where Chew is. Another perfect day.”
Oh man.
He was tired, done with this mess, probably hungry, had to deal with that ugly with Paul and Amy, and, well . . . tired.
I did not delay climbing into the truck.
Rush closed me in, rounded the hood, then angled in the other side.
After he started it up and pulled out into the road, I asked, “Do you want my cheesy biscuit breakfast sandwiches?”
“It’ll take too long. We’ll grab something from a drive thru, eat it on the way home, I’ll finish breakfast eating you out, then I’m gonna sleep.”
“That’s a plan,” I said, though I hated fast food (all but Arby’s, their beef and cheddars and curly fries were crack). The rest of it, I was totally down with, and one part of it, I was seriously down with. I dug my phone out of my pocket and told him, “I’ll call D.”
“Good idea,” he muttered.
Diesel didn’t answer so I left a message.
Rush was taking our order from a drive thru window at Taco Bell when my phone binged with a text.
Doing some shit with Sixx. It’s gonna take a while. Covered?
“D says he’s doing something with Sixx and it’s gonna take a while,” I told Rush as he handed me the bag.
“They’re not back when I wake up, I’ll drop you at Essence’s,” Rush replied, pulling out of the fast food lane.
And there it was again.
Plans change, Rush just found a new flow.
Covered, I texted D. Then followed up with, I might be at Essence’s if you’re gone long. I’ll text.
Right, sis. Later.
I dug in the bag to get out Rush’s breakfast burrito.
“Thanks for taking me,” I said.
“Not a problem,” he replied.
“Thanks for being awesome.”
His lips quirked, he glanced at me, took his burrito and looked back at the road.
“Not a problem.”
I pulled out my own burrito, set the hash browns and cinnamon balls where Rush could get at them, then crunched up the bag and threw it to the floor.
I unwrapped enough to take a bite, chewed, swallowed and announced, “You’re right.”
Rush did not swallow his bite but asked with a full mouth, “About what?”
“Diane gave me one last thing after she died.”
He knew where I was leading and that was why I got a gentle, “Babe.”
“I wouldn’t want it to happen this way. But it did. So that’s what I’ve got. And I’m good to take it.”
He switched burrito hands to reach out and give my