Let It Be (Butler, Vermont #6) - Marie Force Page 0,14

this…

Molly was lost to him and how he made her feel. And knowing he loved her, as preposterous as that might seem, made being with him even more necessary to her. Her bikini top disappeared, and with her breasts pressed against his chest, the desire was dizzying.

And then she felt guilty. How could she be doing this with someone else when Andrew was gone forever? She broke the kiss and took a couple of deep breaths while berating herself for letting this thing with Lincoln get so out of hand.

“What’s wrong?” He ran his thumb over her nipple, making her tremble.

“I… I can’t do this.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t.” She pushed on his shoulder and sat up, reaching for a T-shirt and putting it on.

“Mol…”

“I’m going to take a shower before dinner.” Molly grabbed her shower bag and left the tent before he could talk her into staying. She was beginning to realize he could talk her into just about anything.

Chapter Five

“Love one another.”

—George Harrison

Molly avoided him for two very long days. At the end of the second day, they were wrapping up at the site when Keisha drove in, her car skidding to a stop before she got out and called for Joseph. The frantic edge to her voice put Linc immediately on alert.

Something was wrong.

Joseph came rushing out of the house where he’d been working.

Keisha ran over to him.

Linc could see she was crying.

“What’s going on?” Charlie, one of the other volunteers, asked him.

“I don’t know.” Joseph and Keisha had become their friends, and Lincoln wanted to know what he could do to help them. He walked over to them. “Are you okay?”

The look of terror on Joseph’s face sent a chill down Linc’s spine. “Jalen has been arrested.”

Jalen was their fourteen-year-old son, and he, too, had become a friend during the summer as he worked with them when he wasn’t in summer school to catch up in math.

“For what?”

Keisha looked at him, eyes full of fear and anger. “For being Black.”

Lincoln was taken aback, both by the vehemence in her tone and the terror coming from both of them.

“What do you know, honey?” Joseph asked, his voice tense.

Keisha wiped tears from her face. “He and two friends were walking in town after school let out, and according to the other boys, the police stopped them to find out where they were going. When they said they were going home, the police started asking them if they were part of a fight that happened last night. Jalen said they knew nothing about it. The police said they didn’t like his attitude and cuffed him. When the other boys protested, they told them to shut up or they’d take them in, too.”

“Let’s go get him out,” Joseph said.

“If we can do anything…” Linc said, feeling impotent, angry and scared for his friends.

“We’ll be back,” Joseph said. “Finish cleaning up, and call it a day.” He got into the driver’s side of Keisha’s car, waited for her to get in and took off, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

“Jesus,” Cory said. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know,” Linc said, his stomach twisted in knots.

“It’s not good,” Desmond, who was one of Joseph’s business partners, said. “Happens far too often, and sometimes it doesn’t end well.”

“How can they get away with that?” Charlie asked.

Desmond, who was also Black, shot him a withering look. “Get away with it? They’re the police. They get away with whatever the fuck they want. Who’s gonna stop them?”

“There has to be something we can do,” Linc said.

“Do us all a favor and stay in your lane. This is so much bigger than you and one summer in Mississippi.” Desmond walked away, got in his truck and drove off.

Linc hoped he was going to help Joseph and Keisha, because it seemed like they’d need all the help they could get.

“What’s going on?” Molly asked when she walked over from one of the other houses.

Linc caught her up.

“Come on. No way. He’s the best kid. They can’t just do that.”

“That’s what we were just saying,” Linc told her, “and apparently, they can do it. From what Desmond said, it happens far too often.”

“That makes me sick,” Molly said, folding her arms as if she needed a hug.

He understood how she felt.

Much later, they sat with a subdued group of volunteers in camp, wishing they could do something for Joseph and Keisha. But they’d done what had been requested of them and had stayed put while they prayed for Jalen