“You’re terrible.” Danny rolled his eyes as Jake sent him another smooth smile.
“Yes, I am,” Jake replied, totally unrepentant.
Chapter Four
THE REST of their breakfast passed uneventfully, though Jake still found himself watching what he said and did. He didn’t want it to seem like he was blatantly flirting with Danny when the guy was obviously so troubled about being out in his small hometown.
Maybe asking him straight like that hadn’t been fair, and he had to admit, some of his motivation had definitely been selfish. He was more than a little attracted to Danny, even though he’d repeatedly told himself he didn’t need the distraction and instead should focus on the real reason why he’d taken a job in this backward-ass town.
But in that moment, his need to know that he hadn’t misread Danny had overtaken everything else. It’d been a relief to find he’d been right, but disappointing to realize how wary Danny was of anyone knowing the truth.
He could understand. It wasn’t always an easy thing—facing the prospect that people you’ve know all your life would suddenly look at you and treat you differently, even though you were exactly the same person you’d always been. It was an utter load of crap. In an ideal world, no one would have to go through that for any aspect of their gender or sexuality. But Everness was far, far from an ideal world.
So if Danny didn’t want to be seen with him, he would stay away, even though it was a 100 percent the last thing he wanted. Danny hadn’t said either way, but something close to panic had flashed in his eyes after Jake had suggested it, before Danny had seemed to gather himself and then suggest they head back to their table and eat their breakfast.
Maybe nothing would ever happen between them, but at least he’d possibly made a friend. And he got the feeling Danny could use a friend who knew exactly who he was underneath the local-golden-boy persona.
As they finished up eating, a group of four guys dressed in rough contractor gear stopped by their table, and a flash of tension passed across Danny’s face before he covered it with a friendly smile.
“Danny-boy. Getting yourself in trouble with the cops?” one of the men asked, glancing back and forth between them.
“Just a formality, Brad,” Danny answered evenly. “Had a bit of an accident yesterday. Totaled my pickup, actually.”
“Whoa, man. Are you okay?” one of the others asked, a genuine note of concern in his voice.
“Just a few bruises. The truck’s a write-off, though.”
“Bet old man Jones was pissed about that,” Brad answered with a laugh.
“Hell yeah, he was.” This time, Danny’s smile was a little more genuine. “Sorry, I should introduce you. This is Deputy Jake Perez. He just moved here and started with the sheriff’s office a few weeks ago.”
“Brad Stevens.” The guy held out a callused hand, and Jake shook it, then got introduced to Carl Wilson, Bobby Abbot, and Todd Pittman who had all been on the football team at Everness High School with Danny.
“We’ll be at Monroe’s—it’s the only bar in town—tonight after work,” Brad continued. “You should join us, get to know a few people.”
“Thanks, I’ll consider it if I don’t get caught late on my shift.”
The four men bid them goodbye, Brad slapping Danny on the back with a parting joke about learning how to drive. Danny relaxed once they were out of sight.
“You really going to go?’ Danny asked as Jake leafed out a few bills to pay for their food.
“Like I said. It’ll depend on how my shift goes. But yeah, I’d like to get to know a few people in town. You should come.”
Danny’s brow creased, as though he was running an intense internal debate over it. The expression was so adorable, Jake found himself laughing affectionately.
“Don’t think about it too hard. You might blow a fuse.”
Danny sent him an exasperated look as they stepped out of the diner, almost running into a group coming in.
“Yo, hombre, you’re on the wrong side of the border,” someone called out, causing a few of the other men to laugh.
An ice-cold shock flashed through him as Jake pulled to a forceful halt, the words like a physical blow, leaving him reeling for what seemed like an eternity jammed into a single second. A hand brushed his and he blinked, remembering Danny was right beside him and this wasn’t Dallas; he was in Everness. Apparently the racial slurs didn’t change much no matter which city or town he was in.
He eyed the group of seven, recognizing a couple of them. Fucking scumbags. They were members of the American Liberty Patriots, a kind of white-nationalist group who lived in a compound on a few hundred acres outside of town near the Sam Houston National Forest. He’d been waiting to run across them since the first day he’d arrived in town. His gaze landed on one of the men in particular, and the old familiar burn of rage ignited in the bottom of his stomach. The reason he’d come to Everness. The reason he’d stay as long as it took to finally get justice. The man’s gaze met his and a shock of recognition flashed over the guy’s features, leaving a cold kind of satisfaction rolling through him.
That’s right, asshole, didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easy, did you?
His first shift, Sheriff Hayes had very specifically told him that when the ALP members came into town for supplies or whatever else, they were to be observed and not engaged. Not unless they were doing something to endanger public safety. As much as he wanted to pound the guy who’d spoken into the pavement, he clenched his fists and concentrated on keeping a lid on his fury.
“Did he just say—” Danny started, disbelieving anger in every line of his body, glaring at the man who’d spoken and doubling back like he was actually going to confront the racist asshole.
Jake took his arm and tugged him away. “Don’t worry about it.”
The men laughed again, one of them saying something about a taco as they headed into the diner.
He didn’t let go of Danny until they’d reached his patrol car, and half of that was so he himself didn’t turn around and storm back into the diner. Honestly, he’d been called worse in his life, but these days, those little barbs that once wouldn’t have mattered to him managed to find their way under his skin.
“Racist redneck assholes,” Danny muttered, kicking hard at the car tire. “I can’t believe we have to put up with them living outside of town. That there’s nothing anyone can do about them.”
“They’ve got rights.” Just saying those words made him want to throw up. “Sorry, but we have to stay here until they leave. We’re meant to keep an eye on them whenever they’re in town.”
Danny nodded and went to sit on the nose of the cruiser with his arms crossed and a brooding expression on his face. Jake took a second to report in with the ALP sighting, then sat down next to him.
“Sorry, I guess I’m keeping you from work at the garage,” he said, realizing this outing was going to take Danny a lot longer than he’d probably anticipated. He crossed his arms, watching the shadowed figures in the diner, even though he couldn’t see what they were doing.
“Don’t apologize for that,” Danny replied with a snort.
“You don’t like being a mechanic?”
“Nope.” Danny shifted, scuffing his shoe against the curb, their shoulders brushing. He hadn’t realized how close they were sitting until then. But if Danny wasn’t going to move away, then he certainly wasn’t going to.
“What would you do, if you weren’t working on cars?”
Danny shrugged, then glanced over at him. “No point thinking about it right now. My mom needs me at home. She got sick—breast cancer.”
“Oh hell, I’m sorry.” He’d gone and put his goddamn foot in it. Now that he thought about it, he remembered someone mentioning something about the sheriff being friends with the local mechanic’s wife who had breast cancer, and they’d all worn ribbons last month to raise money. He just hadn’t paid much attention because it hadn’t been pertinent. Not
then, anyway.
“There must have been something else you wanted to do, though.” He sent Danny a smile, trying to lighten the moment again. He hated seeing those shadows in Danny’s blue eyes. “Like when you were a kid. Firefighter, astronaut?”
“Actually, there is something,” Danny said thoughtfully. “But I’ve never told anyone.”
He caught his breath, wanting Danny to tell him, simply for the fact that he’d know something about the guy that no one else did.
“I want to open—I don’t know what you’d call it. Like a sports bar maybe? A small place that serves really good burgers, steak, and beer. I worked at this awesome bar and grill in Houston—Actually, I’d just gotten the assistant manager’s job before I had to leave. The food at Monroe’s is horrible. People only go there because there’s no other bar in town. I think Everness could use a place that’s fresh. You know what I mean?”
“So why don’t you do it?”
Danny laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d heard all year.
“Oh, you’re serious?” he asked after a moment, bumping his shoulder into Jake’s.
“Why not?”
He definitely needed to make Danny laugh more often. He liked making him happy, even if that was the most ridiculous, soppy thought he’d had in his entire life.
“My mom…. The medical expenses—” Danny stopped and dropped his gaze, expression troubled.
“I’m sorry, Danny, I didn’t think.” And now he felt like an ass. Breast cancer. Of course the medical expenses would be nearly sending them bankrupt. And from what he’d learned about Danny so far, he could tell he was the type of guy to take that on his own shoulders.
“It doesn’t matter.” Danny shook his head, and then forced his expression to clear. “Are you sure they’re not going to be wondering where I got to at the station?”
“Sheriff Hayes knows you’re with me,” he replied distractedly.
The ALP members were coming back out with takeout coffees and paper bags of food. Obviously, the staff in the diner had decided to serve them quick and get them out. From what he’d been told, most of the time the ALP members came and went with little trouble. Still, the locals were wary of them. Just occasionally, something riled them up and the odd fight would break out or public menace charges would end up getting filed.
With perfect timing, a second police cruiser pulled up in the empty bay next to them. The doors slammed and a moment later, he was joined by officers Peggy Marsh and Dave Olsen.
“Any trouble?” Peggy asked, crossing her arms as she stepped up on the sidewalk and aimed a glare at the group. She was in her forties and the most formidable cop he’d ever met. Never mind the sheriff; it was Peggy everyone really needed to be afraid of.
“None so far.” With additional officers standing around, the group didn’t seem so mouthy any longer. They simply turned and headed over to where a couple of battered pickup trucks were parked.
“Olsen and I will trail them until they leave the town limits,” Peggy told him. “You better get Daniel in for his statement.”
He sent the older woman a smile. “Thanks, Peggy. I owe you one.”
“Watch out, because she always calls in her favors,” Dave told him with a grin.
He sent the pair a quick salute and then got in behind the wheel as Danny went around to the passenger side.
“What’s with them all calling you Daniel?” he asked as he backed the cruiser out onto the road.
“It’s my name,” Danny told him in a dry voice.
He glanced over, then found his gaze slipping up and down Danny’s body, even though he totally hadn’t meant it. “Danny suits you better.”
A pleased smile lit up Danny’s expression before he glanced away. Jake only just managed to catch himself before he laughed over how easy and adorable it was to get the guy all flustered. If he didn’t rein himself in, it could easily become his new favorite pastime.
Problem was, Danny didn’t seem to be in the market for a relationship. And Jake shouldn’t have been either. He’d come to Everness on a personal mission, and he didn’t know how long that might take. He might be here a few short months, or he might end up stuck here for years. However long it took, he’d make sure he saw justice for his brother’s death that the courts and legal system hadn’t given his family. He wasn’t planning on doing anything stupid. He was too smart for that and didn’t bank on ruining his life over some racist scumbag.
But to use a total cliché, a tiger never changed its stripes. And violent, psychopathic racist scumbags could move halfway across the state and hide in a compound that had more security than the state penitentiary, but they’d still be racist scumbags. His strategy was much more nuanced.
He would wait, and he would watch. Eventually Leroy Hobbs would mess up. And Jake would be there to take him down. The asshole might not end up in the county lockup for the crime he deserved to be serving time for. But Jake would see him in jail. One way or another.
Chapter Five
DANNY CHANGED his T-shirt four times before finally calling himself an idiot and putting back on the one he’d started out with. What did it matter what he looked like? It wasn’t like he was going on a date. He was heading out to the one and only bar in Everness, and Jake might not even turn up. He was going to have a few beers, catch up with the guys, watch whatever sports they had playing on the large-screen TV, and enjoy the fact he hadn’t died in a car accident-slash-explosion the day before.
He hadn’t seen Jake since he’d gone in to give his statement that morning. When he’d finished with the detective from Conroe, he’d come out thinking Jake would be there with an offer to drive him home again. Except he’d been called out somewhere else. One of the civil administrators, Laura, had handed him a card with Jake’s cell phone number scribbled across it. She said Jake had asked her to give it to him, and Danny had slipped it in his pocket, trying not to overthink it or let his face get too hot, leaving him blushing like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar… if the cookie jar was six-foot-plus of Jake Perez looking sexy as all hell without even trying.
He let his mom know where he was going as he left the house. She asked him what time he was coming home, looking extra tired. No doubt all the yelling with his dad the night before had stressed her out, which was exactly what she didn’t need. He told her he didn’t know, kissed her on the cheek, and told her to get some rest, trying not to feel guilty, and escaped before she could say anything else. Luckily his dad was still working in the shop. He could hear the twanging melodies of Credence Clearwater Revival echoing out of the garage as he crossed the yard and vaulted the fence. He hummed along to “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” as he headed down the block, the music fading in the background.
Really, he probably needed to do something about finding his own place. But for one, what little his dad was paying him mostly went to his mom’s medical bills, and two, he didn’t like the idea of leaving his mom alone—which she might as well be with the hours his dad pulled next door in the garage. Not that his dad was good company at the best of times.
The walk into the center of town took about fifteen minutes. It was getting late in the evening, but the day’s summer heat hadn’t started to wane. Dark clouds were blowing up in the distance and the humidity was settling in. There’d probably be storms in the next few hours.
As usual at this time of day, all the parking bays around Monroe’s were taken, mostly by pickup trucks. When he pulled open the door, a blast of cool air washed over him, subtly scented with the musky fragrance of decades’ worth of spilled beer.
He’d been kind of hoping Jake would already be here if he was coming, but Danny didn’t see any sign of him as he spotted the guys hanging by the two pool tables. It wasn’t only the four he’d spoken to this morning—there were around fifteen people he’d gone to high school with milling in the corner, some of them already well on the way to being drunk.
“Hey, Danny-boy!” Brad called out when
he spotted him. “The next round is on Danny for not being in jail!”
He laughed as a few people cheered and a couple of others slapped him on the back. He signaled old man Murphy behind the bar—who’d been working at Monroe’s longer than he’d been alive—to let him know he was getting the next round, then headed over to Gina Garrett, who dug around in a nearby bucket of ice then held out a longneck for him. They’d been pretty good friends during high school. His best friend, Chris, had been going out with her best friend, Lizzie, all of senior year, so they’d spent a lot of time together. He’d caught up with Gina a lot in the last few months since he’d been back, and he’d been surprised to find they’d reconnected without Chris and Lizzie, who’d moved all the way to Atlanta for some crazy reason. She was probably the closest thing he had to a best friend.
“Hey.” She clinked her beer into his as he leaned on the wall next to where she was sitting on a stool. “Here’s to being alive.”
“You heard about that, huh?” He took a long swallow from the beer, watching the antics happening around the pool tables.
“Everyone heard about that.” She eyed him as though looking for some evidence of the accident. “They said you almost died.”
“Well, that’s probably a slight exaggeration. I totaled my pickup truck, but I’ve only got a few bruises to show for it.” His neck was stiff, and his chest was sore. He’d noticed a faint diagonal bruise from the seat belt when he’d been changing earlier, but it was nothing compared to what could have happened, if not for Jake.
“I heard the cars exploded. Come on, Danny. I need details. It’s the most exciting thing that’s happened since Linda Hanson got pregnant.”
“Wait, Linda Hanson got pregnant? By who?” She’d been a quiet girl who always sat in the back of his English class. He thought she’d gone to college in San Antonio or something.
“Never mind that, it was months ago.” Gina waved her hand dismissively. “She’s probably popped that kid out by now. Tell me about the explosion!”
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