Ten

by Tia Fielding

  “No, no I’m not. It’s….” Emil looked away and gnawed on his lower lip for a while. “It’s like you do all these things for me. You think about what my needs are and fulfill them without question. You do so much for me, and I don’t…. What do I do for you?”

  “You do plenty,” Makai said immediately and took Emil’s hand into his while awkwardly holding on to his sandwich with the other. “You do so much more than you think.”

  “Like what?” The pout was epic, and Emil looked a lot younger than he was right then.

  “You play with the kittens. You hand me tools and hang out with me while I work. You clean the litterboxes even when I don’t ask you to. You cook for us. You show me things I should’ve known but lost because of prison. And most of all, I haven’t ever doubted that you like me for me and not for some other reason.” Makai squeezed Emil’s fingers and waited until Emil made eye contact. “I like you, Emil Newman. After everything I’ve been through, I’m not sure if I’ve actually been in love before, but I think this is what falling feels like, okay?”

  Emil looked wide-eyed for a few seconds, and then he smiled at Makai so beautifully it took his breath away. “Okay.” He squeezed Makai’s fingers right back and said, “Pass me the apple slices?” with a grin that made Makai’s chest fill with a bubble of happiness.

  ON MONDAY, Emil went back to looking after Joie, because Leah had caught a summer cold and Lotte was helping out at the diner. Lotte had been meaning to do some grocery shopping that day, so she had made a list for herself and for Joie, which she had given to Emil.

  “So basically, she’s making this a teachable moment. How to grocery shop and so on,” Emil told Makai on the phone on Monday morning. “It’s pretty neat.”

  “I’d say so. Where are you going to shop?” he asked, while making sure the shed was ready for Leah and Stuart’s broken furniture.

  “I was actually thinking that he’d benefit most if we went to Target, so Woodruff, probably. We’re taking Lotte’s car, and Joey has his kids’ tablet for a game or a movie if he gets bored. Although I was going to look for audiobooks once we’ve ended this call.”

  “Either way, have fun, drive safely, and say hi to Joey for me, okay?” Makai smiled as he walked to his truck.

  “You too. I wish I was there to see Mrs. Miller’s reaction to the table, though.”

  “I’m pretty sure Mr. Miller will recap it to you as many times as you want to hear it,” Makai said while making sure the table was secured just so in the truck bed.

  “Har-har, wise guy.” Emil’s tone was fond. “I’ll see you tonight?”

  “Yeah, come by whenever.”

  “Okay. You be safe too. Bye.”

  “Bye.” Makai put the phone into the holder now attached to his dash—a gift from Emil—and started the truck.

  He drove into the grocery store’s parking lot, then rounded the building to the Millers’ private spot in the back.

  As soon as the vehicle stopped, the back door opened, and Mr. Miller beamed at him from the doorway. He turned away, obviously to get the Mrs., and Makai jumped out of the truck. He untied the table and lifted it from the truck. It was heavy, but not very large, as it was for her books and things she liked to keep in the living room.

  “What’s this?” Mrs. Miller asked, bustling out of the door ahead of Mr. Miller.

  “Well, apparently someone wanted to give their wife a special birthday present,” Makai said, smiling at her.

  Her hands flew to cover her mouth as she glanced from Makai to her husband and back. “Really?”

  “Yes. I was told you might like an underwater theme.” Makai lifted the table so that she could examine the carvings on the legs.

  “Oh… this is wonderful!” she gasped, wrinkly hands tracing the fish, starfishes, clams, and corals he’d carved meticulously into each leg of the table.

  “I’m glad you like it. Now, where do you want this?” he asked, pointedly not looking as she wiped her eyes and then went to give her husband a kiss on the cheek.

  “Let me make room for it. Just follow me.” She went back inside, and by the time Makai maneuvered the table around the narrow back corridor’s corners, she had made a spot for it by the window. “Here. I like to read in this chair.”

  Makai put the table down and smiled at her. “Happy Birthday from me as well,” he said, and oofed when she hugged him firmly.

  “Thank—” At least two sets of wailing sirens cut through her words.

  “What…?” Makai asked, instantly on alert.

  “Happens occasionally. Usually a car accident somewhere or some such,” Mr. Miller said, then read his expression and frowned.

  Makai practically ran back out to get his cell off the dash. He pressed call for Emil.

  “Makai, what’s wrong?” Emil sounded worried, and Makai let out a huge huff.

  “Oh gods,” he breathed. “Just that pretty much all patrol cars just peeled out of town.”

  “Oh, well we’re leaving from Lotte’s in a bit, so we’re not even on the road yet, but I’ll keep an eye out,” Emil promised.

  “Okay, good. Please drive carefully.”

  They said bye, and he basically slumped against the side of his truck.

  “Emil okay?” The Millers looked at him worriedly.

  “Yeah, he’s taking Joey to Target today, so I got spooked.”

  “When you care about someone, you always worry.” Mrs. Miller gestured at him to come with them. “I have coffee and cupcakes.”

  Makai smiled. “I won’t say no to that.”

  HE HAD a nice time with the Millers and decided to take an early lunch and go to the diner. He drove his truck back around the Millers’ building and navigated through the mostly empty parking lot. He was about to drive across the road to the diner’s parking space, when he glanced at his rearview mirror and saw Frank Matthews drag his wife out of the post office.

  He let the truck idle and waited to see what would happen. Matthews all but threw his wife into the vehicle and slammed the door closed. Then he stalked to the driver’s side and opened the door.

  Makai couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the man seemed fixated on his wife, yelling at her as he climbed in. Makai was glad he’d driven a bit to the side of the lot when he decided to wait to see what the Matthewses would do, when Frank reversed his car from the lot and dashed past Makai in a mad rush.

  Makai had just enough time to see the man’s face. Everything went cold inside his chest and stomach. He’d seen that expression before in prison. It was the look of a man who was about to kill someone.

  Hands shaking, he put the truck in drive and started to follow Frank’s car. He wasn’t sure where the Matthewses lived, but apparently in a small house a few miles outside of town. He followed them for a couple of miles, then pressed the speed dial number he’d programmed for the Sheriff’s Station instead of calling 911.

  “Acker Sheriff’s Station, how can I help?” Erin answered.

  “Erin, it’s Makai. Look, do you have anyone available right now?”

  “What? No, I’m alone at the station, answering calls. The others all had to drive north. A tanker truck with hazardous material inside collided with an SUV and fell over somehow. Why? What’s wrong?”

  “I… this is gut instinct, but I think Frank is really gonna hurt his wife,” Makai said, even though he wanted to doubt his words, he couldn’t.

  “Wait, wait, explain this to me?” Erin sounded worried.

  Makai told her what he’d seen. “The look in his eyes, Erin. I’ve seen it in prison while someone was about to shank a guy. Seriously. It sounds… I know it sounds all prison movie or something, but it’s not. I saw it twice, and the guys were both going to try and kill someone.”

  “Wait, are you in your car, Makai?”

  “Yes, I’m following them,” Makai confessed.

  Erin’s cussing would’ve impressed him if he’d not been so terrified for Frank’s wife. “Makai, no. You can’t go there
.”

  “What do you suggest I do, Erin? Turn back around, risk that he’ll kill her this time?”

  “For fuck’s sake, I’m not supposed to leave my desk. There has to be someone here at all times, Makai. What—Look, I’ll call the sheriff, tell him what’s going on. You are not allowed to take any unnecessary risks, Makai Stone. Emil will kill you if you get hurt again, do you understand?”

  Makai knew all that. He did. But he couldn’t just sit by the sidelines and wait for someone to get hurt.

  “Okay, I gotta go,” he said shortly and ended the call just as Frank turned to head toward a small house off in the distance.

  He sent a thought to Emil and turned left after Frank.

  When his truck rolled to a stop by Frank’s car, the front door of the house slammed shut. Nobody came out, so he thought there was a chance that they hadn’t noticed him. He got out and walked carefully to the door, listening as hard as he could.

  She screamed and cried, telling him to stop. Frank’s voice wasn’t audible, low as it was, but he heard the slap and a thud when she most likely fell over.

  “No, no, no, no, Frank don’t—” A slap cut her short.

  “Fucking stay still, you bitch!” Makai froze where he stood by the front door. “I’m so fucking glad I got the gun, you know that? Time to end this shit, you fucking whore!”

  Loud sobbing carried to Makai, and then, “No, Frank, don’t. The sheriff will—”

  “They’re all outta town, Lizzie. Who do you think will save you now, huh? I’ll be long gone when they find your sorry ass!”

  Makai carefully turned the door handle and hoped it wouldn’t creak.

  “What the fuck?” Frank whirled around and pointed the pistol toward the door.

  The layout was open, and Lizzie, bleeding heavily from her lip and nose, lay between the couch and a coffee table. The front door opened directly into the living area, and Makai cursed inside.

  “Please,” Lizzie said as she tried to get to her shaky feet. “Help me, he’s gonna—”

  “Shut the fuck up, you bitch!” Frank kicked her.

  Makai didn’t have time to see where the hit landed, he was too busy looking for something, anything, he could defend himself with.

  Frank wasn’t a big guy, maybe five ten, but he had that sort of corded muscle that came from working hard manual labor every day. He wouldn’t go down easily, and there was the fact that he held a gun, too.

  “Look, you don’t want to do this,” Makai blurted out, his gaze half on the gun pointed at him, half scanning the environment.

  “This has nothing to do with you, faggot!” At least you couldn’t say Frank Matthews was original.

  “I get that it doesn’t, but I can’t let you hurt her,” Makai said in what he hoped was a calm tone.

  “Let me? You’re not going to let me?”

  Frank moved quickly, like a snake, toward Lizzie who was trying to back away while holding her obviously injured arm.

  Makai used the opportunity to grab a heavy-looking vase from a side table. It was heavy, and Makai sent a thought to the universe to give him good aim and lifted it high.

  Only a few steps away, Frank lifted his foot to kick Lizzie again, his gun waving at Makai’s approximate direction. He must’ve seen Makai move from the corner of his eye, because he turned quickly, eyes crazy as he took aim.

  Makai brought the vase down on Frank’s shoulder as hard as he could. A pain in his arm confused him as he watched Frank fall. His ears were ringing, and—“Oh no!” Lizzie wailed from the floor.

  Makai looked at her with confusion. Then he glanced at Frank who had dropped the gun and lay on the floor, unconscious, it seemed. And then Makai noticed the blood spreading across his own chest. Shit. Emil was really going to kill him.

  Chapter Twelve

  EMIL LAUGHED as Joey bounced around the fresh produce section, looking for the items on his list. They’d just gotten into Woodruff and were getting the groceries. He’d gotten Lotte’s permission to get a toy for Joey if he was good, but only after they’d found everything on the list.

  “Emil, look, are these good tomatoes?” Joey called, and Emil went to examine the selection.

  “What does your list say?” he asked, even though he knew.

  “It has a picture of many little tomatoes, I think. Baby tomatoes?” He frowned as he turned the list toward Emil.

  “Yeah, and those are a different shape too. Look, here’s the different shapes of tomatoes you normally see, okay.” He demonstrated the difference between the shapes and then the sizes, and finally Joey picked a box of Roma.

  They had about half of the things on Joey’s list and were picking the noodles Lotte had wanted them to get, when Emil felt something weird. He turned around just as Joey called, “Jason!” in a cheerful voice.

  “Hey, Joey,” Jason, still in uniform, said and came closer slowly. Emil could see Mark hovering in the background, looking extremely uncomfortable.

  “What’s going on?” Emil knew already it wouldn’t be good. Not good at all.

  “There’s been a shooting at Frank Matthews’s house,” Jason started, and Emil’s brain seemed to slow down.

  “I-is my dad okay?” he asked, legs shaking suddenly. He took hold of the cart and felt Joey press to his leg from the other side.

  “Yes, your dad is fine. He wasn’t there. It’s Makai,” Jason said, and Emil didn’t know the voice that came from his own mouth.

  “Is Makai okay?” Joey asked, and nothing mattered more than the answer.

  “We don’t know yet. We’re here to take you to the hospital, okay?” Jason said gently and held his hand to Joey. “Come on, buddy. We need to get Emil to see Makai.”

  Even though his mother and Jason were dating now, Joey still looked at Emil for guidance first.

  “Y-yeah, let’s go with them,” Emil said and abandoned the cart right there.

  He followed Jason and Joey through the shop. Mark tagged along behind Emil, but even he had the decency to keep quiet.

  Emil’s mind was whirling. What had happened? Frank and Lizzie’s house? Why was Makai there?

  “Emil, give me your keys,” Mark told him, and for a moment Emil didn’t understand.

  Then Mark held out a hand, and he finally realized that he wasn’t in a condition to drive, even the short way to the hospital. Emil gave him the keys to Lotte’s SUV and went with Jason and Joey to the cruiser.

  “Can we use the siren?” Joey asked, and Emil’s breathing hitched. He remembered being small and asking the same of his dad every time he drove in the cruiser.

  “No, buddy, I’m sorry. Maybe some other time,” Jason said patiently. “Go sit in the back with Emil.”

  The trip to the hospital took minutes, or maybe it was more. Emil was pretty sure it was normal shock this time, not dissociating.

  At the hospital they went to the emergency room, and Emil immediately saw his dad standing by the nurses’ station.

  “Dad!” he practically ran to him, wrapping his arms around his dad for comfort.

  “Oh, son,” Dad said, holding on to him tightly.

  Emil couldn’t remember when he’d hugged his dad like this, and he wished the occasion for it was different.

  “What happened? Where is he?” he asked, pulling away so he could see his father’s face.

  “They got him in and immediately rolled him into surgery. Son, they think he’s going to be okay, but they need to make sure. There was some really heavy bleeding, but Lizzie helped at the scene until the EMTs got there.”

  All Emil could understand at first was “think he’s going to be okay,” and the relief from that made him wobble on his feet. Dad grabbed him and said something to the nurse, who pointed them somewhere.

  “I’ve got Joey. We’ll take him and Lotte’s SUV home. Call us if you need us,” Jason said. Then he came to Emil. “Hey, do you need anything from Lotte’s car?”

  Emil tried to make his brain work and eventually managed to sh
ake his head. “No. Thanks.”

  “Okay. I’ll take care of Joey.”

  “Thank you,” Emil said, making eye contact with Jason, who nodded and gave him a small smile.

  Then Joey came to give him a hug, and soon they were gone. When Emil looked around, he realized he and Dad were in a small room that must’ve been one of the waiting rooms.

  “Can you,” he started, then swallowed hard and tried again. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  Dad sat next to him and sighed. “We got a call about an accident on County Highway G. Hazardous material tanker fell over after hitting an SUV. Nobody was hurt, but there was a possibility of a leak, and we had to go there as fast as possible because we were closer than the Mercer guys.”

  Emil nodded. County Highway G was north of Acker, and depending on where the accident happened, it made sense that they’d called the sheriff’s department for help with something like that.

  “While we were there, Erin was at the station, and apparently Makai called because he’d seen Frank rough Lizzie up in town. I can’t tell you details, but Erin said it sounded like Makai had a feeling something really bad was going to happen.”

  Emil nodded again. Makai had seen violence. He’d know the signs.

  “So Makai followed them to their house, and however things went there, Frank shot him.”

  “How’s Lizzie? And what happened to Frank?”

  “Lizzie has a broken arm and a concussion. Frank is heavily guarded in the ICU.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “Makai used something heavy to hit him to get him to drop the gun. He hit a bit too hard.”

  Emil swallowed the bile that threatened to rise. “Is he… are they going to say he’s to blame?” He looked at Dad now.

  “No. I don’t think so, son. He went in to protect Lizzie. He almost—look, Makai is going to be fine, and this time, Lizzie is talking. It’ll be okay.” Dad seemed to figure out what he’d been about to say when Emil let out a small wounded noise, and Dad gathered him against his side. “He’s going to be fine. They’re going to fix whatever is wrong, and you’ll just have to help him while he gets better, okay?”