Kele Moon - Crossing the line

Tabitha wasn’t sure if Wyatt was going to send the state out or not.

“Wait, I don’t understand what the problem is. What’s wrong with one kiss? Why do y’all think you got to ride out there in the middle of the night?”

Wyatt shrugged at his sister from across the coffee table. “I don’t get it either, but I’m telling you, Tabitha was scared near to death ’bout the two of us getting caught by her brother and that asshole Vaughn.”

“You’re an idiot.” Clay shook his head as he glared at Wyatt from his seat next to Jules. “Brett’s freaking out. I promise you. No one likes a cop in that neck of town. If we do decide to go check on her, I’m going alone.”

“Hell, no, I’m going with you.” Wyatt gestured to himself and gave Clay a hard look. “Do you see a sheriff’s badge on my chest?”

“Yes, I do,” Clay argued. “That’s all anyone sees when they look at you. Why didn’t you just listen to her when she said no the five hundred times before? Why do you have to be so damn stubborn ’bout everything?”

“Oh, I’m stubborn.” Wyatt laughed incredulously. “That really means something coming from you. I told you I was going to make this my year. Now you have an issue with it? What’d you think I meant by that?”

“You say that every year. I didn’t think you’d actually do it.” Clay’s dark eyes narrowed. “Out in the open. At the end of her damn street. That’s ’bout as slick as sandpaper. I can’t believe I’ve got to claim such a dumbass as a best friend.”

“I still don’t understand. What is the actual problem?” Jules cut in reasonably. “Are you afraid her brother is going to do something bad to her because of this? Or Vaughn? You said he threatened her. Do you think he meant it?”

“Yes,” Clay and Wyatt answered together.

“Then we should call Daddy,” Jules announced and pushed back her chair. “He can stop by her house and make sure she’s okay. It’ll be much quicker than Clay riding out in the middle of the night.”

“You can’t call him.” Clay grabbed her wrist before she could stand.

“Why not?” Jules twisted her wrist, breaking his hold. She slapped his hand when he tried to touch her again. “Don’t be grabbing at me. I hit back.”

“You did this.” Clay held up his hands and gave Wyatt a look across the table. “I suggest you stop her if you ever want Tabitha to speak to you again.”

“I ain’t so sure she’s in the wrong.” Wyatt shook his head. “Maybe we should call my dad. I’ve been leaning that way myself since I left.”

“Thank you, Wyatt,” Jules said, still sounding cool and collected. “If you think she’s in danger of being raped—”

Wyatt flinched at the word, feeling the bile rising up in the back of his throat. “Don’t say that, Ju Ju. It makes me feel sick.”

Clay scratched at the back of his neck and took a long breath as if looking for a different solution. “Why don’t we just call her?”

Wyatt and Jules exchanged looks and then agreed in unison. “Okay.”

Clay went to the phone in the kitchen and dialed her number while Wyatt and Jules crowded in close to him so they could hear. The phone rang three times before it was picked up.

“Yeah?”

“Mrs. McMillen.” Clay cleared his voice, obviously trying to get rid of the gruffness that was always there. “Tabitha there?”

“Why?”

“’Cause I wanna talk to her.”

“Nah, she ain’t here.”

“Bullshit.” He growled in annoyance. When Wyatt kicked him, Clay held up his hand, as if to say let me do my thing before he said in a low, demanding voice, “Just let me talk to her.”

“It’s eleven at night. Ain’t the sheriff teaching you manners up in that big Conner house?”

“No, he ain’t. Can I talk to Tab, or do I need to ride my ass up there and get my homework assignment in person?”

“Yeah, you ride up here. See what you find when you get here.”

“You know what? Forget it. I’ll get a lift. Sheriff just got off work.”

“Hell.” She sounded completely exasperated, but after a long pause, she called. “Tabitha! That Powers trash is on the phone.”

Wyatt pushed himself closer to the phone when he heard Tabitha ask in confusion, “What?”

“Said he needs a homework assignment. Like he’s doing real schoolwork.” Tabitha’s mother’s words were slurred as she kept rambling. “Don’t know why you keep hanging round him. Born trash, will always be trash, and now he’s living at the Conner house again ’cause no one can put up with him and—”

“Can I have the phone, Mama?” Tabitha said in an even voice. “He’s trying to get on the wrestling team. He needs good grades for that.”

“Fine. Take it.”

There was a scuffle over the phone before Tabitha spoke uncertainly. “Yes.”

“She’s drunk,” Clay said with a scowl.

“Yes, I know.” Tabitha sighed, sounding tired. “What homework assignment do you need?”

Wyatt yanked the phone out of Clay’s grasp and then slammed his palm into his chest when he tried to grab it back. “Are you okay?” he asked quickly.

“Yes,” Tabitha whispered, as if afraid just Wyatt’s voice on the other end of the line would give her away.

“Are you sure?” Wyatt pressed, because his heart had been racing since he let her leave. “’Cause Clay and I were gonna ride out there and—”

“I think that would be a really bad idea.” Tabitha almost choked on the words. “I heard Mrs. Conway is strict ’bout turning in assignments.”

“I can still call my dad,” Wyatt went on despite the ruse Tabitha was playing about the homework. “If you’re in danger, you need to tell me.”

“No, I think it’ll be fine.”

“She thinks?” Jules cut in. “I don’t like that. Ask more questions.”

“Who was that?” Tabitha asked, a thread of fear sounding in her voice.

“My sister.”

“Oh my God.” Tabitha groaned. “You’re gonna fail, and we just started.”

“Look, she was here when I got home, and she’s nosy as hell. You try keeping stuff from her. She heard me talking to Clay ’bout riding out there and—”

“I have to go now,” Tabitha cut him off.

“You didn’t give me the homework assignment,” Wyatt reminded her, hoping to keep Tabitha on the phone longer.

“Jeez.” Tabitha huffed. “Fine. Let me go get my bag.”

“Can you take the phone with you?”

“No.”

“They don’t have a portable,” Clay clarified before Wyatt could argue. “Let her go.”

Wyatt tapped his foot, holding the phone tighter to his ear while both Clay and Jules suffocated him. When the other line was picked up once more, he was expecting Tabitha, but got Brett McMillen instead.

“I know this is you, Conner.”

Clay jerked the phone out of Wyatt’s hand and said, “That’s what you think.”

“Bullshit, you called for him.”

“Yeah, unlike you, I’m not a lapdog. How’s Vaughn? Still blowing him for pot?”

“Fuck you, Clay.”

“Suck me.”

“This is charming,” Jules whispered in Wyatt’s ear. “No wonder we can’t get him to be civil for the foster system if this is what he came from.”

Clay flipped both of them off and then said, “Can I help you, Brett? Why the fuck are you still on the phone?”

“I wanna know why you’re calling.”

“’Cause I needed the assignment. Some of us do homework.”

“Conner didn’t put you up to it?”

“Is there something I should know? What’s your obsession with him?” Clay countered. “It sounds like you wanna date him.”

“I think you’re full of shit.”

Clay sighed tiredly, doing a very good job of sounding bored. “Whatever. You got to lay off the drugs, man; they’re making you paranoid.”

“Fine,” Brett grumbled, and there was a shuffle over the phone as if he tossed it aside.

A second later Tabitha picked it up. “You have a pen?”

“Sure.” Clay held up a hand to stop Wyatt before he could take the phone back. “Your brother’s a dick.”

“He can still hear you,” Tabitha said flippantly.

Clay gave Wyatt a pointed look and then asked Tabitha, “Why’s he asking ’bout Wyatt?”

“I don’t know.” She sounded tense. “Are you ready to write this down?”

“Yup.” Clay nodded, even though he had already finished his homework for the night.

Tabitha read off the homework assignment for American Literature, the only class she shared with Clay. Then she asked softly, “Is that all?”

“I guess.” Clay looked back at Wyatt, seeming to consider his words before he asked Tabitha, “Am I gonna see you at school tomorrow?”

“I don’t know.”

Wyatt tensed in apprehension and made another swipe for the portable, but Clay jumped back and shoved him away at the same time. “Skipping school already?”

“I’m not feeling good. I think I’m coming down with something.”

“Staying home could cause issues.” Clay sidestepped Wyatt again, swiftly dodging his grab for the phone. He raised his fist threateningly as if to punch him and snapped into the receiver, “You do not want to skip classes when school just started.”

“Maybe.”

“No, not maybe.” Clay spoke in slow, concise words. “Staying home ain’t an option for you. You need to be in school. You’re too smart to ruin your chances at college. Got it?”

Tabitha was quiet for a long moment before she said, “Yeah, I got it.”

“And you’re okay tonight?” Clay asked in a low, concerned voice. “You don’t need a doctor or nothing if you’re feeling ill?”

“I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Clay hung up the phone and set it on the counter. He gave Wyatt a hard glare. “She’s fine.”