Wicked Break

Forty-four

I drove back to Mission Beach and found Carter and Dana sitting in my living room, a plate of enchiladas on the coffee table as they watched the Padres game.

“We’re up five-zip,” he said, pointing at the television. “Bottom of the eighth.”

“Good.”

Dana twisted in my direction. “Where’s Linc?”

I nodded at Carter. “You tell him what happened?”

“Yeah, right up to the point where you kicked me out of the house,” she said, still annoyed. “I was so pissed, I just got in the car and left. He finally returned my message from this morning and told me to come over here.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for that. Because if you’d stuck around you might’ve been able to warn me that Deacon fuckin’ Moreno found Linc, too.”

Her eyes widened.

Carter picked up the plate of enchiladas and stuck a fork in one of them. “Tell us.”

I told them about all the fun in OB.

“Wesley said that?” Carter said when I was done, placing the now-empty plate on the table. “That he really wanted another shot at me?”

“Yep.”

Carter chuckled. “I’ll remember that. So now Pluto’s in jail?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you take him to jail?” Dana asked. “Won’t they arrest him because of the guns?”

“It’ll be fine,” I said, trusting Wellton.

“As much as I hate anything to do with the law, jail for him is probably the safest place at the moment,” Carter said.

“Also keeps him out of the way.”

Carter raised an eyebrow. “You make it sound like we’re about to do some exciting things.”

Dana slid closer to him on the sofa. “Hey. You told me we were going to be the ones doing the exciting things later.”

“And I always keep my promises,” he said, flashing a grin at her.

“You better.”

“Christ,” I said. “Keep your clothes on. I’m still here.”

Carter looked at me. “Anyway, exciting things.”

“Depends on how you define ‘exciting.’”

“A Padres victory. Waves that are overhead. Thongs on blonds.”

“Then, no. You misinterpreted what I said.”

Dana cleared her throat.

“I meant thongs on you,” Carter said to her. “Really.”

“Thank you,” she said, turning back to the TV.

I pointed to the glass slider and Carter nodded.

“We’ll be right back,” he told her, standing up.

She watched us head for the door. “At some point, I’ll start to take this personally.”

Carter stood in front of me in the doorway. “I’ll make it up to you. In every way.”

She smiled. “Fantastic.”

I shoved him out the door and closed it behind us.

The ocean air hit me hard and I took a deep breath, letting it fill my lungs.

Carter straddled one of the patio chairs, his arms crossed over the back of it. “Why’d you lie to Matellion when he asked if you knew who killed Malia?”

I wondered if he’d picked up on that. Should’ve known.

“Didn’t see the point of sending him after them,” I said.

“Why’d you just lie to me?”

I laughed, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’m happy. Means we get to go get them ourselves.”

“Figured if we go get them there’s a better chance they actually end up in jail,” I said.

“If a little worse for the wear.”

“You better believe it.”

“When do we go find them, then?” he asked.

“Tomorrow, I think.” I paused, watching the lines form in the water. “Look, I’m not sure what’s gonna happen when we find them. But it’s probably gonna get ugly. You cool with that?”

“Cool with that? Are you serious?”

“Just putting it out there.”

“Dude, I am down with whatever happens. As far as I’m concerned, with what they did to you, if we’re the last ones to ever see them,” he said, his eyes narrowing, “good for the rest of the world.”

I couldn’t have agreed more.