I nodded.
“Wel after he brought me back, he went after my ex, Bil y, when Bil y got away. Tracked him for days. In the end, during the big face down when Bil y caught up with us at Daisy’s party, Vance shot him in the hand.” I stared. I’d heard the story but I didn’t know it was Roxie’s boyfriend or Daisy’s party.
Wow.
I shook off my wonder at this news and focused on Roxie. “You said ‘us’,” I told her, getting closer but not touching her, “did you see that happen? The shooting?” She nodded.
“Roxie, that must have been tough,” I said softly.
She blinked at me. “I’m not crying because of that.” This surprised me. “Why are you crying?” I asked.
“I’m crying because of something Hank told me, the reason why Vance went after Bil y. See, when Bil y kidnapped me, he beat me up pretty badly, broke some ribs. When Vance found me, I was a mess. He didn’t take to that very wel , said any man who raised his hand to a woman had to pay. Hank told me he went after Bil y because Vance came from a violent home. His Dad put him out of the house when he was ten because Vance tried to get in between his Dad and his Mom when his Dad was beating her. This al fits together and it makes me happy he found you but it also makes me sad that he had to live through that before he did.”
“My God, I didn’t know that,” Al y said from behind me.
“I did,” Indy replied quietly.
“You went through a lot with this Bil y,” I said to Roxie, ignoring her words about Vance.
That was another thing I didn’t need. Knowing why Vance was turned out. Knowing he’d witnessed his mother’s abuse. Knowing he’d had enough strength of wil , sense of self and capacity for love at age ten to go against his father in an effort to protect his mother.
I didn’t need that at al .
So I rol ed it up in a big old bal and threw it in the high, chain link fenced compound that stood behind my emotional Rottweiler.
“Jules, did you hear what I said about Vance?” Roxie asked, taking me from my thoughts.
“I heard you. I know about Vance. I know he was a street kid and he’s an ex-con and recovering alcoholic.”
“Holy shit. I didn’t know that either,” Al y said again.
“I did,” Indy repeated.
“How do you know al this shit?” Al y asked.
“Lee told me,” Indy replied.
“That boy has a big mouth,” Daisy put in.
“He does not,” Indy defended Lee.
“He tel s you everything,” Jet entered the conversation.
“Of course he does. We don’t have any secrets,” Indy replied.
“Oh please. You lie to him al the time,” Al y returned.
“Okay then, Lee doesn’t have any secrets,” Indy retorted.
“Excuse me girls, but can we get to the topic at hand here?” May cut in and looked at me. “When’re you gonna see him again?”
“I’m breaking up with him tonight,” I announced.
May gasped.
Daisy looked at the ceiling. “Here we go again,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“Jet tried to break up with Eddie,” Daisy told me.
“Didn’t work,” Jet said on a smile.
I turned to Jet in surprise. “Why did you try to break up with him? I saw him last night. He’s hot.” Jet just stared at me like she thought maybe I’d recently sustained a head injury.
“And Roxie tried to break up with Hank. That didn’t work either,” Daisy continued.
My eyes swung to Roxie. “You did? I saw him last night too, he’s lush.” I took them both in. “Are you two nuts?”
“Um… have you looked at Vance?” Jet asked me.
I shook my head. “It’s not the same thing. Anyway, it’s not I shook my head. “It’s not the same thing. Anyway, it’s not about the way they look. It’s about how they act.”
“Sugar, how… exactly… is Vance acting like someone you’d wanna break up with?” Daisy queried.
“He said ‘mine’, like he was claiming me. Like I was a possession or something,” I argued.
This was true. It was just like I was a possession, a highly-valued family heirloom with treasured, precious memories attached that had gone missing and was thought never to be found but, al of a sudden, it was back.
I didn’t tel the girls that though.
“Our boys can get kind of possessive,” Indy shared but she didn’t sound too upset by it. “You get used to it, I just try to ignore it,” she advised.
I persevered. “And, he tel s me what to do. Al the time,” I informed them.
“Yeah, they can be bossy too,” Indy said on a sigh. “I just go my own way and ignore that too.”
“Wait until you’re branded. Eddie branded me,” Jet added.
I blinked at her. “Branded you? Like they do to cows?” I asked.
She smiled. “Not exactly like that. He just made it known that if anyone touches me, they’l answer to him or any of his friends.”
“Lee did that with me too, in a way,” Indy threw in.
“Hank too,” Roxie said.
Damn.
“Vance has already done that. The whole Nightingale Investigation Team has thrown down on my side,” I shared.