The Jealous Kind (Holland Family Saga 2)

“Did you hear me?” Krauser said.

“You got a rule against people having a smoke?” the tall greaser said.

“There’s a ‘no loitering’ sign right behind you,” Krauser said.

“That’s a police station across the street, right? Tell them Loren Nichols is here. Tell them to kiss my ass. You can do the same.”

“You shot a man in a drive-in.”

“With an air-pump pistol. A grown man who put his hand up my sister’s dress at a junior high school picnic. I don’t know if that was in the paper or not.”

I heard the bell ring and classes start emptying out in the hallways and concourses. Neither Loren Nichols nor his friends had looked at me, and I thought the incident might pass, that I might go to the cafeteria with Saber and forget about everything bad that had happened since Saturday evening. Maybe I could even make peace with Loren Nichols. I had to give it to him. He was an impressive guy. The moment was like an interlude in time when the potential for good or bad could go either way.

Mr. Krauser rested his hand on my shoulder. I felt an icicle run down my side. “My young friend Aaron has told me how you boys treated him,” he said. “Now you’re here to pick on him some more. What do y’all think we should do about that?”

Loren’s gaze shifted from Krauser to me, his head tilting. “Buy him a dress? He’s a cute kid, all right.”

“The kids in our school respect authority,” Krauser said. “They report guys like you. They don’t put themselves on your level.”

“I didn’t say anything to anybody. That’s a goddamn lie,” I said, my eyes stinging with moisture, the sunlight dissolving into needles. “Tell them, Mr. Krauser.”

“I want y’all to leave Aaron alone,” he said. “If you bother him again, I’d better not hear about it. Don’t you be bothering Saber Bledsoe, either.”

“You got a sissy farm here?”

“Look at me, boy. I’ll rip out your package and wrap it around your throat,” Krauser said.

Loren propped one foot on the bumper and scratched the inside of his thigh, gazing at the school. “Glad to have made your acquaintance. You got yourself quite a crew here. That’s River Oaks across the street? We’d better get back to our part of town.”

“Smart boy. Keep being a smart boy and leave Aaron and Saber alone,” Krauser said.

They got into their car and drove away, the dual exhausts purring on the asphalt. My knees were shaking with shame and sickness and fear. Krauser squeezed my shoulder with one hand, massaging it, tightening his fingers until they bit into the nerves like a dentist’s drill. “You’re safe now, Aaron, bless your heart. I always like to help out one of Saber’s friends. Let me know if I can do anything else for y’all.”

He dropped his hand from my shoulder and left me standing on the grass like a wood post. I couldn’t hear any sound at all, not even the chain rattling on the flagpole by the ball diamond.

“I’M GOING TO get that cocksucker,” Saber said that afternoon as he drove, a quart of Jax between his thighs.

“Which cocksucker?” I asked.

“Krauser, who else? I’m going to call in a few markers. I know a guy who’s a master of photographic surveillance. I bet Krauser is a sexual nightmare. I’m going to catch him muffing the meter maid or pronging sheep, then air-drop photos all over the school.”

I looked straight ahead and didn’t speak. I could still feel Krauser’s fingers digging into my shoulder, probing for a weak spot.

“Don’t let him get to you,” Saber said. “God, I hate that bastard. You’re a stand-up guy, you hear me? You called Krauser a liar? Nobody in the school has that kind of guts. I bet he won’t sleep tonight. You showed him up in front of th

e greaseballs. You’re a musician, Aaron. What’s Krauser? A nothing.”

“They think I’m a snitch.”

“Fuck them. You’re a model for guys like me. I think there’s a stink to this. Loren Nichols was in Gatesville. Guys with Loren’s record don’t start a beef in this part of town unless they want to pick state cotton.”

“I went into his territory.”

“So does the garbage collector. Trust me, there’s something bigger involved here. Krauser has awakened a sleeping giant—the Army of Bledsoe.”

“He wants to suck you in, Sabe.”

“He succeeded.”