Any Day Now (SWAT Generation 2.0 8)

Contemplating changing my clothes for all of two seconds, I decided against it.

Wherever we were going, with it being the asshole of August, I’d sweat no matter what I did.

Feeling my hair, I realized that it was almost dry, so I went to the bathroom, shucked my sweaty shirt, and got another one on in seconds.

This one made me grin.

The shirt read: I’m fine. And on the side of the shirt was what looked to be a gory, bloody hole in it.

Also, I’d stolen it from Adam.

It’d been on his floor when I was trying to sneak out a couple of nights ago. I hadn’t been able to find my shirt, but I’d definitely found his.

I hadn’t even washed it yet.

Also, it was about eight sizes too big for me, so once I had it on, I had to tie the side into a knot so it didn’t look like a dress on me.

After untying my hair from the high ponytail I had it in, I swiped on a couple layers of mascara, swiped my eyes with glittery eyeshadow because I also knew it drove my father nuts when there was glitter on him, and headed for the front door.

I found my dad seconds away from knocking.

“Told you to be outside,” he growled.

I grinned and threw myself at my dad.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in tight.

The smell of oil, leather, and spice permeated my senses as he squeezed me tight.

“You okay?” he asked, sounding worried.

“I’m… fine.” I looked around my dad’s shoulder, thankful to see nobody there. “I’ve been found three times around town, though. I told Lynn today that I wasn’t going to keep working there. That I was officially retiring from the bar scene in the near future.”

My dad let out a breath of frustration.

“It was safer for you to work there with the mayor than it will be at some random man’s place of business,” he said.

It took a moment for me to process what he’d just said, but then I slapped him on the back in my surprise.

“Wait… Lynn’s the mayor?” I gasped.

Dad looked at me funny. “Yeah.”

“But he owns a strip club!” I cried out.

Dad grinned and reached for the helmets, handing one to me and keeping one for himself. “The people of Kilgore knew that he owned the strip club when they elected him. It wasn’t like Lynn hid anything.”

I couldn’t believe it.

It was hilarious.

“I guess that explains why Lynn didn’t come bail me out of jail.” I shook my head.

I’d honestly expected him to be down there the moment that I got processed, but he hadn’t come.

“He called me,” Dad said. “I called Sam, but he wasn’t answering his phone. I was actually about thirty minutes into my ride over when Sam texted to say he got you.”

I grinned and shook my head. “That’s… hilarious.”

He gestured toward his bike, and I hurried down the steps to follow him.

“Aren’t you going to, you know, put on some clothes?” Dad suggested.

I rolled my eyes and turned back inside, but I didn’t go for more clothes.

I went for my phone that I’d forgotten on the couch.

Once I had it tucked into the small pocket on the side of my shorts, I turned around, locked the door, and headed back outside to where my dad was next to his bike.

He sighed when he saw my attire.

“I can literally see your underwear through that,” my dad grumbled. “Why?”

I grinned. “Because it’s a hundred and twelve degrees, I get hot, and I can.”

He didn’t like that answer one bit, but like the smart, wise man that he was, he chose to leave it alone.

Instead, he got onto the bike and waited for me to get on with him.

“Where’s Mom?” I asked.

“At home,” he said. “She had a dog that was sick, and she wanted to stay.”

“Which one?” I asked.

We spoke about this and that for a while as we drove through the quiet neighborhood that I’d found a small house for rent in.

It wasn’t until we were in town, and we were driving past what looked to be a fuckin’ mob of people, that I was reminded yet again about stupid Rogan Germain.

“I really, really can’t stand him,” I said. “The bad thing is, he plays such a sweet, nice guy on the television. And then he’s a nightmare in real life.”

“That’s just people for you, baby,” he said as he slowed down for the mass of traffic that was starting to spill out into the road. “Have you heard anything else about that night?”

I hadn’t.

In fact, I’d expected to but hadn’t heard a word.

“I haven’t gotten anything in the mail about a court date,” I said.

Dad started to roll when the traffic began moving again, and we stayed silent for the rest of our journey to my brother’s place.