Shift Happens (Providence Family Ties 2)

“Once the surgeon comes through and you get an update on him, you start planning things to do with your daddy, precious girl. Start it off with things you can do at home with him while he recovers, then move it onto getting his ass out of the house. After that, you go full hog and blow his mind,” he said quietly.

The man had the type of voice that’d make you shit your pants if you were a kid who’d just broken the law and make you nod in agreement, promising you’d do whatever he asked as an adult. Or maybe that was just me, but it felt like he could see all of my secrets and everything wrong I’d ever done. It was weird, though, because he had such a kind face, and what little I knew of him was all good.

Before I could reply, someone squatted down in front of me, and the sound of cracking knees gave who they were away before I’d even turned fully to look at them.

Malcolm.

I didn’t see Gabby or Benny behind him as I threw myself out of my chair and tackled him to the ground, bawling into his chest. Jackson had been taken into a room to give his statement while another officer dealt with Dad in a different room, and I needed this time to get it all out.

What I didn’t know was that Gabby and Benny looked at Hurst for a clue on what to do to help me, and he’d just nodded at me as if to say, “Well, she’s right there.”

This meant that Gabby took my hips and leaned over to hug me tightly, while Benny rested his head on my back and wrapped his arms around my ribs as best he could with me lying half on, half off my other cousin.

All I knew was that they were there, and I didn’t have to hide it anymore. I didn’t have to hold it back and could let it all out before Sam and Jackson came back. They’d been through enough today, they didn’t need to see me break, too.

“Christ,” I heard Jackson snap behind me. “Is she hurt?”

“No, son. She just needed a moment to let it all out,” his grandad assured him.

Apparently, he hadn’t even seen his grandfather sitting there because his voice came out sounding shocked. “Gramps? When did you get here? Governor Dahl, nice to see you again.”

“How many times do I have to say it, just call me Ned. Jear Desus, why’s it so hard to remember that?”

Lifting my head and ignoring the snotty patch I’d left on my cousin’s black t-shirt, I croaked, “Jear Desus?”

“There’s reporters everywhere trying to get the scoop,” Malcolm whispered. “He probably doesn’t want them catching him saying the big guy’s name in vain.”

Sighing, I lifted up on an arm and smiled weakly at Jackson before turning back to Malcolm.

“Aren’t there bigger things to worry about in the world? I mean, what happened today’s a perfect example. An unhinged bitch came armed like a one-person militia and pretty much reduced our house to rubble, our cars to scrap metal, and my dad to Swiss cheese.”

I managed to get up onto my feet, and then I was pacing around the room, yelling.

“Let’s not even factor into it how many harmful gasses and toxins the places that made all of that weaponry put into the world, just so she could try and kill innocent fucking people. Oh, and she was driving a diesel.”

I leaned into them with my eyes wide. “A diesel.” I nodded, letting that sink in.

“As if it’s not bad enough, she tried to take lives and used shit that’d already polluted the world enough in their creations, she did it behind the wheel of a vehicle that does just that every time you turn the ignition in it.”

Everyone was watching me, wide-eyed as I ranted about things, but I was on a roll. “The plastic she kept all of the bullet things in, too, was probably made in a factory that spilled pollutants into the skies and oceans. Do you know how many plastic particles are in the seas, killing the ecosystems in them and wildlife every minute of every day?” I opened my mouth to tell them when no one answered, but something else occurred to me.

“Oh,” I cried, holding my arm up in the air. “She also had a glittery cover around her steering wheel in her diesel vehicle, carrying weapons and a plastic crate. Glitter doesn’t break down. It pollutes our oceans, kills fish, builds up in their bodies, and when we eat them, we get cancer from it. The list of her crimes is endless.” I finished it with a scream, panting as I tried to catch my breath.

“Uh,” a new voice drawled, and I looked in the doorway of the room to see one of the officers from earlier standing there. “Want me to add that onto her list of charges? I mean, I’ll need to gather proof so that it’s not all circumstantial, but I don’t mind throwing everything I can at her.”