“Think what you want," I snap. “But I had my reasons for leaving, and I’m not the only person to blame. Don’t put this on me, when we both know you would rather I turn and never look back so you can have ‘daddy’ all to yourself.”
I'm shaking too, but I force myself to meet her eyes.
“You think you get to take all this back? You think you can just fuck off for two years, break hearts and come back and throw your weight around like you own the place?”
Chief's hand slams the table so hard I bite my tongue as I was about to scream a curse in her face. “Enough," he says. "Both of you.”
Jasmine shoots me a look so full of hate it makes my skin prickle, and then she storms off, knocking over a stack of red plastic cups as she goes.
Chief doesn't say anything for a while. Finally, his voice comes out careful. “You all right, kid?"
“I will be.” Anger still sizzles in me, but slowly, my heartbeat calms down.
He studies my face. “What did he say to you?”
“Just that Jasmine told him where I would be, and that he nearly killed you a year ago. Did he?”
Chief glances at his beer, at Bill, then jerks his chin. “Walk with me.”
We walk toward the back fence, where all the coolers are lined up full of beer.
“He got hold of me, yeah. Wasn’t in a good place. Beat me up real bad, bad enough that I spent a week in the hospital. He’s been out to get me since he found out about Jasmine, and he ain’t goin’ to stop until he gets it.”
I pause, turning to face him. “Then you need to do something. He’ll kill you...”
Chief reaches out, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I won’t let that happen, but you need to be careful. He might come after you to make a point, to make me hurt, because in the end, the fucker is hurtin’ and that’s why he’s doing this. Among other things.”
“Like?”
Chief takes a sip of beer. “Not for you to worry about, baby. But this thing between you and Jasmine, we gotta fix it. It ain’t healthy and it has to stop.”
I huff.
He drums his fingertips on the bottle, breaking eye contact. “She acts tough, but she spends more time scared than you’d imagine. And when you came back, you didn’t just walk in the door. You walked in carrying every insecurity she’s felt since she came into my life.” He lowers his voice, almost like he’s confessing something. “She ain’t a bad kid, Vi. She just wants a family, and for the first time in her life, she almost had one.”
I shake my head. “So she sells me out to a psychopath?”
His stare pins me. “It’s not always that simple, kid. When you’re terrified, you lie and make dumb decisions because the alternative is even worse. Demon’s not just an asshole—he’s a monster. Jasmine grew up with that kind of hate simmering around her. Sometimes I look at her and I see his mannerisms, even when I don’t want to. She doesn’t have what you have. She never learned how to fight for herself. So when she’s scared, she claws at the thing she wants to keep.”
I kick a pebble into the grass. “That doesn’t make it better.”
“No,” he says, “but you have to find a way to deal with her. Not for me, for you. Otherwise, it’s gonna rot you both out from the inside.”
I huff again. “She’d probably shiv me if she thought she could get away with it.”
Chief actually laughs, a quiet huff that squeezes the gravel out of his voice. “I think you might be surprised if you gave her the chance. She probably just wants a sister.”
That one gets to me. “You’re not gonna ask her to apologize to me?”
He grins. “Yeah, baby. I’m goin’ to ask her, too.”
I pout.
He puts a hand on my chin, holding it just enough to keep my focus on him. “Do this for me, yeah?”
“Because it’s your birthday?”
“Because it’s my birthday. And maybe because she deserves a chance to get it right, even if she fucks it up the first hundred times.”