Chapter 68

He folded his arms on the table and buried his face in them, shuddering.

Andy…What had Scooter done?

“God looks out for fools, lovers, and drunkards,” Kat said some long moments later. She turned the grill off, scraping the slightly overcooked burgers into a pile. Making him wait. Still furious.

“What?”

“Jason has him,” Kat said. “He is safe and well. They are waiting for a cab to pick them up.”

Thank God, thank God. “I can—”

“No you can’t. You will stay here and let Andy make his decisions. Jason did not talk long, Andy is very upset, he says. Jason will take care of him.” Kat took a deep breath. “Any other day and we would have missed this chance. Jason only runs a 10k on his off-mornings. Usually he does five along the boardwalk. He was running when he found Andy.”

Scooter wiped his nose on his apron. “Thank you.”

Kat sighed. “You are pathetic. I do not like it. Perhaps I am hasty, upset. I love Andy, too.”

“I know,” Scooter said. “I know that, Kat.”

“I am sorry for stabbing you with the ice cream spoon.”

Scooter inhaled, then, suddenly realizing she hadn’t come back with the container. And even Kat didn’t eat ice cream thatquickly. “I’m more concerned about where the ice creamis now.”

“Oh, fuck!” Kat bounced to her feet. “I left it in the apartment.”

Scooter groaned. “Oh, God. Trick!” Trick was not good with ice cream. It gave him gas at best, and a violently upset stomach at worst. Not quite as bad as that time he’d gotten into chocolate, but…Scooter followed Kat outside and up to Andy’s apartment.

Looking around the empty apartment was like having his heart carved out. It might have been less painful if Kat had stabbed him to death with the spoon.

Trick apparently shared the same sense of abandonment. He hadn’t eaten the ice cream. He was flopped on top of Andy’s bed, his head buried under the pillow, and refused to move. When Scooter called him, he just whined plaintively. Scooter wandered around the small space. The plant Kat had given to Andy was full, leaning a bit toward the small window. Absently, Scooter turned it. Checked the soil for moisture. Andy had watered it recently.

He picked up the books that Andy had left behind. Only one of them had been read, a bookmark was three-quarters of the way through. Lifted the tablet, which flickered and came on. Scooter glanced at the screen.

SANDBRIDGE, V.A. (AP)—Restaurant employee accused of assaulting a co-worker.

The tablet fell from numbed fingers.

Scooter staggered backward. He couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t. He stumbled down the stairs, fell into the sand. Managed to push himself up enough to vomit into the grass.

Scrambled backward until he was pressed up against one of the wooden pillars. “Oh, Jesus fuck, how is this…how is Ripton still fucking up my life?” Scooter wanted to hit something. Wanted to break something.

Kat sat down gingerly on the steps, the tablet in her hand. “This…this is not so bad, medvezhonok.”

“If he’s seen that, then Andy has every reasonto be scared of me, Kat.” Scooter couldn’t bear it. He would never think that Ripton hadn’t deserved what Scooter had done, but at the same time, when he dreamed of it, he didn’t dream of prison, or of what had happened to Lewis Callahan. He dreamed of how Ripton’s arm had snapped under his hand. The sound of his fists against Ripton’s face. He’d never known he had so much rage inside. And once he knew it, he could never forget it.

“No, no,” Kat said. “What you did, you did to help someone. Jason knows this, he knows the truth. He will explain it. Andy…Andy will understand.” She pushed the melted ice cream at him, along with the spoon.

Scooter wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do with it, so he took a spoonful. It was gooey, dripping off the spoon like syrup. Still sweet. Still cool against his abused throat. Tasted better than his hastily recycled breakfast. Maybe Kat wasn’t completely ridiculous.

A car pulled into the lot.

“Close up, Kat. Say we’ve had a freezer problem. Something. I can’t…I can’t…”

Trick bounced down the stairs, ran Kat over before she could get up and knocked her to her knees in the sand. Barking madly the whole time, the dog tore across the parking lot to throw himself at…

Andy

* * * *

The closer they got, the more Andy’s stomach tied itself in knots. God, he had fucked up so bad. Why hadn’t he just asked? Whatever Jason said, Scooter was going to be so angry and disappointed. Dockside came into view, and Andy had to close his eyes.