A record scratched in my head as I whipped back around. “Wait. That’s my car.” My feet started moving before I could form a thought, carrying me out of the store and a yard or so down the sidewalk where I’d parked earlier before starting my shift. Sure enough, she’d keyed it. She’d actually keyed the hell out of it, scratching the word SLUT in big capital letters, and it looked as if she’d dug the key as deep into the metal as she could get it.
“What the hell?” I screeched as I turned back to look at the culprit.
The contrition that had been on her face when she was focusing on her grandmother quickly shifted to a nasty, pinched looked of pure hatred as she zeroed her focus on me.
Georgia pulled in a sharp gasp as she read the ugly word carved across both doors on the driver side. “You did this to Luna’s car? But... why?”
That was also something I desperately wanted to know. “Because she deserved it,” the little urchin hissed. “She is a slut. I know because she screwed my dad.”
Oh, fresh hell. I guess that answered the question about how much she’d overheard between her father and me the other day.
Cheyanne acted fast, herding us back toward the store. “I think we should take this back inside,” she insisted, placing her hands on my shoulders and giving me a little nudge since I seemed to have lost the ability to speak or move on my own. Hell, I could barely hear over the sound of a trillion bees buzzing in my ears.
Dezzy rushed out from the back once everyone had gathered inside again. Great, I thought. Just what I need, more people. “What’s going on?” he asked anxiously, his gaze darting between the cop in the room and everyone else. “Is someone hurt?”
Just my car, in a way I couldn’t possibly afford to fix.
I was having an out of body experience, hovering over the entire group and watching from above as Georgia lifted a trembling hand to her forehead. “I can’t—I don’t—I’m not even sure where to start. Evan Warren, I cannot believe you would do something like this!”
“She started it by having sex with my dad!” the little hoodlum defended at the top of her lungs. Thank the good Lord above we didn’t have any customers at the moment to overhear; it was bad enough she was saying this in front of Georgia and Dezzy. I couldn’t imagine this was something I’d ever hear the end of. “He’s barely been divorced, and she just jumped right into bed with him.”
Georgia looked at me with big, round eyes, that, I swear to God, looked like they were shimmering with a hint of excitement. “Is this true, honey? Are you and Nate involved?” She clasped her hands in front of her chest in a gesture of hope, and I felt like such an asshole, knowing I was going to have to disappoint her.
Why, why, why didn’t the ground open up and swallow a person whole when they desperately needed it to?
“It’s not like that, Georgia. It was just—” I was about to say “a one-time thing” when I remembered that we had relatively young ears still in the room. My gaze bounced between Evan and Georgia before I lowered my voice and said, “I promise to explain everything... later.”
Desmond came over, crossing his arms over his chest and giving the coldest, hardest, disappointed father—or in this case, grandfather—look I’d ever seen him give. “Explain yourself, missy.”
The kid’s chin wobbled, but I struggled to find sympathy as one tear, then a second broke free. “I didn’t plan to do it. I was just walking by, and I saw her through the front window, and I know she hooked up with my dad, and I wanted so badly for him and my mom to get back together, but if he’s sleeping with another woman, I know there’s no way that’s ever going to happen.” She’d spit all that out so fast she had to pause and take a breath. “I got so mad, and I know what her car looks like, because I saw it when she came into Dad’s office a few days ago. And...” Her shoulders fell and her head dropped forward as she ended on a whisper, “It just happened.”
Once she finished with her pathetic excuse for a defense, everyone of legal drinking age looked at me.
“Well, looks like this is up to you, Luna,” Sheriff Michaels drew out.
My eyes widened and darted around the room. “Looks like what’s up to me?”
“The decision is yours to make. The damage to your car is gonna cost you a pretty penny. You want to press charges or not?”
Well shit.