“It wasn’t like I had a choice. That’s why I broke up with her. She was clingy, and bossy, and a pain most of the time. To be honest, the only good thing was her looks but that doesn’t replace a decent personality.”
“Better keep comments like that to yourself. I think Mark is shaken up more than anyone right now.”
“She’s seriously twisted. Why didn’t I notice that before all this happened?”
“Who isn’t twisted right now? We’re lucky to be halfway sane after everything we’ve lived through. Top that off with the plague and were lucky someone’s not burning down a different house every night.”
“Maybe it would be better if Mom and Dad were here to tell us what to do.”
Jimmy sighed. “Even without parents, no one has the right to be reckless. Everyone needs to be accountable”
“That’s asking a lot of some people.”
“Those are the ones we help.”
“How?”
Jimmy closed his eyes. “We need to learn that before it’s too late.”
Hunter leaned back, struck by a sudden ugly thought. He squinted hard at his brother. “Were we just talking about me?”
Jimmy cracked a smile through his busted lips. “Were we?”
“Damn, Jimmy, that’s not funny.”
After a chuckle rolled from Jimmy’s chest, he coughed a little blood onto his chin.
Hunter swabbed the blood away with a damp towel and gave him a sip of water. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch after we track him down.”
“Why?” Jimmy asked. “He causes pain to escape his own.”
“What are you trying to be some kind of Saint?”
“I’m just saying. So this kid beat me up. It’s over. He’s gone. I’m not dead.”
“But we’re going after him, aren’t we?”
“No,” Jimmy said, looking like a possessed raccoon with his matching set of black eyes. “You’re going after Catherine and that’s it. I don’t want you fighting that Patrick kid for me. If you have to go through him to get to Catherine, make sure you have lots of backup with you. It was all I could do to keep that guy down as long as I did.”
“What about Molly?”
“She made her choice.”
“What about Mark?”
“He’ll have to make his. I wish he wasn’t going, but I understand why. I’d be going if it were you.”
Hunter ruffled his brother’s hair. “Aw, you’re so sweet.”
Jimmy winced. “Careful, that’s where your girlfriend whacked me.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. At least she didn’t burn your house down. I still can’t figure out why she’d hit you like that though.”
Hunter tracked Jimmy’s gaze again to Ginger curled up on the sofa. Hunter liked Ginger. She was sweet, good natured, and attractive in different ways than Molly. Molly talked bad about Ginger, but she talked bad about everyone so that was nothing new. He guessed Molly’s main problem with Ginger was jealousy. Ginger was far and away more talented at sewing than Molly, but he’d known better than to track down that conversation with his former girlfriend. That would have been suicidal.
“So why did she hit you?”
Jimmy looked at Hunter, and then at the ceiling. “The night you found Catherine, I went out to make sure Molly was all right after the little blowout she had with Vanessa.”
“Yeah, I heard something about Ginger making baby clothes. Typical Molly crap right.”
“Yeah, well. When I found her… Look, let’s just forget about it.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s typical Molly crap.”
Hunter sat back. That was about as close to profanity as his brother ever walked. “What happened? Did she throw herself at you or something?”
Jimmy continued staring at the ceiling.
“You got to be kidding me.” Hunter laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You aren’t exactly her type.”
“And you are? Who did she run to after I told her I liked someone else?”
That thought swam around Hunter’s mind until it surfaced like a hungry shark ready to take a massive bite of gray matter.
Jimmy played lifeguard and kept him afloat. “Like you said, it’s typical Molly crap.”
“So you’re saying the only reason she-”
“I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.”
“No, no, that’s all right. Really it’s okay. It’s kind of cool.”
Jimmy raised an eyebrow.
Hunter smiled. “I was used. That’s awesome. I don’t feel nearly as bad for dumping her the way I did. Now I realize she had it coming. I mean really, hitting on me because my big brother shot her down. How twisted is that?”
Someone across the room coughed. “Uh, guys, we’re ready,” Scout said from the door.
Mark stood beside him, looking like an axe murderer wishing for a chainsaw. He crossed the room, snatched Hunter from his seat and pinned him to the wall.