Dad coughed, then bent over and spit in the yard.
Ham pulled in a mighty breath, turned to Jeff, and let it go, stating, “We’re pressing charges.”
Dad’s head shot up and I heard Mom squeak again.
“You just accosted me!” Dad yelled.
Ham cut his eyes to him. “You were in my home, abusing my woman in front of witnesses. I got a right to defend my home and I definitely got the right to defend my woman.”
“He’s not wrong,” Jeff declared and he looked at Pete, asking, “You got cuffs?”
Pete, also an officer of the law, nodded while moving and replied, “In my vehicle.” Then he took off on a run toward his car.
“Sir, face the vehicle, hands behind your head,” Jeff ordered.
“Are you insane?” Dad asked, eyes round, face red now for a different reason.
“Sir, I said, face the vehicle,” Jeff repeated.
“I will not do that,” Dad snapped.
“Then you’ll face resisting arrest on top of the other charges you got, and I see you aren’t thinkin’ all this through, but the ones you already got aren’t real good. My advice, you need to start actin’ smart and you need to do that right about now,” Jeff advised.
“She’s my daughter,” Dad spat, like that entitled him to do what he did and more gasps and whispers slid through the crowd.
“She’s an adult whose home you entered without permission and against her wishes and then proceeded, in front of witnesses, to assault her and another woman. But, just sayin’, even if she wasn’t an adult but she was a kid, that shit would actually be”—he leaned in to Dad, his usually mellow expression dissolving into fury before he finished—“worse. Now, face the vehicle and put your goddamned hands behind your head.”
Dad glared at Jeff a moment, his eyes shifted through the people watching, and then he did as Jeff told him to do but with his head turned to Mom.
As Jeff kicked Dad’s feet farther apart with his boot and Pete approached with cuffs, phone to his ear, Dad ordered Mom, “Call our attorneys.”
“But Xavier,” Mom started in a small voice, “in our last meeting with them, they told us, with our bank accounts frozen and us not able to pay them, that we—”
“Call them!” Dad barked.
She nodded swiftly, glanced at me, and as usual gave me absolutely not one bit more. Even after witnessing that whole debacle, she looked after herself and her safety and scurried away, digging in her purse.
It was just then, at that moment, held by my man, this suddenly lost its power to hurt me.
I took my eyes from Mom and, held close to Ham, his hand still at my throat, I watched my father get patted down, handcuffed, and read his rights.
It.
Was.
Awesome.
“I so totally wish Xenia was here,” I whispered to Ham. “She would freaking love this.”
“Cookie,” Ham started, I looked up at him and even when I did his hand didn’t fall away from my throat. “How in the fuck can you make me want to laugh when I’m this goddamned motherfucking pissed?”
I shrugged and replied, “It’s just me.”
His eyes studied my face then his hand slid down to my chest and his gaze moved over my throat before his hand slid back up and his eyes again caught mine.
“Yeah. It’s just you,” he murmured and the warmth and approval in his eyes made me melt into him.
“Thanks for nearly choking my dad to death after he assaulted me,” I said and Ham blinked before he stared and finally his lips twitched. When I saw the lip twitch, I went on. “And also, thanks for making that nearly choking him, seein’ as it might be difficult for us to get married and me to get knocked up if you were serving time for involuntary manslaughter.”
At that, Ham’s lips stopped twitching and curled up.
I shifted to his front, got up on my toes, and wrapped my arms around him before I assured him quietly, “I’m all right.”
“You always are, baby,” he replied just as quietly.
“And you’re always there when I need you,” I returned.
Ham’s eyes flared. His hand at my throat shifted around and up into the back of my hair and he bent his head to touch his lips to mine.
“Champagne!” I heard Nina shout as Ham lifted his mouth from mine and we both turned to see her close. “Two counts of assault and trespassing!” she declared and clapped with excitement. “Isn’t that great?” she asked but didn’t wait for an answer.
She turned to Arlene.
Before she could say a word, Arlene started toddling toward her car, announcing, “I’m on it.”
“I’ll go with,” Kami called, following her.
I didn’t get the chance to look to see what was happening to Dad as, with Maybelle as sentry at my free side, Latrell playing sentry to her, some of the crowd following close at our backs, others staying to watch the finale to my Dad’s arrest, Ham firmly led me back into the house.
But I was able to break away in the excited shuffle once we got inside.
When I did, keeping an eye on a mindful Ham, who clearly wanted to keep an eye on me, I managed to perform a miracle. I snuck to the front door and looked out the window at the side so I could watch as the cruiser pulled up and Jeff and Pete shuffled my dad to one of the back doors, Jeff putting his hand to Dad’s head after Pete opened the door, and folding Dad in.
So engrossed in this, when my hand was taken in a firm grip, my body gave a slight jump and I turned to see Aunt Wilona, her eyes aimed out the window.
“It’s all but over,” she said to the window.
“I figure it is,” I agreed.
She looked at me.
I smiled at her.
Her eyes dropped to my lips then came back to mine and she smiled back.
“Cookie, get away from the fuckin’ window!” Ham ordered loudly even though he was only five feet away.
I rolled my eyes at my aunt, gave her hand a squeeze, then moved from the window.
Lifting my hand to my forehead in a salute directed Ham’s way, I yelled, “As you wish, mein herr!”
Ham shook his head.
I turned to my aunt, looked at her cheek, and whispered, “Let’s go to the kitchen and get you some ice.”
She nodded. We did that. I left her with Wanda in the kitchen, found Zander with Mindy and Becca in the guest bedroom, and I relieved my girlfriends.
Once they left, I gave him a good onceover. I didn’t know him all that well but I could still tell he was freaked mostly because you couldn’t miss it.
I sat next to him on the bed and took his hand. “It’s all cool, darlin’.”
“Uncle Reece was real mad,” he replied.
He was not wrong about that.
“Yep, he likes me a whole bunch and doesn’t like it when someone hurts me, but he’s okay now,” I assured him.
“Is Nona okay?” he asked.
I nodded. “I’ve got a good friend takin’ care of her.”
Zander’s eyes moved over my face, possibly in an attempt to make sure I was telling the truth.
I figured he believed me but still, he asked, “Can I go to her?”
He was a good kid and he loved his Nona. Which meant she’d earned that love.
Without delay, I got off the bed, pulling him up with me. “Let’s go.”
I took Zander to Aunt Wilona. They huddled. I hung with them, taking their pulse, and when it seemed Aunt Wilona had it covered, I wandered out of the kitchen and found Ham.
I moved right to him and fitted myself to his side.
When I did, one of his arms went around my shoulders and he lifted his other hand, shifting my hair away. His fingertips gliding over the shell of my ear, and they slid down my neck and across my throat.