Free Close to Home by Liz Lee Page B

you forever. I promise.”
    Grady didn’t look happy, but Eliza strode over to stand beside him and whatever she said calmed her brother down enough that he finally agreed. “Yeah, whatever.”
    When he left, he took Eliza with him and finally Kacie Jo was alone in her house with nothing but the memory of a fantasy night and the very real consequence of that evening.
    She walked into her room, wrapped the black veil around her hands and pulled it to her nose, inhaling deeply. Wherever Donovan was, she hoped he found solace. And she hoped if he ever did come home to Caldale, he’d understand why she never tried to find him.

    Donovan might have landed himself in the biggest mess of his life. He’d been looking for a fight for months, and he’d certainly found one.
    In hindsight maybe Mexico wasn’t the best place to go hunting trouble. Mix Mexico with untold bottles of tequila and a mean attitude, and you had a recipe for disaster. Especially with the drug wars.
    Well, he’d certainly figured that out.
    And Sam, friend that he claimed to be, had just called him a crazy son of a bitch and left him for the police.
    So now he sat in a concrete cell permeated with the scent of drunks who’d gone before the law on other occasions.
    He didn’t even have a bunk to sit on, so he was sprawled on the floor listening to some inmate whistling love songs and another snoring off the effects of one too many.
    Jesus, how had he sunk to this?
    A rattle at his cell door brought him back to the present. From a distance Sam called his name.
    “Hey there, Tex. I brought you some company. Says he’s your lawyer. Says he’ll get you out of this godforsaken hole if you say the right words.”
    Donovan knew only one lawyer who’d have followed him to Mexico. Dammit. He couldn’t escape Caldale no matter how hard he tried.
    He didn’t even bother to sit up when he the two men approached outside his cell. Arm flung over his eyes, he tried to envision all his reasons for ignoring Grady. “Go away.”
    “See. I told you he’s turned into a mean son of a bitch.” Sam’s voice sounded a little too cheerful to Donovan, and for a second he thought about shooting him the bird, but he decided that took too much energy.
    “Yeah, well this mean son and I need to exchange some words, and I can guarantee you they won’t be pleasant.” Grady’s angry voice carried through the cell, and Donovan grimaced. Okay, so he'd screwed Kacie Jo over big time. Used her and vamoosed like she was nothing more than a two bit whore. But dammit all, she'd known he wasn't sticking around. Known it wasn't some sort of love affair for a lifetime.
    Donovan listened as his former friend’s steps echoed down the long hallway. When he opened his eyes, he found Grady’s shadow minus the guard or his good buddy Sam. He wasn’t a bit surprised about the policia. Enough pesos bought you anything in this place. A few private moments probably hadn’t cost Grady all that much. Sam's absence was another story.
    At least it was until Donovan saw Grady's face.
    His old best friend stared at him with such loathing, Donovan felt a little twinge of unease. He’d planned on cutting ties to Caldale. He hadn’t planned on turning his best friend into an enemy.
    Might as well get this over with. “Hey there, Grady. Fancy meeting you in a place like this.”
    “Save it, Nelson. If I were smart I’d let you stew in this hellhole for a couple years. Or I could pay someone to make it forever.”
    Donovan's head hurt, and he didn't have the energy to argue. “What’s stopping you?”
    "You're the same old whiny bastard you've always been aren't you."
    Grady's words weren't a question. And, surprisingly, they hurt.
    "You know me. One sob story after another."
    He spit a mouthful of bile on to the cell floor, and Grady whistled through his teeth. "Jesus, Donovan, you look like shit.”
    “You don’t say? I guess I didn’t come to Mexico for a makeover.”
    “Well, you got