Scott and Jess watched as the wheezy shit brown Toyota pulled to a stop in the parking lot. They had seen the Toyota pass by twice already as Ron made a big loop around several blocks, twice, so they could check for a tail. When none appeared Jess called him and told him to circle back and pick them up.

 

They had ditched the Durango a few blocks away. With the window broken and the keys in the seat, she wouldn’t have been surprised to see the SUV pass by as they watched for Ron.

 

With one more quick check, they dashed from the CVS Pharmacy and piled into the car, Ron barely waiting for the doors to close before moving again.

 

“Are you okay?” he asked Jess as she jumped into the passenger seat.

 

“I am now. Thank you so much for doing this for me.”

 

Ron made a quick check of traffic before pulling out. “Anything for you, kiddo.” He looked over his shoulder to Scott scrunched up in the back seat. “You must be Scott.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Scott said politely. The man was risking a lot for them and deserved to be treated with respect.

 

“You part of that motorcycle gang?” Ron asked.

 

“Not anymore.”

 

Ron thought a moment then nodded. “Jess, what’s going on?”

 

“It’s a long story.”

 

“It’s a forty minute ride back to the house.”

 

Jess licked her lips, a lead weight forming in the pit of her stomach. “It all started a couple of years ago. You remember Luke?”

 

***

 

Ron turned the car off after stopping in his drive. He lived in an older home with a detached one-car garage tucked in behind, the drive running alongside the house. The house was small, but well kept, with ruddy red brick, pale yellow trim, black shutters and roof, and a small but tidy yard. The entire neighborhood, filled with similar homes, was the first part of Detroit Scott had seen that looked…normal…without an empty lot or abandoned house in sight.

 

Jess had just finished her tale and sat silent, her hands together between her knees as she stared at the floor. She hadn’t cried as she spoke, but it was only Scott’s comforting hand on her shoulder as she laid it all out that had prevented it.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ron asked softly.

 

“I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell anyone. The Angels, they only know that I killed him. But I couldn’t tell anyone how I…” Her voice trailed off as she once again remembered that night, how they had fought and how she had driven the knife into him again and again, mindless with terror, even after he had stopped moving. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about that night until Scott… and now Ron. She smiled slightly. With each telling, it became a little easier, the memories a little less terrible. Final sharing her ordeal somehow made her burden a bit lighter.

 

“Jessica…” he said, drawing her name out. “I love you. You know you can tell me anything.”

 

Jess gasped as she tried to not cry. “I know. And I wanted to. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell anyone. Not you, not Mom, not anyone. Nobody knows exactly what happened that night except for you and Scott. The Angels didn’t even know he was dead until the next day, and they didn’t know who did it until they found me and put two and two together.”

 

“You need to go to the police with this.”

 

“I can’t. I killed a man.”

 

“That was self-defense!”

 

“I know. But not reporting it for a year, and then the disposal of the body afterwards by the Angels? By the time they found me, Luke had been…taken care of. It’s too late to go to the cops now.”

 

Ron adjusted his glasses, as if doing so would help him see a way out. “What are your plans? What can I do?” he finally asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Jess murmured. “I didn’t know who else to call.”

 

“We just need a place to crash for a day or two, if that’s okay?” Scott asked, the first words he had spoken since Jess began speaking. “That will give me time to sort some stuff out.”

 

“What stuff?”

 

“Transportation, mostly.”

 

Ron pulled the keys from the ignition and handed them to Scott. “That’s one problem solved. What else?”

 

“I can’t take your car!” Scott exclaimed.

 

Ron chuckled. “I paid eight hundred dollars for it. If you get it back to me, fine. If not, that’s fine, too. I have a car I can drive until I can find another one.” He pressed the door opener on the visor above his head and the garage door started up.

 

“Is that a ‘V’?” Scott yelped as the door crawled up and the front of the car began to reveal itself. He wouldn’t have guessed anyone that drove a piece of shit like this rusted out Toyota would own something like a Cadillac CTS-V.

 

Ron chuckled again as he opened his door. “Surprised?”

 

The squawk of Ron’s door opening set Scott’s nerves of edge, but he couldn’t help but chuckle himself as he wormed his way out of the back. “A little,” he admitted.

 

“I drive cars like these because they’re cheap to buy and own, and I don’t have to worry about them. Plus I don’t care what anyone thinks about me. But the problem with driving a car like this is they will sometimes fail catastrophically and I won’t have time to find another. That’s my backup car.”

 

Scott beamed as he coasted to a stop beside the gleaming black machine, admiring the car’s presence and peaking in the window. “A wagon with a stick?”

 

“More practical.”

 

Scott woofed out a laugh as he looked at Ron. “Are you kidding me? Really?”

 

“No, really,” Ron replied with a lopsided grin. “Doesn’t everyone need a six hundred horsepower grocery getter? Actually I bought the car as an investment. A friend of mine thinks these are future collectables. I needed a new car at the times, so…The car is three years old, but it only has about a thousand miles on it. I never drive it.”

 

Scott stepped out of the garage and grinned at Ron. There was obviously more to the man than met the eye. “I’ll make you a deal. Jess and I will take the Caddy and you can keep the Toyota.”

 

“I bet you would,” Ron said with a grin as he reached into the Toyota and started the garage door down again. “Seriously, what else do you need? How are you fixed for cash?”

 

“We’re okay there. What I need are some clothes. Jess, too.”

 

Ron slammed the door on the car, causing a fine powder of rust to dribble out, not even bothering to lock it. “I don’t have anything to fit you. But if you want you can take the car and go shopping later.”

 

“Okay, thanks. It’s not worth the risk going back to Ann Arbor for the one change of clothes we have.”

 

Ron held out his hand to Scott, and it took Scott a moment to realize he had the man’s door keys in his pocket, still attached to the Toyota key. He fished them out and handed them to Ron. Ron opened the door, stepped inside and, with deft touches on the keypad, disabled the alarm system, silencing its warning squeal. “It’s not much, but its home,” he said as he shut the door behind them.

 

Jess immediately moved deeper into the house, but Scott took a moment to admire the kitchen. It had been updated and modernized and, unlike Val’s, this house exuded a certain restrained classiness. The cabinets, counters, and appliances were all of good quality but without the flash of someone trying to impress. As he moved into the living part of the house, he could see the rest of the home was the same way.

 

“Sit down, please,” Ron said as Scott followed him into the comfortable living room. Jess was just sitting down on the dark brown leather couch, curling her legs under her as she tucked into the corner, obviously at home here. Looking around the room he could see where she got her class.

 

“You have a beautiful home, Mr. Nebbles,” Scott said, sitting down next to Jess.

 

“Mr. Nebbles was my father. I’m Ron. And thank you.”

 

“Did you do the work yourself?”

 

Ron laughed. “Hardly. No, handyman isn’t my thing. I have owned the place for about twenty years and I’ve been steadily upgrading it over the years.”

 

“Anything left?”

 

“A few things,” Ron replied. “I think the next project is to build a cover over the drive at the back door so I can park the car under it not get wet getting in and out of the car. Would you like a tour?”

 

“I would love one,” Scott said.

 

“Jessica? You want to show Scott around? I need to get back to work.”

 

“Sure. Thanks, again, for coming and getting us,” Jess said as she rose. “You’re a life saver. Maybe literally.”

 

“You know if you ever need anything, you can count on me,” the man said softly.

 

“I know.” She watched Ron for a moment, once again wondering how her life would have been different had she made other choices, but then turned to Scott. “Come on, we’ll start with my room.”

 

“Excellent,” Scott said.

 

“You two keep it down in there, okay? I have to work, ya know.”

 

With a giggle Jess took Scott’s hand and tugged him down the hall.

 

The three bedrooms were arrayed on one end of the house, the master bedroom and her room separated by small room that had been converted into an office. It was Scott’s understanding that most parents left their kids rooms as a shrine to them after they moved out, but this room had none of the typical young girl items. Like the rest of the house, her room had a restrained and simple elegance that seemed to fit Jess.

 

“This was my room.”

 

He looked around the room, admiring the molding and tasteful artwork on the walls. “Did it always look like this?”

 

Jess smiled as she looked around. “No. A couple of years ago, Ron asked me to help him redecorate it. He had enlarged the closet, taking some space from the closet of the other bedroom, and this is what I picked. What do you think?”

 

“I like it. Simple, yet beautiful. Classy. Kind of like you.”

 

“Flirt,” Jess said, but she smiled and gave him a quick kiss before pulling him out of the room by the hand.

 

They finished the tour in less than ten minutes. The entire house had the same stylish understatement, so unlike Val’s home, and was pin neat, unlike the apartment Jess shared with her mother.

 

“What do you think?” Jess asked as they finished the tour in the kitchen.

 

“I think I like your dad’s taste. In fact, I like your dad.”

 

“Stepdad, but yeah, he’s a great guy.”

 

“I can see where you get your sense of style from.”

 

“Is that a compliment?”

 

“Very much so,” he said as he pressed her against the counter and then leaned in for a kiss.

 

Jess let him come in, wrapping her hands around his neck as their lips touched. The kiss didn’t last long, Scott very aware he was kissing the man’s stepdaughter in his house.

 

“You know what I’ve never done?” Jess whispered, holding his lips close to hers.

 

“What?” he responded just as quietly.

 

“I’ve never fucked anyone in this house. That’s going to change tonight. When we go out for clothes later, we have to stop at a drug store.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Very.”

 

“But your dad—”

 

“—is not invited,” she murmured, completing his sentence for him.

 

Scott began to chuckle and pull back but then darted in for one last quick kiss before standing up straight. “That’s good to know because that would really cramp my style.”