Ch. 2 The Gate

Claire’s POV

“Then Grant and I can catch up.”

The gate finished closing as the headlights came farther up the access road. I climbed out of the SUV and went straight for Lilly.

“Mommy?” She was still strapped into her booster, Mr. Pickles pinned under one arm.

“I’ve got you.”

“Is that Daddy?”

“I think so.”

Her hands went around my neck as soon as I got the buckle loose. I lifted her out and set her on the ground beside me.

“I don’t want to go home.”

“You’re not going home.”

Nick looked back once, making sure we were behind him, then faced the gate again.

Grant’s vehicle stopped on the other side hard enough to kick dirt behind the tires.

He got out immediately.

He hadn’t stopped to clean up. Blood had dried from above his ear down the side of his face where I’d hit him with the poker. His shirt was twisted from the fight, and he came straight for the gate.

“Open it.”

Nick stayed where he was.

Grant looked past him. “Claire, get Lilly in the car.”

“No.”

“Don’t do this.”

“You followed me.”

“You took my daughter and ran out of the house.”

“Because you were hitting me.”

His eyes cut toward Lilly before coming back to me. “We had a fight. That doesn’t give you the right to disappear with her.”

“You punched me twice.”

“After you went through my things.”

“I was putting your clothes away.”

“You took something that belonged to me.”

Nick turned his head slightly.

Grant noticed and looked at him. “This is between me and my wife.”

“You brought it to my gate,” Nick said. “That changed.”

“Stay out of it, Salazar.”

“No.”

Grant grabbed one of the bars and looked at me again. “Claire, come here.”

Lilly pressed against my leg.

“We’re staying here tonight.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Baby,” Grant said, looking down at Lilly, “come over here. Daddy’s taking you home.”

She shook her head.

“Lilly.”

“No.”

His hand tightened on the gate. “You’re tired. Come on.”

“You grabbed me.”

Grant went quiet.

Lilly held on to my leggings with one hand and Mr. Pickles with the other. “My arm still hurts.”

“I was trying to get you out of the way.”

“You pulled me.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You did.”

I put my hand on her curls. Grant looked at me like I’d taught her what to say during the drive over.

“Don’t,” I said.

“Don’t what?”

“Look at me like that. She was there.”

“She shouldn’t have been.”

“She came downstairs because you were hitting me.”

Grant rubbed his hand across his mouth. “You were swinging a fireplace poker around with our kid in the room.”

“I picked it up after you grabbed her.”

“That’s not what happened.”

“It is.”

Nick looked toward Teo. “Can you take Lilly inside for a minute?”

Lilly grabbed me with both hands. “No.”

I crouched beside her. “I’m coming in right behind you.”

She looked toward Grant.

“He can’t get through the gate.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

She stayed against me another second before finally taking Teo’s hand.

Grant called after her. “Lilly.”

She kept walking.

“Lillian.”

Nick stepped sideways and blocked his view.

Grant stared at him. “Move.”

“No.”

“That’s my daughter.”

“And she doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

“She’s five.”

“Yeah. I noticed.”

Grant pointed at me. “She attacked me and took my kid.”

I laughed once. I couldn’t help it.

His head turned.

“You put your hand around my neck, threw me into the refrigerator, hit me twice, then grabbed Lilly. Don’t stand there and rewrite it because Nick’s listening.”

“You went through my things.”

“I found something while I was putting your laundry away.”

“You had no right to take it.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t tape things under a dresser if you don’t want your wife finding them while she cleans the damn room.”

Grant’s jaw tightened.

“Give it back.”

Nick looked between us. “What did she find?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“Then leave.”

“I’m not leaving without my family.”

“I’m not going with you,” I said.

Grant ignored me. “Open the gate.”

Nick shook his head. “Not tonight.”

“You planning to keep my wife and daughter here against their will?”

Nick looked back at me. “You wanna leave with him?”

“No.”

He turned back. “There you go.”

Grant’s eyes stayed on me. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“I know I’m not getting back in that house with you.”

“You’re blowing up our entire family over one fight.”

“One fight?”

He caught it too late.

Nick did too.

Grant’s voice dropped. “Give me the drive, Claire.”

Nick looked at me.

I said nothing.

“The drive?” he asked.

Grant swore under his breath.

Nick stepped closer to the gate. “That why you chased her out here?”

“This has nothing to do with you.”

“Then stop telling me pieces.”

Grant’s attention stayed on me. “You haven’t even looked at it. You don’t know what’s on there.”

“No.”

“So give it back.”

“No.”

His face changed.

I knew the look. I’d seen it too many times standing in our kitchen, lying in bed, sitting across from him at dinner while Lilly talked between us.

“Claire.”

I almost answered the way I normally did. Lower voice. Calm him down. Tell him we could talk later. Find whatever words would get us through the next hour.

I didn’t.

Grant saw it.

“You’re making a mistake.”

“Maybe. I’m still not giving it to you.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I can have deputies here in ten minutes.”

Nick looked at the phone, then at him. “For what?”

“She took my daughter.”

“Her daughter too.”

“She assaulted me.”

Nick glanced at the blood down the side of Grant’s face. “After you put your hands on her?”

“You weren’t there.”

“No. Your kid was.”

Grant shoved the phone back into his pocket. “I can come back with enough people to make this a problem.”

“You can come back with whoever you want. Unless somebody has a warrant, that gate stays shut.”

Grant stared at him.

Nick didn’t move.

“You think that patch makes you untouchable?”

“No. I think the fence means you’re on your side and I’m on mine.”

Grant looked past him at me. “You want to do this?”

“I already did.”

“This doesn’t end because you drove out here.”

“I know.”

“Give me the drive and come home. We’ll talk when Lilly’s asleep.”

I looked at the blood on his face.

A few hours ago, that sentence probably would have worked.

Go home. Put Lilly to bed. Wait until Grant decided we were calm enough to discuss what I’d done wrong.

“No.”

His fingers curled around the bars again. “You have no idea what you took.”

“Then tell me.”

He didn’t.

I waited.

Nick watched him too.

Grant finally stepped back from the gate. “This isn’t over.”

“I know.”

His eyes stayed on me another second before he turned and walked back to his vehicle.

Nick remained where he was until Grant got inside and backed down the access road.

I watched the taillights disappear.

“He won’t leave,” I said.

Nick glanced at me. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

He looked toward the clubhouse and called one of the men over. “Keep an eye on the road. If Bennett stops anywhere close enough to watch the gate, tell me.”

The man nodded and headed off.

I rubbed my palms against my leggings.

Nick looked down at my feet. “You left without shoes?”

“I wasn’t thinking about shoes.”

“Lilly either?”

“No.”

“Phone?”

“Kitchen counter, I think.”

“Purse?”

“House.”

“So you have your keys, your kid, and whatever Bennett wants back.”

I touched the zipper pocket at my hip.

“That’s about it.”

Nick nodded toward the clubhouse. “Then come inside.”

“I can’t stay here.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll figure it out.”

“With no phone, no money, no shoes, and a sheriff husband sitting somewhere down the road?”

“I have my car.”

“And he knows what you drive.”

I looked toward the gate.

Nick didn’t tell me what to do. He just stood there while I ran through every option I had.

My parents’ house was the first place Grant would check. Anybody we both knew would call him. A motel meant giving somebody my name or showing an ID I didn’t even have with me.

“I just need tonight.”

“Then take tonight.”

I looked at him.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“No lecture?”

“What would I lecture you about?”

“I don’t know. Showing up here after not speaking to you for years.”

“That can wait until you have shoes.”

I snorted despite myself.

Nick opened the clubhouse door. “Come on.”

Lilly sat curled on one end of a couch with Mr. Pickles in her lap and a blanket around her shoulders. Teo had found her crackers, a juice box, and a pair of black socks so big they disappeared underneath the legs of her pajamas.

“Mommy.”

I went straight to her. “You okay?”

She held up one foot. “Teo gave me ugly socks.”

“They’re warm.”

“They’re boy socks.”

Teo looked over from the bar. “Black is not a boy color.”

“They’re still ugly.”

“That’s just rude.”

Lilly took another cracker.

I sat beside her and brushed her hair back from her face.

“Is Daddy gone?”

“He left the gate.”

“Are we sleeping here?”

“For tonight.”

She looked around the clubhouse. “Where?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“I’m not sleeping by him.”

Teo pointed at himself. “What’d I do?”

“You snore.”

He looked at Nick. “You told her that?”

Nick shrugged. “Reputation gets around.”

Lilly leaned against me.

Nick came over but stayed standing. “You want something to change into?”

I looked down at my shirt. One side was stretched at the collar, and there was dirt across the front.

“Yes.”

Teo pushed away from the bar. “I’ll find something.”

“Thanks.”

Nick nodded toward the table a few feet from the couch. “When you’re ready, I need to see the drive.”

I looked at Lilly.

“She can stay right there.”

I followed him to the table and sat where I could still see her.

Nick waited.

I reached into the zipper pocket in my leggings and pulled out the USB.

It looked even smaller under the clubhouse lights.

I set it between us.

Nick picked it up by the end and turned it over once. There was no label, no name, nothing to tell me why Grant had hidden it.

“You never opened it?”

“No.”

“Plugged it into anything?”

“No.”

“Grant ever mention it before tonight?”

“Never.”

“Where exactly was it?”

“Under the back edge of his dresser. Taped underneath.”

Nick looked at me.

“I know. That should’ve been enough for me to put it back.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No.”

“Why?”

I looked at the USB. “Because Grant doesn’t hide things in our house.”

Nick waited.

“He controls everything in that house. Bills, accounts, paperwork, passwords. He leaves whatever he wants wherever he wants because I’m not supposed to touch it unless he tells me to. He didn’t need to tape something under furniture to keep it away from me.”

“So you wanted to know why this was different.”

“Yes.”

Teo came back carrying folded clothes and set them on the end of the table. “Shirt, sweats, socks. Best I could find.”

“Thank you.”

He looked at the USB in Nick’s hand. “That what Bennett came for?”

Nick nodded.

Teo’s eyes flicked to me, but he didn’t ask anything else.

I picked up the clothes. “Bathroom?”

“Down the hall, second door.”

Nick put the USB back on the table. “Leave it here.”

“I wasn’t taking it into the bathroom.”

“Just making sure.”

I looked at him. “You were less annoying when I was twelve.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

He was right.

I took the clothes and went down the hall.

The shirt swallowed me, and I had to roll the sweatpants at the waist. I washed my hands first, then my face.

The makeup came off easier than I expected.

Yesterday’s bruise showed first.

Then tonight.

A red mark ran along my neck where Grant had grabbed me. My cheek was swelling, and there was a cut near my mouth that I hadn’t felt until I touched it with the towel.

I rinsed the cloth and finished cleaning my face without looking too closely again.

When I came back, Lilly had stretched out on the couch with the blanket over her. Mr. Pickles was under her chin.

Nick sat at the table with the USB in front of him.

“She almost asleep?”

“She was until Teo dropped something behind the bar.”

“It slipped.”

“It was a keg.”

Teo pointed at Nick. “Heavy keg.”

Lilly’s eyes stayed closed. “It was loud.”

“Sorry, kid.”

I sat across from Nick again.

He pushed the drive slightly toward the middle of the table. “You said Grant had hit you before.”

I looked at him.

“You don’t have to tell me everything. I need to know what kind of problem I’m dealing with tonight.”

“He’s never come after Lilly before.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

“I know.”

Nick waited.

I kept my voice low. “It didn’t start right after we got married.”

He said nothing.

“It was little things first. Shoving. Grabbing me. Blocking doors when I tried to walk away. Then one night he hit me.”

“How long ago?”

“A few years.”

Nick looked toward the couch.

“He’s never hit her.”

“But tonight he grabbed her.”

“Yes.”

“And she got between you because she’s seen enough to know what was happening.”

I looked down at the table.

“She hears us sometimes.”

“How often?”

“Nick.”

He leaned back. “Okay.”

That was all.

No push.

No speech about why I stayed.

I rubbed my thumb across the side of the table.

“When he grabbed her tonight, that was different.”

“Different how?”

“I’d gotten used to knowing how far he would go with me.”

Nick’s eyes stayed on mine.

“I knew what usually made him stop. I knew when to shut up, when to apologize, when to leave him alone. Tonight he didn’t stop when Lilly came downstairs. He grabbed her because she was in his way.”

Nick looked toward the sleeping five-year-old on the couch, then back at the USB.

“What happened after that?”

“I hit him and ran.”

“Good.”

“I could’ve killed him.”

“You didn’t.”

He picked up the USB again.

“I’m not opening this tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know what it is.”

“It’s a USB.”

“I can see that.”

“Then what are you worried about?”

“I don’t plug mystery drives belonging to pissed-off sheriffs into club computers.”

That made enough sense that I couldn’t argue.

“You think he’d know if we opened it?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Could be nothing but files. Could be encrypted. Could have something on it I don’t want touching our system. I’d rather find out before we start clicking shit.”

“You have someone who can do that?”

“Yes.”

I looked at the drive.

“Can I be there?”

“When it gets opened?”

“Yes.”

Nick nodded. “It’s yours until you decide otherwise.”

“It’s Grant’s.”

“You found it and he nearly beat you unconscious trying to get it back. Tonight, I’m calling it yours.”

The clubhouse door opened.

One of the Saints came in from outside and walked straight over.

“Bennett stopped down by the county road.”

I looked at him.

Nick asked, “Can he see the gate from there?”

“Yeah. Lights off. He’s just sitting.”

I closed my eyes for a second.

Of course he was.

Nick looked at me. “You called that one.”

“He does this.”

“Sits outside places?”

“He waits.”

“For what?”

“Until he thinks I’ve had enough time to calm down. Or get scared. Then he comes back and acts like we can talk normally.”

The man beside us looked toward Nick. “Want somebody watching him?”

“Yeah. Keep distance.”

He headed back outside.

I looked at the USB.

Nick followed my eyes.

“He’s not sitting down there because he misses me.”

“No.”

“If he wanted Lilly back tonight, he’d already have half the department here.”

Nick didn’t answer.

Grant knew how this looked. He knew what questions deputies might ask if they saw my face or Lilly told somebody what happened.

But he still hadn’t left.

I reached for the drive and turned it over with one finger.

“He stayed because I still have this.”

“Looks that way.”

Grant had hit me before. He’d apologized before. He’d bought flowers, cooked dinner, taken us away for weekends, promised it wouldn’t happen again, then acted like I was cruel if I didn’t forgive him fast enough.

Tonight I had finally run.

And he’d barely talked about that.

He wanted the drive.

I looked at Nick. “What the hell did I find?”

He picked it up and held it out to Teo when he passed the table.

“Put it in my safe. Nobody touches it until I say otherwise.”

Teo took it. “Got it.”

I watched him carry it down the hall.

Outside the gates, Grant was sitting in the dark waiting for me to come back out.

For the first time since I’d left the house, I stopped wondering what I was going to tell people about my marriage.

I wanted to know what my husband was so afraid I’d find out.