Page 103 of Fight

I drop the pen on the desk and walk out. “You’ve got rats, by the way,” I call out as soon as I reach the exterior door, loud enough for the renters checking their mailboxes down the hall to hear.

I swing through a drive-through and scarf down some fast food while I sit in my truck outside the hotel. I’m not sure how long this visit will last. I’ve practiced what I want to say at least a dozen times since Scottie told me how their conversation went. If it ends up being anything close to that, it will be a long one. I play it over in my mind once more, then take another sip of my soda before I hop out.

Automatic doors part from the center, and I stroll through the lobby toward the elevators.

I extract the piece of paper in my pocket after pressing the up arrow and wait. Room 415. After a loud ding, I step inside, selecting the button for his floor. My reflection glares back at me in the silver doors. I look the same as I did a week ago, but I couldn’t be further from the old me. As soon as the elevator climbs to the fourth floor and I exit, I’m hit with the smell of bleached towels and carpet deodorizer. I reach his hotel door and stand outside, taking one last cleansing breath, then knock twice.

Footsteps fall on the other side of the door, then the chain slides across the track. One turn of the knob later, I’m standing face-to-face with the man who’s trying to take Scottie away from me. This guy is her friend, but he’s not mine.

“Hey.”

The moment he recognizes me, his face falls ever so slightly. Something tells me I took a big shit on his day. We regard each other in silence before he eventually moves aside.

“Come in,” he offers.

I’m hoping we can remain civil, but there’s no way to get through this conversation without at least some disagreement. I stuff my fists into my pockets and stride past him. He takes a seat on the edge of one of the queen-size beds and leans forward, scrubbing a palm down his face before straightening his spine and resting his hands on his thighs. I lean against the desk across from him, crossing my ankles. “Not sure if you remember me?—”

“Callahan, right?”

“Yes.”

He nods, an understanding of who I am to Scottie passes between us.

I clear my throat. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me. But we have something in common, we both love Scottie. I’m not sure what your plans are for heading back home, but there’s something we have to discuss… I think you know why I’m here and what I’m about to tell you.”

His chest expands as he takes in a breath. He must have known this was coming.

“If you care about that woman in any way, I need you to divorce her.”

“I will, as soon as?—”

“No. Divorce her now. Let her go.”

His eyes turn glassy. “I can’t.”

I cross my arms.“You can.”

“How much did Scottie tell you about where we come from?”

Sighing, I bow my head. I don’t care if they escaped from a state penitentiary, Scottie is not going back there. “She’s told me enough.”

“She must not have,” he argues. “I assume she at least told you about our arrangement. Here’s the thing, I’m being blackmailed. They are threatening to out me to our community?—”

“Yourcommunity. Scottie doesn’t belong to them anymore.”

He opens his mouth in rebuttal but then thinks better of that decision. “I’ll be exiled, I will lose my job, my medical license, my home, my friends, my family, my safety—everything. If I don’t return with Scottie, I will loseeverything.”

“And what will Scottie lose by returning? What about her life?”

His expression turns sympathetic as tears swell. He can’t even look at me right now. He knows this is wrong. “I love her.”

“If you love Scottie half as much as you say you do, you’ll do this for her. She’s covered for you her whole life, this is your chance to return the favor.”

He stands and crosses his arms. “What do you want me to do?”

I throw my hands out to the side. “Call their bluff! Look, you are obviously important to her, which means you’re important to me.”And he’s lucky as hell that’s the case, or we’d be meeting under very different circumstances.“We will do everything we can to help you, but you have to take the first step. Who you choose to love is nothing to be ashamed of or fear. Staying in thatcommunityis far more damaging than leaving it.”

He shakes his head.