Close to Home by Liz Lee

one. You don’t look anything like the guy who spent two days back home a couple months back.”
    Donovan knew that. The guy he’d tried to be that night had been a fake. Right up until he’d taken Kacie Jo’s virginity and walked out the door. That guy he knew real well.
    He didn't bother trying to say anything. Wasn't worth the energy or the grief.
    Grady ran his hand over his eyes and exhaled sharply. “Whatever you’re running from isn’t going away, you know?”
    So Grady was going to channel Dr. Phil. Terrific. “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, Grady. You don’t know shit about my life the last year.”
    Grady pierced him with a steady, steel gray gaze. “Sam told me some. Carlita at the bar a little more. Some I pieced together myself from junk you told me. I know about the orphanage, and I know about Anaj…”
    Enough was enough. “Just shut the hell up. Leave if you want. I don’t give a frack.”
    As he said the words, they scared him. Not because he was afraid of spending the rest of his life in this concrete box, but because they were the God’s honest truth. He didn’t give a damn about anything. He wondered when that had happened or if it had always been the case.
    “I can’t leave you here. I should, but I came here to take your sorry ass home, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
    Cold emptiness settled around him and Donovan laughed bitterly. Was this how crazy people felt right before they let go, crossed to the other side of sanity?  
    “I’m not going anywhere near Caldale, Grady. If you’ve come here on a mercy mission, you can go on home. Tell Ike I’m sorry, tell my momma whatever the hell you want, and tell Kacie Jo I quit bothering to live.”
    Grady didn't budge. “You’re getting out of here and then you’re going to your hotel to pick up the bags Sam packed and then you’re going back to Caldale with me. I don’t care what I have to do to get you there.”
    Jesus. Who did this guy think he was? Donovan figured even in his sorry shape he could take Grady if he had to. No way was he going back. He couldn’t. If he broke, he could be a danger to himself or others. He’d seen it happen before, covered the stories that made housewives cry and earned all sorts of awards from media insiders.
    He didn’t get the chance to start his objections. Instead, the guard from earlier walked down the hall and unlocked the cell.
    Glory Hallelujah. Freedom for at least a little while.
    When he walked out into the sunlight, he winced in pain. Sometime in the last twenty-four hours the day had turned brighter. His body hurt all over. He wanted a drink and he wanted it yesterday. No way in hell was he returning to Caldale. Besides Maria and the kids needed him.
    “I guess I should say thanks," he said, wondering if his stash of pesos was still behind the picture in the hotel room. He’d make sure Carlita got it, took it to Maria.
    “Ditch whatever you're planning Nelson. First, we’re going to grab a cab to your hotel room. Then you’re going to get in the shower and then I'm going to take your sorry ass to the airport where we're boarding a direct flight to DFW.”
    Grady'd always been a bossy s.o.b., but he'd taken the whole General Jenkins thing too far. If he had a sister like Kacie Jo, he’d kill the man who’d done what he’d done.
    And he'd take that up with Grady as soon as he had that shower. Dizziness washed over him, and he shook his head. Yeah. Definitely get to the hotel first. Then he could do whatever necessary to get Grady to skedaddle back to Caldale and the guilt that was Kacie Jo.

    Donovan stepped out of the bathroom as he towel dried his hair. He looked about as bad as it got. Two black eyes, a busted lip. At least he was clean now.
    He thought about walking on out the door, but Grady’s voice on a one-sided phone conversation stopped him. Now that he'd cleared his head, Donovan's Spidy Senses were tingling. Grady's insistence that Donovan return to Caldale