Wiley couldn’t answer me for the pain he was in, but I reached for the gun at the small of his back and took it out of his pants. I let go of his arm, and he rolled over on his ass and jumped to his feet. He tried for the pistol, but I shoved him into the wall. He didn’t hit hard enough for it to make a bunch of noise, but he threw his hands over his head when I aimed it at him. “Boy, you need to calm your ass down right now ’fore I shoot you.”

“That’s my gun, Mr. Mack. Peanut’ll kill us both if he finds out you took it.”

I dropped the clip to make sure the thing was loaded and made sure a round got seated, keeping my aim on Wiley just to scare him. “Two things,” I said. “One, this’s my gun now.” The kid’s whole countenance shriveled. “Two, Peanut better not find out I got this gun, or it’s gone be me that kills you, understand?”

Wiley’s hands weren’t above his head anymore. They got balled into fists when they came down in front of him. It took me a second before I believed what my eyes were seeing. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

“I’ll fight you.”

“What do you mean you’ll goddamn fight me? I got a gun to your motherfucking face, son.”

Wiley dropped his fists. “They’ll hear it if you shoot me.”

“Peanut’ll come up here and shake my hand for getting rid of somebody so goddamn dumb.”

“Let’s go get that beer.”

7.

Peanut sat kicked back in his rocking chair when Wiley led me out onto the porch. The kid did a good job of acting like everything was normal and passed around everyone’s beer. Marshall took one from me but walked to the other side of the porch and stood next to Caudell. Peanut noticed this, but Wiley finally made it to him with his beer. He took the can from Wiley with a swipe, popped it open, and sucked the suds from the lid.

“Goddamn, Wiley, I thought you were fixing to let me dehydrate,” Peanut said.

Wiley shrugged it off and said, “Sorry, Peanut, I got yelled at by Miss Katie for walking in on the boys. Woke Ramsey up after she just got him to sleep.”

“What the hell were you doing walking in on them in their playroom, Wiley? I told you upstairs.” Peanut pointed above his head, and his voice raised in volume. “The upstairs bedroom. That’s where I told you Mack was.”

“Sorry, Peanut,” the kid kept playing dumb, “I just forgot where you told me to go.”

“You know what’s gone happen now?” Peanut leaned forward in his chair and was almost in Wiley’s face. The kid froze the way a deer does after being spotlighted but didn’t look Peanut in the eye. He looked down at his boots and did his best not to shrivel up. “You’re on Buford detail until further notice. Take him to run his errands, pick up his medicine, or to hang out at the Elks Lodge. It don’t make a shit to me what he tells you to do, just keep him outta my hair. And I swear to God, Wiley, if I get an earful about this from Katie, I’m gone have your ass. Hear me, boy?”