‘Sit. Down.’ Tyrone growls, waiting till Clinton has done as he’s told before turning to look at Rhi. ‘He was up to somethin and we all got sucked into it. I don’t know what it was, and I don’t know where Laney is. I swear.’ His eyes swing back to me. ‘I’m sorry Tace, we shoulda taken better care of er.’

In the face of his sincerity, I find my voice.

‘Thanks Ty, but Laney woulda never let you keep an eye on her.’ I smile. It’s wonky, but I appreciate his honesty.

I always thought he was just Troy’s stooge, but maybe I’m wrong. His dark brown eyes are steady and I know truth when it is offered. And honour when it sits in front of me too.

‘I promise ya one thing though. If me and Clint catch im e’ll be sorry. And we’ll get out of im what e did with Laney.’

‘I just might hold ya to that.’

‘Yeah thanks, Ty. We gotta cruise. Catch ya later.’ Rhi drops a kiss on his cheek, gives him a cheeky wink and grabs my hand to pull me away.

We walk in silence, Rhi watching me closely.

‘Well, it’s somethin I guess,’ she tries.

‘No it’s good, cuz, I’m just tryin to figure out how we tell the mob this without anyone knowin what we did.’

‘That’s easy,’ Rhi declares. ‘I’ll tell Mum I bailed up Ty. She don’t need to know you were there too.’

‘And if rumours get around we were down at the truck park?’

‘Screw em, no one would believe you’d go against your mum, you’re the goody-two-shoes in the set.’

I punch her on the arm. ‘Gee thanks.’

Rhi laughs and wraps her arm around me. ‘It’s all good, cuzzie. You gotta love who you are, cos I do.’

I slip my arm over her shoulders and squeeze. ‘I love you too.’

Day 2, Night

Day 2, Night

Working together we get the veggies on the stove and start the oven up again. Thank God the sun has gone down and a little bit of breeze is finally leaking through. I get Rhi to burn my note in the fire pit. Mum is so suspicious right now, I wouldn’t put it past her to go digging through the rubbish. The whole thing takes maybe thirty minutes. Not long after, the cars start rolling up outside.