“Paradise,” Jake said. “Skating, shooting, drinking, and babes. What more do you want?”

“How long have you all been out here?”

“Oh, we been here forever. But lately—” he winked “—it’s gotten real interesting.”

“They said you’ve got some trucks that need work?”

“Do I!” He gestured around the dirty yard.

“All these vehicles—and you don’t have a mechanic?”

“He died,” a thin man in a trucker cap said, then spat.

Grayson was silent, shifting on his bad leg. He had his hands deep in his pockets, and his head down, turned away from the men. He was hanging by the back of the truck with me, trying to hide. But there was no hiding.

Jake saw him. “Well, you’re no good.”

“I can cook,” Grayson said.

“Of course you can. Why didn’t they just shoot you?”

Grayson flinched, but Jake strode right on past him and came up to me. To his credit, Grayson didn’t move. He stayed standing in front of me, trying to block me with his hunched shoulders. But he couldn’t, of course. Jake would find a woman, find a weakness, a mile away. He stopped before me. He stared at me strangely.

“And you?” Jake said to me. “You dance?”

“Dance?” I thought of the gun in the truck. I thought of how fast I could run. Jake looked me up and down. His face was so tanned it looked stamped. There was a scar under his eye, a white line I recognized as a knife scar. He wasn’t much taller than me, but his chest and arms looked bulky and muscular. His neck was veined. He would be strong.

“How many trucks do I have to fix,” Dance said loudly, “to get us back on the road?”

Jake turned away from me. When he broke his gaze, I realized I had been holding my breath. I tried to recall his face: the soft spots, the weak spots, the places I might break with my fist. His eyes were small. His nose had already been broken once or twice. He was missing a couple of teeth.

“Don’t know,” Jake said. “Depends on how good you fix them.”

“Let’s get started, then.”

“All right. I like a man with initiative. Follow me. You.” He pointed at Grayson. “Park your dollhouse behind the main house. Girl ... What was your name again, darling?”

“Sarah,” I said.

“Sarah.” He repeated it, staring at me as if he did not believe me. “Right. Sarah, you go along with Jamey now. You’ll probably want some girl talk, after being with men for so long.”