“Better for who?” I asked, shifting my body away from that creeping hand.

“For everyone,” Land snapped. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” The rain had picked up, sharp taps on the roof and a steady stream across the windshield, closing us in. “And now you’re wanting me to disrupt all that.” Land shook his head. “It’s a problem, Eve. It’s gonna cause me some grief.”

My stomach sank. I knew what he meant. A little tit for tat. How many times had I seen my mama caught in the same trap? It seemed the fate of women the world over. “What do you want?” I said, voice flat. I’d heard whispers about Land for years, so I already knew. But I was going to make him say it, at least.

Land eyed me for a second and then took my hand, limp and cold, in his and pressed it against the front of his pants. Rubbed my slack palm over his hardening dick. “But with your mouth.”

I swallowed, kept my eyes on the rain pelting the windshield. “And if I do?”

“Then I take care of Jimmy Ray for you. Make sure he stays gone.” He pushed up into my hand, his breath coming faster.

I wanted my hand to come alive, pictured my numb fingers closing hard, nails digging into flesh. Leaving blood and permanent damage behind. But Junie is what stopped me. The vision of her face, eyes wide and cheeks streaked with tears. Her tiny voice—Mama?—as she watched Jimmy Ray crush my wrist in his fist and heard me scream out in pain. I hadn’t been able to protect her from that. But this could be a secret. She would never have to know, never have to see with her own eyes what I’d been reduced to. We’d be free of Jimmy Ray, once and for all. And I’d be the mother she needed from now on, the mother she deserved. No more mistakes. It seemed almost like poetic justice, in a way. Jimmy Ray was my fault, my moment of weakness. This would be my punishment.

It didn’t take Land long, I’ll give him that. Thank God for small mercies, as my mama would say. But he was rough, hand knotted in my hair, pushing down while his hips shoved up, barely giving me room to breathe. Rough enough that my injured mouth started bleeding again, red smeared across his skin by the time I was done.

In the end, it was worth it. Land was as good as his word, and Jimmy Ray stayed away. Cal kept his job and his life. And Junie was spared watching her mother being beat to hell over and over again. If she remembered Jimmy Ray and what he’d done to me, she never mentioned it. Maybe she’d forgotten, or maybe it was locked inside her mind. One of those hazy early-childhood memories that could be chalked up to a bad dream or an overactive imagination. But I never forgot. Not Jimmy Ray and especially not Land. My wrist still throbbed on occasion, when I slept on it funny or saw Jimmy Ray’s truck in town. But the memory of Land—a swirl of bitterness and shame in the back of my throat—that taste never went away.