It wasn't just a black eye. There was bruising and swelling around his eye and his mouth. If he had been fighting with a man when this happened, then he had certainly been hit more than once. Michael acted like he wanted to let it go and not discuss it, which was unbelievable to me. I couldn't get past it.
Then to add to it all, Michael tried to sneak away without talking to me. He slipped out after we got everything unpacked. He had my dad help him unhitch the trailer, and he decided to up and leave while he was out there. I ran to the driveway to catch him when I saw what was going on. He stopped and rolled the window down.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Home," he said. "I'm tired. I need a shower."
"You didn't even tell me you were leaving. I haven't seen you in two days."
"I told your dad I was leaving. He obviously told you."
"Gosh, Michael, what's going on? It's weird that you show up here with your face like that, and then you want to leave without saying goodbye to me. Who did this to you? What happened exactly? You haven't even talked to me about it. Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because, whatever, Laney, maybe I don't want to talk about it. It was just a stupid fight."
"With who?"
"That dude, James. He's just an idiot with a bad temper. He got mad and sucker-punched me because I beat him at pool. It's nothing. Guy stuff. I don't want to talk about it. I already told you this, and you keep coming out here, chasing me down and asking me questions."
"He sucker-punched you?"
"Yes, Laney," Michael said impatiently.
"And he did this to you because you beat him at a pool game?"
"Yes. But that's not even the point. It was just a stupid fight. I've been on the road all day, and I'm ready to get home and take a shower."
He drove off with no closure whatsoever, and I walked inside, feeling like I might be sick. Guy stuff? Michael had never gotten into a fight before. I couldn’t understand why he was just shrugging it off. I went straight to my brother after he left.
"Why would your friend do that to Michael?" was the first thing I asked Daniel when I found him in the kitchen.
He looked at me, smiling a calm, almost apologetic smile as he gave a little shrug. "I don’t even know the whole story," Daniel said. "They were out late last night, and Michael was at my house like that when I woke up this morning. I was busy with getting on the road, so I didn't talk to him much about it. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it, honestly."
"He said James did it," I said.
Daniel nodded calmly. "I know. That's what he said to me, too. I wasn't surprised because that's who he was out with last night."
"Are you talking about your friend, James? The one who deals cards?"
"Yes."
I stared at my brother, blinking, feeling shocked. "You weren't surprised that he beat up my boyfriend? Is it normal for him to beat people up?" I asked.
"No," Daniel said. He blinked and stared at me, unmoving. We were standing in the kitchen, and he was holding onto Abby like he never wanted to let her go again.
"Well, why did he do that?" I asked, since I seemed to be missing something.
"I have no idea, but…" Daniel closed and then opened his mouth, hesitating just the right way where I knew he wanted to say something else.
"But what?" I said.
"I don't know what to tell you," he said reluctantly. "I just know James wouldn't do something like that for no reason."
"Well, neither would Michael," I said, being defensive. "He's never done anything like this before."
"You should just talk to Michael, then," Daniel said.
"He doesn't want to talk about it. He said it was guy stuff."
Daniel made a moaning, stretching noise, holding on to Abby and making it obvious that he was relieved to see her. I hated to ruin his homecoming with all of these questions, but I just couldn't let go of the fact that my boyfriend's face was dented-in when he got home.
"Was it maybe an Army thing?" I offered. "Like an initiation into their group or something?"
"No," Daniel said.
"Why don't you call James and ask him what happened?" Abby asked.
"Why don't you just ask Michael?" Daniel said, skipping over her question and looking at me.
"She said she did," Abby said.
She was trying to convince Daniel to call James, and for that I was thankful.
"Yeah, can we call your friend and just see what he says?" I asked. My expression shifted to one of confusion and disbelief. "I remember James from the fights in Atlanta. I thought he was cool back then."
"He is cool," Daniel said.
"Then can you please call him and ask him what happened real quick? Or can I?"
Daniel gave me a sideways look as he reached out for a pen and a pad of paper that happened to be sitting on the counter near the telephone.
"I'll write down his number and you can call and ask him, but I…" Daniel paused in mid-sentence as he wrote James's phone number on the piece of paper.
"But you what?" I asked as he handed it to me.
"But I don't understand how it's not easier for you to just talk to Michael."
I didn't know what to say to that. I didn't have an explanation. Call it gut instinct, but I had the feeling that James would be more willing to talk about what happened than Michael was.
I took the paper from him. "Do you mind if I use the phone in your office?" I asked, looking at both of them.
"Not at all," Abby said.
"I'll pay you back for the long distance," I said as I took off in that direction. "Just let me know how much it is when the bill comes."
Chapter 3
I sat in the office at my brother's house. I should have been out there with everyone else, but instead I was in a back office, playing detective.
Things just didn't feel right to me. Maybe everyone else could shrug off the fact that Michael came home beat up, but I couldn't. I had to get to the bottom of it. I dialed the number on the piece of paper, not knowing what I would say when James picked up.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hello, is this James?"
"Yes," he answered.
"James, Daniel King's friend."
"Yes, I'm Daniel King's friend."
"What's your last name?" I asked.
"Graham. Why? Who is this?"
"Oh, yeah, it's, I'm sorry. This is Laney King. I'm Daniel's sister. I remember your last name now. James Graham. I just couldn't think of it."
(I was nervous, and I always rambled when I got nervous. I couldn't believe I had placed the call and that he had actually picked up.)
I continued speaking, though.
"I was wondering… I saw… Daniel and Dad and Michael got back a little while ago, and I saw where… they'd been on the road all day, so Michael went home right away, but I saw that you two had a misunderstanding. Well, I noticed his face, and then he told me he had a misunderstanding with you. Something about a pool game?"