Texas Rebels: Elias

She followed him straight into the sheriff’s office. “Elias, please.”

“I need to talk to you, Wyatt.”

“Elias.” Wyatt sighed. “It’s five o’clock in the morning. I’m going home and whatever you want to talk about we can do it on Monday.”

“We have to do it now.”

Wyatt stared right at him. “Why?”

“You asked me for a favor and now I’m asking you for one.”

Wyatt laid down the pen he was holding. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what favor?”

“I want you to release Chase McCray into my custody without any money changing hands.”

Wyatt gave a chuckle. “I think you’re sleep deprived. I’m not releasing Chase McCray to anyone. He stays in jail.”

“You released the other two boys into the custody of their parents.”

“Yes, because I know them and I know they’ll be in court on Monday morning.”

“You know me, too, don’t you, Wyatt?”

“Too well. And I know once you get something in your mind you never let it go, just like an old hound dog.”

“So you know I’m not stopping until you release him into my custody.”

Wyatt sighed again. “Elias, why is this kid so important to you?”

He took a deep breath and said the words for the first time: “He’s my son.”

“What?” Wyatt frowned and looked from Elias to Maribel. “You mean you and Maribel were a thing in high school?”

“Yes. It happened one time and we both knew that because of our families we couldn’t be together and we never saw each other again. I didn’t know Maribel was pregnant and she told me for the first time tonight. So, are you going to let my kid go or not?”

Wyatt ran his hands through his hair. “Holy cow. This is just what I need. I knew something was going on with this kid and now the Rebel/McCray feud is going to get stirred up all over again.”

“You don’t have to worry about Chase running. I’ll stick to him like butter on a biscuit. I’ll have him at the courthouse on time for the hearing. And you know I always keep my word.”

“I just can’t release someone because you ask me to.”

Elias leaned over and tapped Wyatt’s badge on his khaki shirt. “You’re the sheriff and you can do anything you want. I’ve seen you do it many times and no one has questioned you. The people in this community trust you to make the right decisions.”

Wyatt reached for the keys. “Damn it! I’m going to release him into your custody and if he does one little thing and is not there for the hearing—” Wyatt pointed to the jail cell “—you’ll be sitting in that cell.”

“Got it.” Elias took the keys from Wyatt. “I want to talk to him first.”

“No,” Maribel spoke up. “I’ll tell him. He needs to hear it from me.”

Elias faced the woman who’d just driven an ice pick through his heart. “I will tell him. You had the opportunity for seventeen years and now it’s my turn. He needs to hear this from me—his father.”

“I need to do this,” Maribel insisted.

He shook his head. “Not gonna happen. That kid has an attitude and he’s going to learn respect and manners and he’s going to learn it from me.”

Wyatt coughed.

Elias looked at his friend. “You think I can’t do it?”

“I just want to go home. Whatever you do with your child is your business. But I’ll say one thing for you, Elias. You’ve always shown me respect, even when you were in the wrong.”

“Elias...” Maribel called after him as he walked away to the cell. Chase lay on the cot with his hands behind his head. He slowly sat up when he saw Elias entering the cell.

“What do you want?”

Elias sat on a cot, facing his son and he couldn’t stop staring at him and reliving the memories that churned inside him. That night when he had come upon Maribel fixing a flat, he thought all his prayers had been answered. There had been an electricity between them for some time and he had just wanted to talk to her, away from school, away from their families. She’d accepted his help graciously and then they had scrambled into his truck to get away from the sleet.

Breathing the same air as Maribel had been as intoxicating as any beer he’d ever had. She’d smelled of strawberries, and being young and stupid and besotted he’d thought it was because of her strawberry colored hair. He’d loved being close to her. Her hair had been wet and he’d grabbed an old jacket from the back seat and had helped to rub it dry. When he’d touched her skin, her soft skin, something had happened to both of them and they’d kept on touching each other. One kiss had led to another and before either of them could stop, they were ripping off clothes and getting warm in an old familiar way.

She was the sexiest girl he’d ever touched. He remembered every emotion he had felt that night. It was like a movie in his head and he could bring it up at the oddest of times. Her moans, her smile, her long hair all around him. He remembered it almost every day of his life. And he regretted it almost every day of his life. Now, he was staring at the results of that night. The child they’d created, not in love but in passion. A powerful passion. And after it was gone, the only thing that had remained was the regrets.

“Are you just gonna stare at me, or what?”

“What has your mother told you about your father?”

“What? That’s none of your business.”

“You know we had this talk about manners and respect. Do we need to have it again?”

Chase frowned. “Are you a deputy, or what?”

“Or what.”

“Why do you want to know about my dad?”

“I’m just curious. Your mom is trying to get you out of jail and...”

Chase tried to see around the bars. “Is she talking to the sheriff?”

“Yes, he wants a thousand dollars upfront to make sure you don’t run or leave town.”

“My mom doesn’t have that kind of money.”

“Maybe your dad does.”

“I don’t know who he is. Mom doesn’t talk about him. The only thing she told me was that he was someone in high school, someone she shouldn’t have gotten involved with. He wasn’t ready to be a father and she had to raise me alone. She never told him about me, and that’s okay. We had Nana.”

“Who’s Nana?”