Read Online Bang by Ruby McNally - Free Book Online

piece.
    â€œI got it,” Marisol says, taking them from him. “It’s okay, I got it.” Then, louder, “Ma’am, are you all right? Is everyone all right?” She has to lean right over Jack to speak, his shoulder pressed against her chest. His breathing is so, so fast.
    â€œHe shot the ceiling,” the voice stutters. “I think—he shot the ceiling. He’s leaving. He’s going out the door.”
    â€œGood, stay on the floor for a few more minutes,” Mari instructs. “Don’t stand up. You’re going to be just fine, help is on the way.”
    It’s out of their hands after that. Sirens start wailing in the background and their caller hangs up, safe and sound with the patrol officers. Jackson stands, stalking off to God knows where. Lucy takes another call. Mari sits where she is and thinks.
    â€œTranscript says he was speaking the whole time,” Lucy announces during the next lull. “Calm and speaking. That’s what the transcript says, and that’s what I heard.”
    Mari breathes. “Thank you,” she says. “I—Lucy, thank you.” She reaches back to fuss with her hair, reflexive, except her fucking hair isn’t there anymore because she’s an idiot who hacked it off to spite herself. To spite the whole world. God, Mari hates the world in this moment. She hates whoever the hell shot her partner.
    Most of all, she hates herself.
    She rubs her naked neck for a minute, and then she stands up. “I’m going to—” she begins, but Lucy waves her off.
    â€œI’ll be here,” Lucy says, eyes on her computer screen. “Take your time.”
    She finds Jackson out back behind the call center near the dumpsters, sitting on the concrete steps and smoking a cigarette. That surprises her—neither of them have smoked in years, or at least Mari didn’t think they had. She wonders what else she doesn’t know about him. She can see the hunched line of his backbone right through his uniform shirt.
    â€œGonna share that with me?” she asks as the door thuds shut behind her.
    Jack hands it up without looking at her, staring at the parking lot like something really interesting is happening out there. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he says.
    â€œOkay.” Mari takes a puff and sits down next to him, shivering in guilty pleasure as the burn of it fills her lungs. “There isn’t going to be a report, though,” she adds, flicking away some ash. “Just so you know.”
    Jackson opens his mouth to ask the obvious question, then closes it again. “Okay,” is all he says.
    Mari hands the cigarette back silently. The concrete is chilly under her ass, the shade of the building and the turning weather. Soon it’ll be time to make the switch back to winter uniforms, long sleeves and clip-on ties. Jackson has been wearing his own every day since he got back, buttoned up.
    â€œHow long until you know?” he asks suddenly. “If the pills, like…”
    Oh. “This weekend, I guess,” Mari stutters. “Is when I’m supposed to start my—” Jesus. She can feel her face getting hot. All their years of knowing each other, and she has never once spoken to Jack about her period. It’s not like she’s shy, either. God knows she had no problem with Andre, or any of her other boyfriends. It’s just—it’s Jack.
    â€œOkay.” He sucks on the cigarette again, pretty cheeks gone hollow. He still isn’t looking at her. “Well. Keep me posted.”
    That makes Mari laugh, this dumb little huff of air and her head dropping down, reaching back again to play with hair that isn’t there. “You’ll be the first to know, how about.”
    â€œGood.” Jack tosses the cigarette onto the blacktop, and both of them watch it roll and burn out. “I’m fine to work,” he says.
    â€œI know