Chapter 78: Dinner.

Chapter 78: Dinner.

For the next two days, Gareth did everything he could think of so he would keep his mind off wherever Rusty was with his father. Cletus told him he didn’t need to fret, but that didn’t make Gareth feel better. Rusty was gone, so Gareth rattled around Cletus’s house, eating, pacing, pretending to work, and hanging out with his sister, Gwen. By day three, Gareth’s patience was worn so thin that he had to get out of the house just to keep himself from going crazy.

With four armed men as an escort, Gareth drove to the corner store under the guise of needing toothpaste.

He walked the aisles of the little pharmacy and, on a whim, bought condoms and lube. He wasn’t sure if he would see Rusty again, but if by some grace of God he did see the man, Gareth wouldn’t be unprepared.