Page 88 of Property of Yak

I feel the others tense around me but don’t elaborate as Yooper pulls onto the road.

“Just call in the tip. Trust me,” I tell Predator.

“It’s done,” he says after a minute. “I hope you know what you’re doing, kid.”

You and me both.

“Let me know if you hear anything,” I say before hanging up.

“Uh, care to fill us in?” Poutine asks.

“Aragon is at Julie’s house, and she’s there alone,” I tell them.

“Son of a bitch,” Sap mutters.

“And Predator just happened to call you with that info?” Poutine presses.

Yooper and I share a look before he turns back to the road.

“Look, after Julie’s last run-in with Aragon, I went to Predator. I told him about Sap finding her cornered by him. He pulled up the cameras and saw it for himself. Said it was wrong and offered to make sure Aragon stayed away from her. He tracks all of us, so I said yes.”

They don’t need to know that I asked Predator to keep an eye on him.

“Son of a bitch, the guy just doesn’t know when to stop, does he?” Sap mutters.

“No, no, he doesn’t,” Yooper growls.

“Has he always been this bad?” Poutine asks, looking at Yooper.

Yooper sighs. “I want to say no, but at this point, I don’t know. I know he wanted the pres patch, but even his father voted for me before he stepped down. I backed him for VP because he is a legacy. He was good, but for a while now I’ve been second-guessing everything where he’s concerned. I can’t tell if I was just blind before or what.”

“I don’t think he’s always been like this. Don’t get me wrong, he’s always been power hungry, but I feel like something happened a few years ago that made him change. I just don’t know what,” Sap adds.

Before anyone can say anything else, we pull onto Julie’s street and immediately see flashing lights.

“Is it fucked up I’m happy to see a brother in cuffs?” Yooper asks softly as we stare at Aragon being marched toward the police cruiser.

“Not if all of us feel that way,” I mutter.

When Yooper comes to a stop, I jump out. The others follow, and we take a few steps toward Julie. When she sees me, her eyes widen, and she shakes her head rapidly, making my heart sink.

Son of a bitch.

She doesn’t want me here. Not right now.

Her father turns toward us after he shuts the door, locking Aragon into the back of his car.

“If you’re here for your man, you can’t have him. He’s under arrest,” Chief Corday says.

“I got this,” Yooper mutters before breaking off to talk to him.

“We aren’t here to cause problems.” Yooper says, holding up his hands.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” I ask.

I watch as she visibly fights herself. I can tell she wants to run to me but doesn’t.

“I’m fine. Outside of forcing himself into my home and cornering me, I’m okay,” she says softly.