Chapter Text
Tulip put the car into park and waited. The two of them just sat there for a while. The headlights of the bus to New Orleans the only lighting shining into the vehicle. She looks like an angel, Cassidy thought to himself.
"Tulip-" He started
"No Cass," she interrupted, "just listen to me willya,"
She took a deep breath, knuckles white from gripping the wheel. When she started speaking again, her tone was calm, words carefully chosen.
"I know what I said back in New Orleans, but I didn't mean it okay,"
"Didn't meant what?"
"I was just mad Cass I-,"
She turned to look him in the eyes.
"I was never gonna go to Bimini without Jesse,"
Cass was taken aback, mouth agape.
"Not for long anyways, I woulda come back for him eventually,” she shook her head, “Cass, me and Jesse. I can’t just leave him-”
“Why not?” he shouted, suddenly “You don’t owe him anything, Tulip, you can leave”
He searched her face for any sign that he was getting through to her.
“You don’t understand, Cass-”
“Oh I understand well enough, he walks out on you to chase his dream of being a preacher and that’s all fine and dandy, but when y-”
“YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT THAT, CASS” she said staring him down with a look that finally got it through his head that this was a lost cause.
“No I suppose I don’t,” he said turning to get out of the car.
“Wait, Cass,” she said grabbing a hold of his shoulder. She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes. He considered just getting out of the car and not bothering to hear what she had to say, but he couldn’t convince his body to move.
“Cass you’re misunderstanding me. I’m staying here for Jesse, but not because of Jesse,”
She searched for the right words, but couldn’t seem to find them.
“I just can’t leave him Cass, not here, not again,”
He waited for her to explain.
“When- when we were kids, back in Anneville,” she started, “I was having some trouble at home. Dad in prison, Mom always working, Uncle barely sober enough to recall his own name let alone take care of a kid. I didn’t have nobody. Jesse was the only person who’d even give me the time of day,” she furrowed her brows “and it’s not like Jesse had some great life either. I know he talks like his dad is the 2nd coming of Christ, but he gave Jesse more than a fair share of beatings, although as a kid he’d be tripping over himself tryna explain to me how badly he deserved it.”
She shook her head, and huffed humorlessly, “Always the pastor’s son. Anyways one day we got into a fight at school and had to get sent home early I didn’t have nowhere to go, so Jesse begged his Dad until he agreed to let me stay at their place. So I ended up sleeping on their couch for bouta week. Jesse offered to me share his bed, but his Dad said boys and girls aint supposed to do that. For that week things were good, until-” she paused, “until his dad took the time to remind me the difference between Jesse and me. He was Custer and I was an O’haire and as much I wanted to believe that that didn’t mean nothing it did. Jesse was meant for great things and I would just be holding him back. So when child services came, I didn’t fight back. I didn’t try to run or hide. I just got in the car and left without saying goodbye. I left, Cass, I just drove away.”
“Until the end of the world,” her voice just ghosting above a whisper, “that’s the promise we’d made each other and I didn’t even get close to keeping it,”
She sat there in silence so long, Cassidy was sure she had finished, but just as he opened his mouth to speak she raised her hand to silence him and gathered up her voice again before going on.
“I didn’t find out til years later,” she continued, “but that night I left was the same night his daddy was killed right in front of him. The night these psycho fuckers took him and kept him here in this hellscape.” her voice shook with conviction, “I won’t leave him again, Cassidy, I just won’t.”
“You were just a kid,” he responded quietly, “there might’ve been nothing you could do, Tulip,”
“Maybe,” she said, “But there sure as hell is a lot I can do now, so I aint leavin him, Cass,”
Cass looked down at the bottle of love potion in his hands and then looked up at Tulip. In that moment he doubted even the love potion would be strong enough to change her mind.
“I’m not leavin without you,” he stated and before she could object he added, “or Jesse. You guys are my best mates, okay, even if Jesse is kind of an asshole so whatever happens we do it together.”
He buckled his seat belt for emphasis. The bus was long since gone anyways. Tulip searched his face to confirm that he was serious and then a smile crossed her lips.
“Good,” she said, putting the car into ignition, “then let’s go save Jesse.”
~*~
“Where’s Jesse?” Tulip asked again.
From where Cassidy was hidden, he could see Tulip looking up the man from where she was chained to the wall. She had told him to hide out while she talked with Jesse, telling him that she’d catch up with him once they figured something out. When she didn’t get back to him, he decided to sneak back into the house to check up on them, only to see that they had noticed Cassidy’s absence sooner than expected and the fight was already over. Jody looked up from his crossword puzzle, a dark grin spreading across his face.
“You really wanna know?” he said staring her down.
Tulip stared back unblinkingly, but his tone of voice unsettled Cassidy enough for the both of them.
“Jesse’s in time out,” the large man continued on.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” replied Tulip tersely.
The man just chuckled and filled out another word on his puzzle.
“Lil Jesse never told you about that? When he was a kid, he used to hate the Coffin. Damn well couldn’t stand the thing. You see the Coffin is where we used to put customers who tried to walk out or were less than willing to pay back their debts. Ya find that people are usually more agreeable when you leave em in a box at the bottom of the swamp for a couple hours. It kind of went without use when we started having people pay back their debts with souls instead, but when lil Jesse came around Madame L’Angelle thought it’d be put to good use."
"Always a fighter that one. The first couple times he ’d be hollerin and screaming the whole way down. Banged on the lid so much that by the time we pulled him back up, the damn thing was half flooded,” he laughed liked he’d gotten to the punchline of a funny story, “kid was soaking wet, sick with fever, shivering like a dog. But he got real smart about behaving after that. Yep no more escape attempts from then on.”
Cassidy had heard just about enough of this lunatic's story. He was practically shaking with anger but did his best to still himself. He would’ve gone and killed the beast of man then himself, if he didn’t know Tulip had a plan for otherwise.
“You know, Jody, when I get Jesse out of his stupid curse and he kicks your ass for all the messed up shit you did to him, I’m gonna have to remember to ask him to kick your teeth in for me,” she said with a smile that was so soaked in fury it would have weaker men pissing their pants with fear, “or on second thought I might just do it myself,”
He looked up from the crossword puzzle just in time to see her slam her knee into the side of his face hard enough that Cass was sure he’d chipped a tooth. He recovered quickly and she dodged his attempt to grab at her as she made her way to the door. He attempted to chase after her only to see that the handcuff that had been on her hand, now attached his ankle to the water heater. She was halfway to the door when she noticed Cassidy outside the window. From his face alone she must’ve been able to tell that he heard the whole thing because she immediately communicated a look that said “Get Jesse,” before continuing on out the door.