Daniel took my hand now as we stepped around Gorton and headed back toward our table. But from behind us we heard Gorton’s voice, even louder than before.
“Hey,” he said, “I wasn’t done talking to you.”
“Yes, you were,” Daniel said, softly enough that only I could hear.
We left Gorton where he was, alone in the middle of the crowded tent. I turned to see him staring at us.
We kept walking.
ONE HUNDRED FIVE
Daniel
BECKY AND MAGGIE had to stay around to take pictures with some of the Mercedes people, with the other riders, with each other for the Palm Beach Post, to go with the story the newspaper was running about them on Sunday.
Before Daniel left, Becky said to him, “What happened between you and Gorton the other day?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“Something,” she said.
“We can talk about it later,” Daniel said, before saying good-bye to the others, telling Maggie he would see her in the morning.
Then he was walking toward the door.
“Don’t let that guy get to you,” Gus said to him. “He freely admits that he screws with people because he can.”
“Thank the Good Lord that he only has a piece of one of our horses,” Caroline said.
“Still the biggest piece, Mother,” Maggie said.
“Don’t remind me,” she said.
Daniel was finally outside then, happy to be breathing fresh air. Happy to be out of that tent. But he had once again kept himself and his temper under control. Now he just wanted to get home. As usual for sponsor events, there were golf carts lined up to drive the patrons back down the hill to the VIP parking lot. But it was still early, so Daniel was the only one leaving right now. He was happy this part of his night was over and that he could be alone. He breathed deeply, looked up at the stars, and started walking toward the parking lot. He looked over his shoulder and saw the lights from the back of the tent, and heard the voices from inside, as the party continued without him.
He saw Gorton coming right at him.
“You don’t walk away from me like that, especially not with people watching,” Steve Gorton said.
Even in a tent full of people, Daniel thought, Gorton had probably imagined that everyone was looking and that all of the cameras were trained on him.
“I thought we were finished after I wished you luck on Sunday,” Daniel said.
“We’re done talking when I say we’re done talking,” Gorton said. “That’s the way it works for guys like me and guys like you.”
Guys like you.
Gorton smiled. It was, to Daniel, a particularly ugly sight. As if he had put on a clown mask.
“I was not comfortable with you talking about Becky that way in front of her,” Daniel said.
“Get over it,” Gorton said. “I was paying you a compliment. Don’t think I haven’t thought about what she might be like in the sack.”
Breathe in, breathe out.
“You need to stop talking about Becky now,” he said.
Gorton still had the ugly smile on his face. He hadn’t moved any closer to Daniel. Still, Daniel felt the distinct sensation that Gorton was crowding him.
For now, it was just the two of them out here.
“What, you gonna marry her?” Gorton said. “Do one of those green card things? Way to go, dude. Win-win.”
“Shut up,” Daniel said.
Gorton’s smile disappeared.
“Excuse me?”
“I told you to stop talking about Becky,” Daniel said.
“I don’t think so,” Gorton said.
Daniel hadn’t gotten into a fistfight since he was a boy. Once they got here from Mexico his father had told him that he must walk away, no matter how much he was provoked, no matter how much the other man wanted to fight.
Walk away.
He turned to leave and Gorton spun him around.
“No shit,” he said. “If I was the one hitting that I’d be telling everybody.”
“I won’t tell you to shut up again,” Daniel said.
“Or what, chico?” Gorton said. “You gonna defend your girlfriend’s honor by kicking my ass? Well, here I am, you dumb bastard.”
He was like the drunkest man in the bar, Daniel thought. Only he wasn’t drunk. Just being himself. Mean as a rattlesnake. Just much louder.
“Please lower your voice,” Daniel said.
Gorton, taller and heavier than Daniel, shoved him then.
The move surprised Daniel, staggered him back a couple of steps. He nearly went down.
Suddenly Gorton was completely out of control, throwing a wild punch, one Daniel could see coming from a mile away, giving him plenty of time to snap his head back and out of the way. Gorton hadn’t come close to connecting.