Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
“Billie,” he murmured.
That was my Brett. He was back.
Relief started to trickle in.
My hands remained on his arms. His slid to my hips, as he straightened.
“You want the ugly truth?” I asked, studying him. At his brief nod, I said it, “I don’t give one fuck what you’ve done in the past. I. Don’t. Care. The only thing I care about is what you’re planning on doing or not doing right now because you’re mine. You’re my future. Nothing and no one is going to take that away, including you. So get that shit out of your head because I need you.”
He flinched, and he started to step all the way back.
I held onto him. “No one in your family could scare me.” One day I’d have to tell him why that was the case. Today wasn’t that day.
He stared down at me, his eyes darkening and deep emotion showed as he cupped the side of my face, so gently. “Thank you.”
I clasped his hand, one last time, before I let him go.
It was time to handle his sister.
63
BILLIE
We flew back to Texas two days later. Brett missed an extra day of practice and he’d be fined. He’d pay the fine. Nothing and no one would’ve and could’ve pulled him from California with his family. After Brett stepped back from me that night on the picnic table, the exchange had been heated between his sister and him.
The guy too.
But Brett hadn’t used that baseball bat he brought with him. Whether that was because of what I said, because those extra vehicles that showed up had been other bounty hunters coming in as backup, or because two police squad cars showed up not long after, I didn’t know.
He just hadn’t picked up that baseball bat and that’s what I cared about.
They parked in the middle of the street. We were on one side of the street and Shannon and her boyfriend were on the other. We found out later that not only Will and Harmony spent the entire day with a counselor, but she called in a detective she trusted. With Stevie’s accounts, her own testimony, and with enough other evidence and testimony that came together fast, they were able to move fast in bringing charges against Shannon and against her boyfriend.
Shannon thought the cops were there to protect them, so when the cuffs were pulled out, I pulled my phone out to record it all. I never wanted to forget the look on her face when they started reciting their Miranda rights.
They were taken away, one in each squad car, but more cops showed up because when they went through their house, they found another kid inside. A little boy, the son of Shannon’s boyfriend. Shannon was charged with being a part of the drug dealing business since it happened under her roof, but there were more charges.
A lot more.
I didn’t even understand them all.
That night was brutal and heartbreaking all at once.
Neither of us was hungry so we went back to the hotel after Brett talked with Monroe for a bit. (Channing Monroe. I remembered his name after that night.) The next day, we went to Will and Harmony’s, and that was one of the rawest days I’d ever experience.
I knew the look in Stevie’s eyes when she saw everyone there for her.
I recognized it because I’d had that same look one day, long ago.
It was in the afternoon when we were on the couch, she and I. We were just sitting, not even talking. Stevie was talked out. The boys were on the floor, their legs folded in front of them as they played video games. Sammy was next to her brother, playing with two dolls.
Stevie kept watching the adults, who were talking in the kitchen. Her mouth tightened, and I saw the regret on her face.
I leaned over, and said, “They’re not upset at you.”
She went eerily still, before her eyes jerked to me.
“They’re upset because of what you were put through. You were hurt and they hadn’t stopped it. They’re mad at who hurt you, at who should’ve stopped it, and also at themselves. Not at you. Not because of you. They’re upset because they love you.”
Her mouth started trembling. Tears shown from her eyes. She quickly looked away.
I pretended she hadn’t, saying, “When that man killed my friend and Jojo’s family, and when my mom and brother died, it took me a long time to figure out what that weird reaction was that people had around me. Course not all people had that reaction, but some did. The good ones. They’d get all tense and have this odd half-twisted expression on their face. Sometimes they just got real mad, their whole face getting tight and swollen. But it’s because they were mad at what happened to me, not at me. Took me a long time to figure that out. Don’t take that on. When people get like that, it’s because they’re just mad you got hurt. Shows they love you.”