Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75633 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Let's get the fuck out of here,” I tell Red, throwing my arm around her shoulder.
“Wait!” Jackson again. The devil doesn't know when to shut his mouth. “Don't go, don't go, Sadie. Don't fucking leave with him.”
I give her a look. Don't acknowledge him. We have to keep moving.
But Red looks back, her eyes pained, staring at her injured brother as he coughs. His wife takes his head in her arms, shooting us a vicious look. The woman wants us gone, wants this to end just as badly as we do.
Yet, for some unholy reason, the fucker's lips are still moving. “Wait, wait. You have to stay, Sadie. It's not safe with him. Hold up. We'll talk about this. I have information...truth...”
“Truth?” She turns. I tug on her arm, begging her to get the hell in the passenger seat, but it isn't enough.
Somehow, we're still trapped in this nightmare.
I make the mistake of looking through the frosty windshield. Mia's little face is on us, her eyes big, dark, and confused. It rips my heart in two.
We need to leave now.
“Red, come on. We have to –“
“Marshal, wait.” Again, that word, this time from her pretty lips. Why the hell does something so benign as wait sound like death itself? “Jackson, whatever you're talking about, you'd better tell me right now.”
“Don't you get it, or are you just stupid, Sadie?” his wife snaps, finally breaking her silence. “He's using you. He's using all of us. Trying to make this town forget what he's all about, and welcome him back with open arms. He's the Castoff and he's a monster.”
“Ginger, stop! You don't have a clue.” There's no pride in Red coming to my defense, new daggers in her eyes, pointed at the other woman.
I just want to fucking leave. I want us to go, before there's no getting out, and this calamity becomes an apocalypse.
“No, she doesn't, but I do,” Jackson says, wincing as he stands. He looks me dead in the eye, tempting the urge to strangle him all over again. “He killed the kid's mother. I wasn't going to say anything until I was sure, but fuck it, I've got the police records.”
“What?” Red's jaw drops. Her fingers tense in mine. My heart threatens an explosion in my chest. “It was an accident. What are you talking –“
“Shit I dug up says different, sis,” he growls, never looking at her once. His eyes are fixed on me in bitter, arrogant, lying judgment. “You know why this town wasn't keen on him before he went nuts on me? Did you ever stop to think?”
I close my eyes and think of the Nameless Bitch I've tried forever to push away.
Jenna.
Irresponsible. Reckless. Immature. My worst mistake.
She didn't have a chance to prove she was a bad mother. She died before that happened, pissed away her own life chasing more drugs on a sour night.
But I did not fucking kill her.
“You'd better get yourself a lawyer, you lying fuck,” I tell Jackson, bowing up, tugging at Red's hand. I need to get her in my truck, and I need to do it now, before more steaming lies drop out of his mouth. “I didn't kill her. An accident did. I'm suing your lying ass for defamation.”
Jackson snorts, wiping at his forehead, smearing the blood trickle. “Listen to him bullshit. You know they did a solid job combing through that crunched up car, right, Howard? Just, nobody had the balls to call you on it, after the FBI said 'case closed.' Even the Feds make mistakes sometimes. We both know better. We know what happened. We know there's a pattern now. You cut her brakes and sent her down an icy road, Captain. Just like you fucking did to mine last month.”
Shit!
Fuck.
“Red, now.” The words are mangled, raw sandpaper hissing through my teeth. “We need to go right fucking –“
Her hand slips from mine. She's walking, but it's the wrong fucking way.
“Marshal...you said he needed a brake job. I remember. Surely, you didn't...” She trails off and a knife twists in my guts.
I did, and I'm guilty, but that's all I ever did.
Too bad she doesn't know. Too bad I'm so shocked, so mortified, it's hard to even speak.
I've lied to her enough. But for all I know, the asshole smiling behind her might be wearing a wire, and I'll go to jail soon if this is a goddamned set up like I think it is.
Sadie's brow furrows more with every step I back away. Then I'm slinking into the driver's seat, before Mia starts to cry.
The green eyes I've fallen in love with have never looked so hurt, so unsure. She stands there in the snow, tiny specks floating through darkness, like remnants of our universe blown to kingdom come.
“I have to go. Call me,” I say, ripping open the door.