Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
I wanted to shatter the phone against the wall, but it was all we had. Everyone had secrets, and this was Crosby’s.
I looked back down at the screen.
My angel: This is my sister’s number. Like I said, I don’t have a phone, but I can be reached through this one.
Crosby: All right, fine. I believe you. I wasn’t sure you’d even kept my number. If I didn’t hear from you, I was coming back for another burger tomorrow night.
My angel: Tember does make a mean burger. I wouldn’t have blamed you.
Crosby: Ah, beautiful, it wouldn’t have been for the fucking burger, and you know it. What are you doing after work tomorrow?
My angel: Going home. Don’t be jealous that I lead such a thrilling, action-packed life.
Crosby: I’m jealous of every bastard who got to look at you today. Go out with me. I’ll pick you up after work.
My angel: There’s a rodeo this weekend. I won’t get off until 11.
Crosby: I’ll be there at 10:45, waiting.
My angel: I’ll smell like fried food and livestock.
Crosby: We can go for a swim.
My angel: Seriously?
Crosby: I have never been more serious about anything in my life.
I skimmed through the texts, unable to keep reading. Not once could I remember ever hearing him talk about or talk to Saylor this way. He had been obsessed with this girl he called his angel. He swore he loved her. Had told her she was all he could think about.
I lifted my eyes to look at Linc.
“Did you read the part about a brother?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “No. I had to start skimming.”
Linc’s eyes darkened. “She has a brother. A grade behind her. She’s nineteen, by the way—Crosby asked about her birthday in one of the texts. Anyway, she mentioned her brother’s temper once or twice and needing to defuse a situation at home for him. I don’t think either of them is close to their dad. There isn’t much about him, but what is in there could be something. I’m assuming Nick Talley is the dad.
“The call log is much more extensive. She and Crosby didn’t text as much as they talked on the phone. It seems he saw her almost every night during his last month.”
Alive. Linc hadn’t said that word, but that was what he’d meant.
I went to the photos and braced myself before scrolling through them. There were pictures of her doing random things. He had taken shots when she wasn’t even looking. She didn’t have Saylor’s lash extensions, always-styled platinum-blonde hair, long and pointy hot-pink nails, or designer clothing. This girl was the opposite of her, it seemed, in every way. Darker hair. Most pictures had been taken at night with a flash, except the ones he took of her at work. Her hair was a unique shade of brown from what I could see. Her eyes weren’t Saylor’s dark blue, but a pale blue instead. One of the close-ups he’d taken was of him kissing her cheek and her laughing, and I could see freckles on her nose.
The messy bed with her hair fanned out over the white sheets made me pause. Had she known he had taken pictures of her naked while she was asleep? Quickly moving past it, I found more, and although it felt twisted and wrong to look at these, I couldn’t deny the fact that she had an incredible body.
I turned off the phone, not wanting to see any more, and held it out to Linc.
“What’s the address?” I asked.
Linc studied me for a moment. “You think you can do this? Keep a straight head?”
This wasn’t a question as to if I thought I could or not. I was going to find this girl, and I was going to find her brother. If they were the reason Crosby was dead, then I’d kill her motherfucking brother while she watched and hold her by the hair of her head, forcing her to see him gasp and struggle to breathe as blood gurgled from his mouth. The exact same way it had Crosby’s.
“Yes,” I replied.
“When you have proof, bring it to me. I’ll go with you. You’re not going alone. We don’t know anything about these people.”
I nodded, but said nothing more. The truth was, if I found out that her brother had killed mine, I wasn’t sure how I’d react. There was a good chance the small thread of sanity I was holding on to would snap, and I’d go on a murderous rampage, killing everyone she loved.
Three
Halo
Bills were stacked up on the kitchen counter. That was one of the few things that Iris had left behind. In the three days since they’d left, five more bills had arrived. Rent would also be due in a few days, and Nick had yet to come back home. I had worked double shifts all week, and my tips weren’t enough to cover the rent, but I could keep the electricity and water on if I had to. But if Nick didn’t come back, that wouldn’t matter because if the rent was even one day late, Jimmy Yerks, the landlord, would be knocking on the door.