by Gorman, A.
“No shit.”
“I was called to the warden’s office. Some guy in a suit said he could make arrangements with certain government officials to get me out early as long as I went home to Bokchito and took care of a little business. They asked me if I knew this guy.”
“Do you?”
“Hell no. But if it would get me out early, I’d tell the Easter bunny I was fucking Santa Claus.”
“What do they want with this guy?”
“They didn’t feel inclined to say. Inclined to say. Those were their actual words. They’re going to use me to set him up. Disgrace him and such, like to keep him from doing his job. And if I can’t do it, I have to go back. They’re going to call me in the next few days.”
“On what?”
She pulled a small phone from the pocket the paper fell from.
“They gave you a phone?”
“They gave me my freedom, and once they tell me what the plan is, you’re going to help me accomplish it.”
“No way.”
“You can help me use this phone to stay out of prison.” She waved the new phone at him. “Or I can use the other one to put you in it.”
Chapter Seven
Ashley
Ashley parked the Tahoe in front of one of the gas pumps and went inside the station. You can do this, she reminded herself with every step. You can do this. You’re the only one who can do this. She was glad to finally get to it. Mackenna had spent the day making phone calls, confirming information, and coming up with a plan while they waited for night to fall. This had to be done at night.
The same creepy attendant was behind the counter, looking more disheveled than the last time she’d been in there, if that was even possible. This time she made a point to check his name tag. Theo.
She slid the twenty-dollar bill she’d gotten from Mackenna across the counter. “I need to put this on pump two.”
Theo looked up. He raised an eyebrow and took her money. “You alone today?”
“I am.”
“Wanna have some fun?”
“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “I’m looking for someone named Angel. Does that sound familiar?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you all you want to know about Angel.”
“Where can I find—”
“I wasn’t finished. I’ll tell you about her after you sample my product.” He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small bag of pills.
She was afraid of this. He knew one taste was all she’d need to keep her coming back to him. She knew it too. Up until this moment, she feared he’d offer her another hit of something, but now that she was in this moment, the temptation wasn’t at all like she’d expected. Did she want to take a hit of something and fall into its oblivion? Absolutely. But not with this guy, and not with his drugs. These last few months with Matt showed her what it was like to have a better yes in her life. Even if things were never going to happen with Matt, she never wanted to lose sight of the possibilities that existed beyond that better yes. If she took this guy’s pills, she’d never get back to that again. However, she needed this guy to talk to her, so she had to do something. “How about I pay you for your product and sample it at home?”
“What’s the matter? You don’t wanna party with me?”
“I’m in a hurry, but I’ll be back.”
“Yeah.” He smiled and nodded. “One hit of this, and you’ll definitely be back.”
She leaned over, exposing as much of her cleavage as she could in her V-neck t-shirt. She didn’t exactly pack for seducing a drug pusher.
“She’s at the motel. Room four.”
“Thanks.” She left the bag on the counter and walked out. She’d done it. She’d walked away from a bag of pills. It felt amazing. Her bond to drugs was by no means broken, but she’d stretched it a little farther. It was a victory.
Back in the Tahoe, Mackenna was waiting to hear from her over the Bluetooth.
“I’m back,” she said.
“How did it go?”
“She’s in room four.”
“Damn. I thought she’d be in room ten.”
“I’m going anyway.”
“Ben’s calling me back. I’ll call you when I find out what he’s going to do.”
On the short drive to the motel, she kept thinking about the pages full of details about Rebecca Hansen’s life that Mackenna had dredged up. All this time, she hated knowing her sister had used her hacking skills to get her out of her old life, but now she loved that her sister was so smart. She loved that she got access to Rebecca’s phone records and visitor log at the prison. She loved that her sister could look at it all and see the connections. What Ben could do with numbers, Mackenna could do with information.
There were five cars parked in the lot of the motel, more than she would’ve guessed for this tiny town, even for a Friday night. She got out and walked to the room with a crooked four hanging from one rusted nail and knocked lightly. A woman with stringy hair opened the door while still in the process of tucking her boob back into her exposed bra. The scent of liquor and weed was so strong, it made Ashley’s eyes water.
The woman looked her up and down, smacked her gum a few times, and said, “We don’t do chicks.”
“I’m here to see Angel.”
“Angel?” she called over her shoulder. “Did you start doing chicks?”
“Hang on!”
A man groaned and said, “Come on! I’m on my break.”
“Honey will take care of you, baby,” a raspy voice answered him. A thin Native American woman came to the door. She wiped her mouth and said, “Honey, go finish him off, will ya?”
Honey left, leaving Ashley alone in the doorway with Angel, which, she knew, thanks to Mackenna’s amazing talent, was not her real name.
“Fifty bucks.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll do you for fifty bucks.”
“Oh, no. That’s not what…I have a few questions.”
“Come on, lady.” Angel rolled her eyes. “You just cost me an easy twenty.”
“I’ll pay you for that and for your time.” Ashley pulled money out of her pocket.
“Put that away,” Angel said. “Not out in the open like that. Hang on.” She disappeared long enough for Ashley to put the money and drugs back in her pocket and returned with a key. She said, “Let’s go to my room,” and led her to room ten. Bingo. When they were inside, she said, “I’ll take that twenty now.”
Ashley pulled out her money and gave her a twenty-dollar bill and then looked around the room while she tucked it under the mattress of the full-sized bed. She had affirmations taped around the room and the Serenity Prayer taped to the television. A Bible too generic to even be a Gideon Bible was open on the nightstand. This woman was trying. This woman wanted out.
Ashley wanted to tell her she could do better, but she knew that was probably a lie. Where was this lady’s hacker sister with the rich boyfriend who had the brains to find her and the means to help her get the support she needs? Did this lady have her own Javier who she loved like a brother and was the reason she got out of bed most days? No. She didn’t, which made it all the more amazing that she was trying this on her own.
“I’ve been sober for over six months,” she confessed. “I never could’ve done it without my sister.” She pointed to the Serenity Prayer.
“Going on two years for me.”
“That’s amazing. Do you have someone to support you?”
Angel lit a cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke. “Me, myself, and I.”
“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”
“California. I have a daughter there.”
“I can help you. I can take you away from here, put you in a comfortable bed with the most comfortable sheets for the night, and have you on a plane to California by the end of next week.”
Angel rolled her eyes. “Bullshit.”
“All I need is a little information about Rebecca Hansen.”
Angel didn’t take her eyes off Ashley when she took another pull from her cigarette and blew out the smoke. “Never heard of her.”
“She was arrested in this room for multiple drug charges eighteen months ago, but I know she wasn’t buying or selling drugs in here because you’ve been sober for two years.”
“I called the cops on that crazy bitch before I even opened the door to her. Took them ten fucking minutes to get here.”
She was getting close to something; she could feel it. “And during that ten minutes, what did you talk about?”
“She wanted to get high, but I told her I don’t do that no more. The police finally showed up and took her away. That’s when I found it.”
“Found what?”
“The phone. I think she dumped it when the cops banged on the door.”
The missing phone. “Do you still have it? Can I see it?”
She retrieved the phone from the top of the small closet and offered it to Ashley.
“Have you looked at it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want nobody in my business, and I sure as hell ain’t going to go poling around in someone else’s. Especially not hers.”
“It’s been turned off this whole time.”
“That’s what I said.”
“No one came to ask you about it?”
“Of course not. She didn’t exactly embrace me in public, if you know what I mean.”
That meant it might have some battery power left. Even if it didn’t, she could find a charger for it. “This is amazing, Angel. Thank you.”
“She called me from prison, you know? She said she was about to get out and wanted this phone back. I thought, Oh crap, now she’s going to be hanging out here all the time, but I don’t know. She said some people in power was gettin’ her out early so she could do a job for them and might need my help.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“I let voicemail pick that shit up.”
“Would you be willing to tell all this to someone in exchange for an airplane ticket to California?”
“Darlin’…” She picked up her purse and hitched it over her shoulder. “You get me to my daughter, and I’ll talk to anyone you want.”
Ashley held the phone up. “Can you forget about this, too?”
“With pleasure.”
Chapter Eight
Matt
Matt could hear Rebecca screaming at the officer in the room down the hall. The town was too small for the police department to have two interview rooms, so they put him in the break room. This was the right decision; even if it meant going to prison for being tricked into killing someone, it was the right decision. Prison was probably safer than living with Rebecca now that he’d turned them in.
Sheriff Owens came in with a file under his arm, poured a cup of coffee, and picked a doughnut from a box. “You want one?”
“Nah.”
He motioned toward the room where the screaming was coming from.
“She’s got a lot of rage, that one.”
“Yep.”
“She sure is mad at you.”
Matt shrugged. “She usually is.”
“What do you make of this cell phone she keeps talking about?”
He knew this was some kind of interrogation, but he’d already told this story three times in the four hours since the police picked them up. “Like I said before, I don’t know where it is. She showed it to me and then drugged me so she could hide it somewhere. I haven’t seen it since.”
“This Angel lady who lived in room ten? She’s gone.”
“Gone? As in died?”
“Vanished. All her stuff is packed up, and the room’s been cleaned out. A witness said a young, pretty lady came to the room in the middle of the night asking for her, but that was the last time anyone saw her.”
The pretty lady. He didn’t have to ask because he was sure Owens was talking about Ashley. What was Ashley doing there? His worst fear was that she’d given in to temptation and was there looking for a hit, but he knew better. Ashley was stronger than that. He wasn’t sure what happened, but he knew Ashley had done something last night to help him.
The sheriff tossed the file onto the table in front of him. “Don’t tell anyone I’m showing you this, but I thought you might want to see it.”
“What is it?”
“The file of the man you shot in your home.”
He pushed it away. “I don’t want to see that.”
“Then I’ll tell you what’s in it. He’d been pushing drugs since he was fifteen. Couple of reports of exposing himself to a minor. Folks over in Texarkana were looking at him for some rapes. I don’t know what your wife did or didn’t do to get you to kill him, but you were acting in defense of another person. You probably saved a few lives down the road.” He took a bite of his doughnut and leaned back against the counter.
“So you’re not arresting me?”
“You’re free to go.”
He could still hear Rebecca screaming down the hall. “What about my wife?”
“Shoot.” He finished off his doughnut and pushed off from the counter. “Even a cheap divorce lawyer could handle that for you.”
Epilogue
Ashley
Three Months Later
Ashley gathered the wildflowers she’d picked and bundled them together with a piece of yarn. Next year she’d be able to use the honeysuckle she’d planted along the front fence, but for now, the wild flowers were perfect. Last week was too hot, but there was a breeze in the air this morning, so she’d walk there. She smiled to herself at the realization that she knew the way. All she had to do was walk to the old Henderson mailbox and turn right before she got to where the Cutbirth Farms sign used to be.
She opened her front door and gasped when she saw Matt sitting on the swing on her front porch. “Hey,” she said. “I didn’t hear your truck pull up.”
“I walked,” he said.
“You okay?”
“I just had to get out of there for a while. Boxing up all those memories has been tough.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“My divorce is final.”
“I’m glad. I mean, I’m sorry it was so rough on you, and it’s never good when a marriage ends, but you deserve better.”
He noticed the flowers in her hands and smiled. “I figured that was you. Thank you for visiting him. I don’t get around to it as often as I’d like.”
“You’ve had a lot to deal with.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Everything was so crazy that night, and then with the arrest and everything, and then Pop. I just haven’t had the chance to thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He looked around the porch. “Place looks nice.”
“Thanks. They gave it to me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. That whole time I thought we were fixing it up for Mackenna and Ben, it was really for me. They bought the land across the road, so they’re going to build something there. You wanna come in?” She stepped back and leaned against the door to hold it open for him. When he didn’t move, she held her hand out for him. “We have unfinished business.”
Matt stood up and walked, head down, to the front door. He stopped in the doorway, pulled her close to him, and held her tight. “You saved me.”
For as long as she could remember, she’d been the one who needed saving. Not anymore. Now she was strong enough to fight her own battles and help out with a few others. “You’re free.”
“No, I’m not.” He held her face. “I’ll never be free of you. I know what it’s like to be addicted now because I have to have you.” He kissed her cheek and whispered, “I can’t not be with you.”
They were standing in the doorway between two different lives. Being with Matt would mean stepping through that door and never looking back, which was fine with her, because she had no intention of adding another regret to the fire of her past. She wrapped her arms around him and
pulled him in for a deep kiss.
He groaned and picked her up, carrying her into her bedroom and lying her on the bed. When he climbed on top of her, she could feel him hard against her, and her body responded to his with an urgency she didn’t know she was capable of. It was almost startling how badly she wanted him. She’d feared that all those times she’d been with a man for a reason other than love had deprived her of her ability to feel, but that wasn’t the case.
She pulled his t-shirt off and ran her fingers over his chest. When she reached down to unbutton his jeans, he stopped her.
“What’s the hurry?” he asked.
That was a good question. “I don’t know. I thought…I mean…I never…I’ve had sex before, but…”
“But you’ve never made love?”
“Yeah.”
He slid his hand behind her neck and kissed her softly, first on the lips and then moved to her neck. He unbuttoned her top, sending chills through her when he ran his finger along the top of her bra. “Your skin is so soft.”
She tried to work the button on his jeans, but he stopped her. “I want you,” she said. “I want to feel you; I want to feel everything about you.”
He rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “Then trust yourself, trust me, and stop rushing it.”
He was right. She’d spent so long living her life clenched up with fear and regret because she didn’t trust herself to enjoy anything. She trusted him, but more importantly, now she trusted herself.
The End
About the Author
Genevieve Lynne grew up in a small Texas town where everyone knew each other and gossip was considered a legitimate news source. She was raised on heaping helpings of southern cooking, sweet tea, hot summer nights, and maternal guilt. Even after moving to Austin to pursue her bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Texas, she never could shake the small town out of her. She’s still working on the guilt thing. She now lives in Fort Worth with her husband and three sons.
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