by Brook Wilder
She turned, her cold eyes focused on me.
“Consider this a reprieve for saving my life the other day. If you come near me from now on, I will shoot you where you stand.”
I let her go then, wincing as she slammed the door behind her. This was not how the day had been supposed to go, but it was my own damn fault that it had. Now she thought the worst of me, that I had shot Leo in cold blood.
I might as well have.
“Shit,” I said, rubbing a hand over my face.
I deserved for her to walk out like that.
I hadn’t deserved her in the first place.
And now that she was gone, so was my damn heart.
I walked back into the bedroom, ignoring the smell of her shampoo that still clung to the air. What was done was done. I couldn’t do anything about Leo’s death or my betrayal. I couldn’t do anything to make her hurt go away or to heal this hole in my damn chest.
But I could go on the hunt for Barnes. Grant was right. I had let too much time go by, attempting to focus on what I thought would be something important. Instead I had screwed it up and had been left with an empty house and a sinking feeling that Roxanne was gone for good.
Methodically, I changed into the clothing that I would need for the task at hand, strapping numerous guns and knives to my body before grabbing my big rifle and slinging it over my shoulder.
This time, I wouldn’t fuck up.
Chapter Nineteen
Rox
I walked out of the bathroom, feeling wrung out and raw from the day’s events. Emotionally I was a wreck, barely able to keep it together when I had walked out of Neil’s house and his life forever. With each step I had felt like my life was ending, that I had just lost something very special in my life.
But on the other hand, he had admitted that he had been the one who had killed my brother. I had gotten physically sick from that admission, just making it around the corner from the house before I lost it in the bushes.
Walking into the living room, I fell into one of the overstuffed chairs.
“Feel better?”
Amy was seated in the other chair, her legs curled up under her, a sympathetic look on her face. She had been my first call, and like a true friend she hadn’t hesitated to pick me up and bring me to her house, where I had cried in her shower before putting on her clothes instead of Neil’s.
But no matter how much I had scrubbed my skin to relieve it of his touch, it never disappeared.
“A little.”
She motioned to the glass of amber liquid on the table.
“Whiskey and a damn fine one at that. It won’t take away the pain, but it will make you forget.”
I picked up the glass and downed it in one gulp, wincing as the fiery liquid burned a trail down to my stomach. I wasn’t much of a hard liquor drinker, but today I didn’t care that I would have a hangover in the morning. I wanted the pain to go away.
I wanted to forget.
“You know,” Amy started after a moment. “You do not have to tell me what happened. I will be on your side all the way.”
“Thanks,” I said, curling up in the chair. “Neil lied to me and admitted to killing my brother.”
“Okay,” Amy said slowly before nudging her glass toward me. “You are going to need another shot then.”
I laughed miserably, leaning my head on the chair.
“It’s horrible. I thought I knew him and now… well, I didn’t know him at all.”
“Men,” Amy sighed as I drank her glass as well. “You can’t live with them and you sure as hell wish you could live without them.”
I silently seconded her response. Now I would have to forget that Neil ever even existed in my life, or in the world for that matter. I hadn’t been lying when I’d told him I would shoot him. Every fiber in my being had been ready to shoot him before he had gotten home, but at the last moment I had removed the bullets, even firing at the wall to make sure I didn’t have one in the chamber still.
While he had taken many lives, I wasn’t going to take his. It wasn’t in my blood to do so, and Leo would have been so disappointed in me if he knew what I had planned to do. I wasn’t a killer, even though I desperately loved one.
“I wanted to kill him,” I choked out, tears threatening to spill over. “But I couldn’t.”
“I could make it happen,” Amy offered. “One word and he’s dead.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
If he died, he wouldn’t have to live with the pain or the suffering. It would be too easy a way out.
“Well, the offer will stand,” Amy said, crossing her arms over her chest.
I slid further down in the chair, feeling miserable. How had it all gone so wrong? I had known last night he had been worried about something, but never in my wildest dreams would I have anticipated that he would lie to me. All that time, talking about the key, the box, and what might be inside, Neil had known he had the key. At any time, he could have given it to me, but instead he had chosen to hide it.
Amongst other things.
“If it makes you feel any better, my love-life isn’t peachy,” Amy said, breaking the silence.
I looked at her, surprised.
“I-I thought you weren’t involved with anyone?”
She laughed. “That’s what I wanted everyone to believe. Can you imagine if my father found out I was involved with someone he wouldn’t approve of?”
I stared at Amy. Any man that was with her would have to be tough, mainly because of who she was and what she was involved in. I wouldn’t even be involved in the Horsemen if Leo hadn’t been a part of it.
“Who is it?”
She gave a small laugh, shaking her head.
“It’s better that you don’t know, Rox. Trust me.”
Interesting.
“Well, it’s good to know my life isn’t the only shitty one right now.”
Amy burst into laughter.
“Oh my! Rox, I swear I love you, girl.”
I grinned despite my misery. It was good to have friends who cared, friends that understood my pain. I had briefly debated on calling Sydney, but she was in a love-nest with Zack, and the last thing they needed was me moping around, hating everything that they had found together.
“I love you too.”
She unfolded herself from the chair and grabbed our glasses.
“Time for a refill. Be right back.”
I watched her leave, my grin fading from my face. I wished this was just a normal girl’s day with Amy and not the beginning of the end for me. How was I going to move on from Neil? How was I going to pick up the pieces of my broken heart and pretend he didn’t exist?
I hated this. I hated the fact that I couldn’t have him, that he had taken my brother away from me.
I hated that I had fallen in love with him.
**
Two hours later, my head was spinning, and I was hungry. Amy sat in the chair opposite of me, her cheeks flushed from the whiskey we were consuming.
“Shit,” she breathed, wrinkling her nose. “I am going to feel this in the morning.”
“Me too,” I answered, holding my head in my hand. For the last two hours we had bashed men, Neil specifically, as I told Amy everything that had happened between us. It had felt good to get it all off my chest, but it still hurt.
Oh, it hurt.
“Why didn’t you take the box?” she asked suddenly. “You had the key.”
I sighed, running a finger over the arm of the chair.
“I don’t know. I think it doesn’t matter anymore. Neil told me what I needed to hear, and I guess… well, whatever Leo had in that box doesn’t matter.”
“But you could clear his name,” she reminded me, pushing herself out of the chair with some difficulty. “Wouldn’t you still want to do that?”
I rubbed my head with my hand, my limbs feeling sluggish from the affects of the alcohol.
“I’m just tired of it all.”
I wanted to move on with my life, to pretend I had never met Neil in the first place. If it meant I needed to move out of Cibolo, I would. Besides, my salon was shit right now. I could easily go get a job in another town.
“Do you really think he killed Leo?”
I blew out a breath, looking at her with watery eyes.
“I don’t know that answer either.”
He had lied to me, he had killed my brother, but it didn’t add up. Something about the entire scenario didn’t add up. Neil had been hiding something, something very important for him not to share that key with me.
What, I didn’t know; nor did I think I was ever going to find out.
That was what pissed me off the most.
My phone suddenly buzzed on the table, and I grabbed it, wondering if it was Neil. I had been somewhat disappointed that he hadn’t come after me, wondering if he really even cared about me at all.
Unless he was really taking my threat to heart. I had been serious the moment I walked out of his kitchen. I wanted to shoot him. I wanted to make him hurt.
But in the same breath, I wanted to roll back time to where I had never found that key and lived in bliss in his arms.
The caller was unknown, and I felt a small frisson of fear snake down my spine as I pressed the send button, cutting on the speaker so Amy could hear it as well.
“Hello?”
“Your brother begged for his life before he died, like the bitch he was.”
I swallowed, suddenly stone cold sober. Amy jumped out of the chair, motioning for me to keep talking.
“What do you want?”
“I want your blood spilling out on the floor,” the disembodied voice cackled. “Pooling in a nice bright red circle like it did when I shot your brother.”
“I’m tired of this,” I forced out, as Amy started to record the call with her own phone. “Why don’t you just go dive off a high cliff or something?”
“Your mouth is going to get you killed,” it said. “Like your brother.”
“Maybe you want to say that to my face,” I answered, struggling to find the words to keep the conversation going. “Put your words into action.”
There was maniacal laughter through the phone.
“Are you baiting me, Roxanne? Your brother tried to do the same, and you know what happened to him.”
I straightened.
“I am. Come on, are you scared of me?”
I was tired of being scared. I was tired of running. Maybe this was the new me, the me without Neil to lean on, without my brother around to protect me.
They were silent for a moment, and I thought that I had pushed them to the edge. What if they started shooting now? Had I put Amy in some untold danger?
“Alright. Two days at the old mall, ten. If you do not show up, we will start killing one by one until we find you.”
The line went silent, and Amy stopped recording, her eyes round.
“You did it.”
I stared at the phone. I had done it. I had finally gotten them to comply to me and not the other way around. I was going to end this.
“We need to call Sydney.”
Amy nodded and dialed Sydney’s number immediately, putting her on speaker so we could both talk to her.
“Hey,” she answered. “What’s up?”
“Rox did it,” Amy said breathlessly. “Rox got them to meet her.”
“Who?” Sydney asked, clearly puzzled.
“The mystery callers,” I added in. “They are going to meet me in two days at the old mall.”
“Are you crazy?” Sydney asked into the phone. “I told you to let me handle this.”
“But you can,” Amy replied, looking at me, her words slurring a bit. “You can set up one of those… what are they called? Stings.”
“Wait,” Sydney cut in. “Are y’all drunk?”
I giggled, unable to help it.
“We might have had a few drinks.”
More than a few.
“Good lord,” Sydney breathed as Amy burst into laughter. “I can’t wait to hear what’s been going on, then. Fine. I will let the chief know I will need back up that day. Please, just don’t do anything without me. You need some protection, Roxy.”
“Got it,” I said before Amy ended the call. “Well I guess we have something to look forward to now.”
Amy grinned. “And my dad thought he was the only one that could trap some bad guys. We are so going to show them that we are a force to be reckoned with. I am going to prove it to him that women can be just as tough as his men.”
I gave her a faint smile, a whole new worry settling in my bones.
What if it turned out to be a member of Grayson Barnes’s crew? Even worse, what if it turned out to be a Horseman? What would we do then?
I guess there was only one way to find out.
Chapter Twenty
Neil
I watched the trio through my scope, my finger hovering just above the trigger. Two hours of staring into a gun was enough to drain me, but after had what happened with Grant then with Rox, I didn’t want to go home.
If I did, then I would remember how I fucked everything up and probably do something extremely stupid in the process.
Blowing out a slow breath, I followed them to the truck, trying to figure out how I could get them all at one time. Picking up on Barnes’s scent again hadn’t been that difficult to do, though he was nowhere in sight. I had trailed the trio from the bar to the deserted stretch of highway outside of Cibolo, an old side road that had been used to move dirt in the past. It was clear they were waiting on someone and I hoped it was Grayson himself.
Then I could put an end to this all and move on.
But for the last two hours, they had waited. Some of it was comical, how they were entertaining themselves, such as shooting the arms off of cacti and seeing who could piss the farthest. Not once had they attempted to secure their boundaries. If they had, they would have seen me easily.
I almost hated to kill them.
A dust cloud formed in the distance, and I instantly swung the scope that way, watching as an SUV rumbled down the highway, the tinted windows hiding its passengers. This could be it. This could be Grayson in that SUV, and I would have a clear shot at him.
I could end this today.
The SUV stopped not far from the truck, and I watched with bated breath as the men started to pile out, frowning as I recognized some of them even at a distance. These weren’t traitor Horsemen at all. These were Teutonic Brotherhood members.
Shit.
Quickly I scanned to make sure none of them was my cousin, relieved that I wouldn’t be putting a bullet in his head today. What the hell were they doing speaking with these outlaws from the Horsemen? I guess it wasn’t surprising, considering we were all into some illegal shit from time to time, but Grant had recently taken a stance against the guns in the hands of kids, even going as far as to cut all ties with the Brotherhood and announcing that they were not welcome in the club.
A storm was brewing, and by what I was watching, lightning was striking ahead of time.
I contemplated shooting them all but, in the end, let them continue their conversation. Grant would be interested in this piece of information and likely would want me to follow them around, hopefully leading me directly to Grayson in the process. There was no doubt in my mind that Grayson had a hand in this.
I watched them until they had left the site, then slung my rifle over my shoulder and made my way back to my truck, which I had hidden in some high brush. I was tired from lack of sleep, drained by the last few days’ events, but most of all I missed Rox.
Sliding the rifle back into its case, I climbed behind the wheel and fired up the truck, pointing it back toward Cibolo, shooting off a quick text to another partner, who would start the investigation into those I had recognized in that group. If my thoughts were correct, we were about to have a war on our hands, and it was going to be a hell of a lot bigger than with Grayson Barnes
. The Teutonic would be out for blood, and no one would be off limits then. Not only did I have Rox to protect, I would have my momma as well.
But that wasn’t as important right now as what I was feeling inside, the emptiness that was settling in my bones. I had told myself I needed time away from the house to clear my head, that the longer I was gone the quicker I would get over the fact that she wasn’t coming back.