FURIOUS

by Honey Palomino

  “What?”

  “Just go. Try to stay away from Hank.”

  “I’m out, huh? Just like that?”

  “Just like that.” He turned away and walked back to his desk. He slid open his bottom drawer and pulled out a bottle of Jim Beam and two shot glasses. He poured a shot and downed it, then gestured to me.

  “Want a drink?”

  “Yeah, sure man.”

  I downed it and turned towards the door.

  “Green says you should call him,” he said.

  I lifted a hand and nodded, opening the door and walking out into the snow. It was falling heavy now, blanketing the cars and roads in heavy silence. Cars and people lined the roads, with folks leaving the dance and some late arrivals just getting there. Jackie told me the dance sometimes lasted till midnight and it was nowhere near that yet.

  Ignoring the looks I was getting, I wandered back into the gym of the school, looking for Jackie. I spotted Tara standing by a bored looking man by the empty punch bowl. All the cookies and cupcakes had been scavenged, the aftermath a messy kaleidoscope of discarded glitter and empty cupcake liners.

  “Tara, where’s Jackie?” I asked her.

  “I thought she was with you,” she said, wrinkling her brow.

  “I was detained for a bit,” I said. “I saw her run out but I thought she’d be back by now.”

  “I haven’t seen her since you punched out Hank,” she said. “Fabulous work, by the way. Seriously impeccable.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered, looking around confusedly. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I can take a punch, don’t worry.”

  I nodded, still searching for any sign of Jackie.

  She was nowhere to be seen.

  “I’m going to walk over to her house,” I said. “Let her know if she shows up.”

  “Will do,” she said, a slow smile spreading across her face. I felt her gaze walk over me and turned away with a smile. At least I had Tara’s approval, at least.

  That was important.

  I wanted Jackie to be happy. Whatever happened with Green, however all that shit goes down, in the end, I want us to find a way to go deeper, figure out what all this means, this connection we have.

  Maybe I can’t live here, and maybe she can’t live in Tillamook, who knows. But once my life is out of this transition, once I figure out what my place is in Solid Ground and things are more settled for me, then we can figure out the logistics.

  I hadn’t been very good at putting all this into words the last few days. Hell, we’d spent so much time in bed, we didn’t need words. Every kiss, every lick, every thrust and caress, those to me were the only things we truly needed to say to one another.

  Who’s to say what words are? Who’s to say what they aren’t?

  Who’s to say our fingertips don’t have their own language, one that they only whisper to our lover’s skin?

  How can you assign a set of letters to a stillness like that?

  It’s too fragile for the boundaries of a definition, ever-changing, whimsical, iridescently fleeting…

  Maybe I couldn’t find the perfect words, but I had to try.

  I had to explain, without my fists, without grunting, or growling like a goddamned caveman, just how much Jackie had grown to mean to me.

  I had to find a way to tell her.

  Because even if they fall woefully short sometimes, words were what women wanted.

  They wanted to put labels on things. Use the big L word.

  They liked it when you spelled things out.

  Changed your Facebook status to ‘very much taken’.

  I was ready. I could do this.

  I practically ran all the way back to Jackie’s house, ignoring the snow, ignoring the people out walking around or back home. And when my phone started ringing off the hook, and I saw it was Bodhi, I ignored that, too.

  He could wait.

  Killing Will could fucking wait.

  Right now, I needed to find Jackie and explain to her that she was the diamond in my sky and that I had every intention of spending the rest of my life with her.

  Her house was dark when I arrived, only the porch light shining down onto the front yard. I knocked and waited, greeted by silence.

  I looked through the window and saw the house was completely dark and Jackie was nowhere to be seen. I wandered back towards the school, strolling by the diner on my way.

  I peeked in the window and saw a light on back in the kitchen. I knocked lightly and waited a moment before trying the door. My eyebrows raised when I realized it was open and as soon as I stepped inside, I heard Jackie crying.

  I ran into the back and found her in her office on the floor. I sank to my knees beside her, pulling her into my arms.

  “Babe, what’s going on?” I asked. “Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?” I looked her up and down, but she didn’t seem to be injured. She shook her head, staring up at me with mascara-streaked eyes. She pushed something towards me and I looked down at her hands. Crumpled and creased, it was an old picture of a beautiful, smiling woman, a woman who looked almost exactly like the beautiful, crying woman in my arms.

  “Who is this?” I said.

  “That’s my Mom,” she said. “Her name was Jane…”

  The words that tumbled out of her after that were scrambled and fraught with emotion. I listened carefully, doing my best to make sense of it all.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, she was sobbing in my arms and it was all I could do to keep from crushing her with my anger.

  If I’d ever felt rage like this, I couldn’t remember it.

  Her story spilled out in spurts, but I finally got enough details to string it all together and it equaled one thing and one thing only.

  Bodhi Green was a dead man.

  I’d come to this town to help bring him down for hurting his innocent daughter. That alone was enough for what I was going to do to him. But now that I knew he’d done so much more harm, and had lived to prosper and go on to have a good life, enjoying his freedom and money, like he’d never hurt a fly?

  There’s not going to be anything left of him when I’m done.

  My body trembled with rage, every cell amped up to ten.

  I was ready to fight, fuck — I was ready for war.

  “Jackie, let’s get you home,” I said, my voice as measured and calm as I could make it. I swallowed hard, feeling like I was going to explode out of my skin.

  “Okay,” she said, sniffling. I helped her off the floor and we locked up the diner, walking the short way back to her house. I helped her into bed, kissing her gently. She’d been through so fucking much. More than anyone needed to be.

  “Get some rest,” I said. “I need to take care of something. I’ll be right back, I promise.”

  “Are you going to Green’s house?”

  “The less you know the better, babe.”

  She nodded and wiped her tears, breaking my angry heart in two, stinging my soul like whiskey poured over an open wound.

  I grabbed her face, kissing her hard.

  “We’re going to get through this,” I said, peering into her eyes. Despite my rage, love swelled in my heart, causing my entire body to shudder with determination. “I’m going to take care of this and then I’m going to take care of you, Jackie. Whatever you need. I’m here for you. I promise.”

  “Fury,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t have to fight my battle.”

  “I’m not,” I said. “I’m fighting my own. Trust me. Just trust me. I’ll be back soon and then we can talk some more and everything will make sense.”

  She nodded and I kissed her again before standing up.

  “Jackie, I have so much to say. But I need to do this right now. I’ll be back soon, babe,” I said, the urge to flee overwhelming me. I couldn’t be soft, not right now, not this minute. There would be plenty of time for loving Jackie later, right now, I needed my anger.

  I needed to hold it close, I nee
ded to embrace it, because it was what was going to get me through this. As if I was propelled forward by it, I left my crying love behind, launching myself out into the dark, cold night and towards the completion of the most important job of my life.

  Bodhi Green’s destruction was my mission.

  Eliminating him was going to be my pleasure.

  As I ran back to the B&B, his calls kept ringing in my pocket.

  CHAPTER 51

  GRACE

  I hung up my phone and looked over at Ryder and shook my head.

  “What did he say?” he asked.

  “He’s going to Green’s house. Said he got a phone call to head over there. He sounded a little weird, though,” I said. “A little off. I told him to stall. We can’t just let him go through with this.”

  “No, of course not,” Ryder said. “Fury won’t kill anyone. Knowing him, he’ll talk Green down and everything will settle down. At least the Sheriff let him out of jail.”

  “This fucking town,” I said, shaking my head. We’d gotten back to the B&B moments before Fury called us from out front. He said he was in a hurry, filled me in, and then roared away on his bike.

  “Green sure is a back-stabbing asshole,” Ryder said. We were standing in our room, but the door was open. I’d thought Dottie was downstairs but a squeak of the floor in the hallway told me I was wrong.

  I walked to the door and looked out. Dottie stood there, a bottle of wine in her hand.

  “I only get drunk on the night of the ball,” she said, slurring adorably.

  “Okay, Dottie,” I said. “Are you alright? Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “No,” she said, shaking her head. “But I heard you talking about that asshole.”

  “Oh. Green?”

  “Yep,” she said, swaying in her nightgown and bringing the bottle of wine to her lips. “That’s the one.”

  I remembered the image of her caught by the surveillance cameras and figured now was probably the best time of all to get her to talk.

  “Why don’t you come in and sit by the fire for a spell?” I asked. “It’s toasty in here.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” she said, walking past me and plopping down on one of the easy chairs that flanked the fireplace in our room. Ryder raised an eyebrow and sat on the edge of the bed with a half-smile. I sat across from Dottie and smiled gently.

  “We saw you on the surveillance cameras we installed, Dottie” I said, bluntly.

  She looked slightly surprised but she only nodded and shrugged.

  “I figured as much,” she said. “Soon as I realized the doors were locked, I figured there must be cameras, too.”

  “What were you doing there, Dottie?” I asked, gently.

  “Bodhi Green’s a fuckwad.”

  My eyes widened in pleasure at her eloquence. I nodded, encouraging her to go on.

  “My sister, Touttle, was devastated when her son died. My nephew Bryce meant the world to her. And Bodhi was supposed to be his best friend. He barely looked for him! He convinced his dad that looking on their property for him wasn’t necessary. No searchers necessary, they’d said. Bullshit! You know what I think happened?”

  “What, Dottie?”

  “I think Bodhi killed him. I don’t know why. But he’s never been the same since Bryce’s death and not in a normal way. He should have been the one out searching more than anyone else in town and he just sat in his room, let all those weeks go by without lifting a goddamned finger. I think he knew he wouldn’t be found. I think he knew Bryce didn’t just disappear out of thin air! And I think those other boys helped him somehow. Will and Ross and Conner, they follow him around like a bunch of puppy dogs afterwards, and he used to treat them like crap. They’d give the skin off their backs for Green and he’s never done anything to deserve their loyalty. Just doesn’t make sense.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you’re breaking in to their homes and business,” I said.

  “I was looking for something. Anything. Hell, I don’t know what,” she shrugged, taking another big swig off the bottle. “I don’t know what I expected to find. It’s not like there’s going to be a signed confession or something, right? So, I didn’t find much. A bunch of crap, to be honest. Just business stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with Bryce’s disappearance.”

  “So you don’t have any proof of your suspicions?”

  “Well, I did find this one thing,” she said. “But I don’t know if it has something to do with it or not.”

  “What is it?” Ryder asked.

  She paused, looking at us for a moment before jumping up.

  “I’ll show ya,” she said, padding out of the room. Ryder and I looked at each other for a moment in silence, each of us wondering what exactly we’d fallen into.

  Dottie walked back into the room, a shopping bag in her hand.

  “What’s that?”

  “Like I said,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s important, but it might be something.”

  She put the bag on the floor, slowly leaning down and pulling out a large piece of plastic covering a long, metal tool.

  “Is that a crowbar?” I asked.

  “Yep,” she said. “It was stuffed way in the back of Green’s closet. I’m pretty sure it’s covered in dried blood.”

  I looked closer, and sure enough, it was caked in dark red blood.

  “I think you’re right,” I said.

  “And there’s one more thing,” she said.

  “What?”

  “I think I know where the body is buried.”

  Ryder and I looked at her with our mouths open.

  We’d come to Greenville looking for skeletons and it appeared that a big pile of bones just landed at our feet.

  CHAPTER 52

  MOLLY

  Daddy tried the door again once.

  When he discovered it was still locked, he walked away for a moment, then came back again. The hammer ripped through my door with a heavy, sudden thud, that caused me to leap from the bed.

  I grabbed Lucky and grabbed my phone, watching as Daddy shoved his hand through the opening he’d created and reached in to unlock the door. The door swung open easily and I stood there in front of him, trembling, barefoot and terrified.

  “I told you not to lock the door, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, Daddy,” I said, my voice shaking as I took a step backward.

  He seemed to be a lot drunker and a lot angrier than before. He stood in front of me, closing the distance between us slowly, his eyes dark and menacing as he peered into mine.

  “Whose daughter are you, Molly?” he asked.

  “Yours.”

  “That’s right,” he nodded, reaching out and pushing a lock of hair behind my ear. “You’ve been mine since you were born. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be here, you realize that, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  “Good, good,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. He turned away, pacing a bit, before walking back over in front of me. He looked down at Lucky, cradled in my arms.

  “Why are you holding the phone?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. I’d grabbed the receiver on my way up to my room.

  “I - I don’t know. Just in case I needed it.”

  “It’s late, who would you need to call?”

  “I don’t know, Daddy,” I said, my voice shaking as he took it out of my hand and slipped it into his pocket.

  “Were you going to call Benji?”

  “No.”

  “Maria?’

  “No, Daddy.”

  “Then who?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t know…”

  “You didn’t know what?”

  “I didn’t know what you were going to do…” I murmured, my voice trailing off.

  “You thought I might hurt you?” he asked, his voice low and quiet.

  I didn’t answer, I just shook my head.

  “And you were going to call the cops? Who? She
riff Ross?”

  “No, Daddy,” I said.

  He nodded, his lips setting into a firm, thin line.

  “I think you’re lying, Molly.”

  “I’m not, Daddy.”

  He leaned in closer, bringing his face right next to mine. He smelled like whiskey and I wrinkled my nose, pulling away. His hand darted out and snaked around mine, forcing me to stay still.

  “I don’t believe you, Molly,” he said. “You’re lying to me.”

  “Daddy, please,” I cried, trying to pull my arm away without dropping Lucky. He squirmed in my arms, his fat little body wiggling close to me.

  “I’ve told you a million times, Molly. What does lying to me get you?”

  “I didn’t lie, Daddy.”

  “You’re still lying,” he said, letting go of my arm finally and walking away. He turned back when he got to the door. “Stay here. I’ve had enough of you. It’s about time you learned your lesson, once and for all.”

  “Daddy,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Stay here!” he barked. I jumped, pulling Lucky closer into my body. I nodded and swallowed hard as he walked out of the room.

  Instantly, I jumped into action. I sprinted to the door and watched him walk down the hall towards his room, where I knew Mama was probably sleeping. As soon as I saw him disappear around the corner, I grabbed my jewelry box, some treats for Lucky and a blanket and jogged down the opposite hallway and headed towards the attic.

  Everything would be fine.

  In the morning.

  When Daddy had time to sleep all of this off.

  Until then, I knew my only real chance of survival was if I managed to hide from him until then.

  In the morning, everything would be back to normal.

  CHAPTER 53

  BENJI

  Armed with a flashlight, a rope, the wooden baseball bat Mom bought me for my tenth birthday, and some Doritos and warm Coke, I watched Molly’s house from my perch in the woods. I’d dressed for the outdoors, layered up as much as I could and I’d climbed up into a tree, watching and waiting for the perfect moment to act.

  Actually, I was waiting for a sign.

  I had no idea what that would be, but I was certain something would happen that would show me that the time had come.