by Mary Stone
20
It was a nice day. Perfect, really.
I felt it in my bones.
The street Dina lived on was surprising. Little more than a slum. The road was clogged with cars, many of them sitting on blocks at the curb. That was good, though. With them in the way, she couldn’t see me parked in the roundabout at the end of the potholed street.
But I could see her.
I’d been in this row of shitty apartments once before. Kid I went to school with lived here, and I was invited to a birthday party that had ended with his mom and dad fighting about the cost of the cake.
They were as bad inside as out. Old as the hills. Cramped. Good for people who didn’t expect much out of life and weren’t really worth a hell of a lot.
Dina Avery qualified.
It was actually kind of funny in a sad, desperate sort of way. The bitch tried to pretend that she was important. Wore nice clothes, drove an expensive Jeep. It was all surface, though. A shiny veneer that covered the rot of her real life.
Disgusted, I watched as she carried a big duffel out on one shoulder. Jesus, she had bigger biceps than me. She tossed it into the back of her Jeep, pulled her phone out of her tight jeans, and glanced at the display.
I’d been watching Dina Avery for some time. I knew she was a lesbian because I’d seen her with her last girlfriend or wife or whatever. The girl was pretty cute, which pissed me off to no end. How that freak of nature could get a cute girl like that when I was still single was beyond me.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on my own inability to get laid. I had a job to do.
And from Dina’s movements, it looked like I needed to move quickly.
The bitch was trying to skip town.
Dammit.
First, I’d gone to the rattrap on Route 6 to check up on Linc Coulter, only to find out that he and his girl had vacated the area. Pussies. Probably turned tail and went back up to North Carolina because they couldn’t stand the heat this kitchen was pouring out. Now, Dina was leaving?
This wasn’t good.
I needed to do something, and quick.
I watched as she jogged back inside, only to return a few minutes later with her dog. White German Shepherd that growled every time the damn thing saw me.
I didn’t know much about dogs. In fact, the whole lot of them could just go to hell. I was only five when a big black one had nearly taken my life. I still had the scars on my belly, arms and legs as a memory of my six weeks of hospital stay. Rabies in addition to the torn muscles and broken bones. Those shots had sucked.
But none of that sucked as much as what happened after.
Clear as day, I still remembered my parents fighting over the hospital bills. Still remembered having to sell our house and move in with my grandparents. Still remembered how my uncle snuck in my room…
I slammed my hands into the steering wheel before gripping it hard and shaking…shaking…shaking. My vision dimmed as my breathing came too hard and too fast.
It’ll be okay.
The sound of your voice was like drinking hot chocolate on a cold day. It warmed me. Soothed me.
For now.
I had no time to be soothed because a car door slammed, bringing me back to the present. Back to the bitch and her dog. The one taking a dump on the grass.
Stupid fucking dirty animals.
That was yet another reason that people like Dina, and Kevin, and all the others just pissed me off. They just loved those stinking animals. Treated them like family.
What a crock of shit. A dog’s in your life for…what? Ten years? That was a blink in the life of a human. Most humans, anyway. The humans that weren’t abandoned and left to die because the weather got too bad. The humans whose lives weren’t cut short because the people who were supposed to rescue them turned chicken.
My teeth hurt from grinding them too tightly.
It was their fault. Her fault. The dog’s fault that you are gone.
You couldn’t replace family. Family was everything. These assholes just didn’t get it.
They valued animals more than they valued human beings. They proved that with you, didn’t they?
Well, I now valued the money I got from selling Beez and Kevin’s mutts on the black market. Twenty-five thousand dollars each. I still couldn’t believe it. Now, when I was finished with my mission, I could buy a plane ticket to Costa Rica. I could run away from these memories, knowing I brought justice to you.
Remember how we talked about going there? Just me and you. Living on the beach, escaping this life. It was one of the reasons you wanted to be a Girl Scout, so that you would know how to live on the run when we finally escaped that house.
A sharp bark made me jump, and I sank down in my seat when I noticed the white dog staring in my direction. Dina Avery looked too, following her dog’s line of sight.
Could they see me?
Feel the hate I projected in their direction?
Did my anger cause the hair to raise on the back of her neck?
I hoped so. I hoped she pissed her pants when she finally faced me, knowing that her death was imminent.
Turning her back on me, Dina shushed the dog and called for him to jump into the Jeep. I was out of time. Out of options.
I looked around. As crowded as this shit neighborhood was, there wasn’t a soul around that I could see. Not another dog, or a kid going by on a tricycle…not even a squirrel.
We were alone. Mercifully alone. The luck I was having felt like a miracle. Like someone up there was trying to tell me something. This is the time. Go for it.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel. In two minutes, she’d be gone, and for who knew how long? I had to make a choice or lose her forever.
And that wasn’t an option.
I needed to act.
Inspiration struck as I watched her look both ways from the driver’s seat of her car and start to slowly back out of her driveway.
Not giving myself a chance to overthink it, I threw my car into drive and punched the gas.
I surged forward, my speed hitting thirty miles per hour when I clipped her back taillight.
Bang. Contact.
Ready to launch.
She lurched to a stop. I saw her face in the driver’s side window, twisted in anger. Though my windows were closed, her words hit me, loud and full of rancor. Watch what you’re fucking doing, you asshole!
I smiled.
Taking a cleansing breath, I stretched my shoulders before rolling and cracking my neck. As I reached down to the lever at my feet and popped the trunk, I forced a contrite look on my face before opening my door.
“Oh, my, I’m sorry,” I said, running my hands through my hair.
She hopped from her Jeep, all pistons firing. She’d barely looked at me before screaming, “What the hell are you doing?” She pointed at the orange remains of her taillight shattered on the pavement. “Look at what you did! Are you insane?”
This was good. The more of an asshole she was, the less regret I’d feel later.
Oh, who was I kidding? I wasn’t going to regret this in the least.
Bring it, bitch.
“You really don’t know how to drive, you—” She stopped as I approached, heading not for the impact spot, but for the door of her car. I reached behind her and slammed the door to her Jeep, locking the barking dog inside. She stared at me in confusion. “What are you—”
A glimmer of recognition crossed her expression a split-second before my fist connected with her jaw. Bingo. That was it. The money shot. Hit her like a ton of bricks. She didn’t even have time to put up her hands to defend herself.
She was ex-army? Seriously? With one hit she folded like a swoony, graceful little lady right into my arms. Night-night.
I scooped her up and carried her to my open trunk, dropping her inside. Slamming it shut, I looked regretfully at the dog still barking its head off. I didn’t have time to take it too. Another twenty-five thousand would have c
ome in handy, but I couldn’t spend it if I was sitting in a jail cell.
I needed to move.
Jogging to the front of my car, I quickly slipped inside and scanned the neighborhood.
Not even a squirrel. Jesus, I must’ve been doing something right.
Pulling the cap down over my eyes and pushing the sunglasses higher up on my nose, I turned up the radio loud as I drove, out of town and to a dirt service road in the woods, near the park. As I navigated into tree cover so thick it was nearly dark as night, I thought about what to do.
This wasn’t in the plan, you know? But you know how I felt about these things. Obstacles were made to be overcome. And I’d take care of her. Then I’d move on to the main attraction. It wasn’t long now. I needed a great big finale. One that would knock their socks off.
When the idea came to me, I whistled the theme for Mayberry. Good old Andy Griffith. We loved that stupid show too. Nothing ever went wrong there that couldn’t be fixed in half an hour. Nothing too bad ever happened. No death. No grief. No stupid-ass, know-it-all lesbians fucking everything up.
I slowed to a stop, then went around back and popped the trunk again. I smiled down at a drowsy, disoriented Dina, who was struggling to come to.
“Well, what have we here?” I said with a smile, patting her cheek before leaning in to whisper, “Hello, worm. Ready to dangle?”
21
Linc walked out of the barn after feeding the animals like he always did.
One thing that was different? Kylie’s face in the window. She was watching him. Again.
She held up a hand in a wave, a too-bright smile on her face. But he could see the strain etching lines on her pretty face. She was worried. About him.
Forcing a smile of his own, he waved back.
It’d been a day since they returned from Tallulah Gorge. Since then, things had gone back to normal, at least, some semblance of normal. He’d scarcely been able to go anywhere or do anything without her tracking his every move, hovering over him.
“You okay?” she called to him through the screen of the open window, where she’d been working on her computer.
He nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. His shoulder was definitely getting better, so that wasn’t her concern. No, Kylie was concerned that some homicidal maniac would jump out of the bushes and carry him away. Even though he was bigger than most guys, even though they were all the way up here, practically in the heavens above Asheville, Kylie must’ve thought it was only a matter of time before this guy struck.
He laughed a little as she pressed her lips together. “Are you sure?”
“Seriously, I’m fine.”
She stared at him, like she was trying to decide whether or not he was telling the truth. Part of him liked her attentiveness, but part of him wanted to scream, Enough already!
He walked to the window and looked up at her. “Let me guess. Dina hasn’t replied?”
She sighed. “No, and I’m getting worried. She added me to her small friends list, so I thought she might actually update me like she promised. But…nothing. Can you believe it?”
Yeah. Linc could. Dina wasn’t the type to take too kindly to being told what to do, even if she did have a little crush on his fiancée. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Yes. But I told her to text us because we were worried. You’d think she’d listen.”
“She’s driving to visit her family. I’m sure she’s busy.”
Kylie picked up her phone and studied it again. “I’ve sent her six texts. And nothing! Can you believe it? How rude! How blatantly, completely horribly rude!”
Linc cringed. “Six? Kylie, honey, you need to relax. I know Dina. She can easily get annoyed by that kind of thing.”
Kylie scowled, but he could see the fear behind the expression. “By me caring? Really?” She crossed her arms, hugging herself tight. “Or is she like you? Remember, how you didn’t even know how to text until you met me?”
Linc remembered that. They’d had quite a blowout over it, when their relationship was still in its nascent stages. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to text. He simply wasn’t as attached to his phone and being “social” the way she was. Kylie lived to communicate in one form or another. She was constantly thumbing in messages to one friend or another, all day long.
Kylie fisted her hands on her hips when she caught him smiling at the thought. “What’s with the stupid grin? And how do you know what she’s like? What, did you two date or something, back in the day?”
He wouldn’t have been able to stop the laugh from bursting from his mouth if he’d bolted his lips shut.
She stood up, her eyes on fire. “What? What does that mean? Did you…? Did you two have a hot sexual relationship that—”
He held up both hands. “Calm down. I can’t talk to you with this screen between us. Why don’t you take a break and come outside? It’s nice out. Let’s have a beer on the porch.”
She didn’t say a word, just shut the window against the cool air streaming in and pulled the curtains together. A minute later, she came through the screen door with two open beer bottles. The dogs came out too.
She handed one of the beers to him and sat down on the porch swing. The dogs settled at their feet. “Is this how you break to me that you and Dina once had a torrid love affair? Because I’m telling you, I saw the way she looked at you.”
He snorted, took a swig of his beer, and leaned back next to her. “And how did she look at me?”
Kylie gave him a wounded look. “Like she wanted you. Obviously. And you just played all dumb about it.”
He laughed. “I thought you were supposed to be good at reading people. What happened to your spidey sense?”
She shoved him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She was obviously getting angry from his poking fun at her, but he couldn’t help it. He had to admit, he liked her attentiveness, and he also liked her being jealous too. But really, she had no need to be.
He decided to put her out of her misery.
He shrugged. “What I mean is that you’re more of Dina’s type than I am.”
“What…” Her eyes drifted away, then suddenly snapped to his. “You mean…she’s gay?”
“Yeah. She was even married a couple years ago. To a woman. Didn’t last, though,” he said with a grin. “And I have to tell you that her ex-wife looked a little like you. So yeah. I was more worried she was putting the moves on you, when you two were speaking.”
She gasped. “You mean…”
He nudged her. “Ever think of playing for the other team?”
“No!” she said, grabbing his hand. She sat back, stunned, then lifted the beer to her lips. She almost took a sip, then stopped. “So she was flirting with me back at the press conference, and I was just being a dumbass.”
“Uh-huh. In a nutshell.”
Her cheeks turned a rosy pink as she stretched her slippered feet out and rested them on Vader’s fuzzy side. “You think I’m her type?”
He gave her a double take. “What? Are you interested?”
“No! I’m so embarrassed, though. I mean, I hope I didn’t lead her on. I wouldn’t hurt her feelings for the world.”
“Relax.” He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Not saying you did. You’re just naturally cute, and people naturally want you. That’s what I worry about.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You worry about that? Seriously?”
“You know I do.”
“But I only have eyes for you.” She sang that part, then beeped him on the nose. “Not Jaxon, not Dina, not anyone else. You know that, right?”
He wrapped his arm around her, and they sat on the swing, moving leisurely back and forth as they enjoyed their beers. For the end of November, it was unseasonably warm, and the snow that had fallen in the mountains recently had all but melted away. In a just over a month, it would be a brand-new year.
And then…the wedding.
They hadn’t discussed it mu
ch at all. Not since the day she was supposed to go shopping for wedding dresses. With all that had happened and all that was on their minds, wedding planning had definitely fallen by the wayside.
But they had time.
Intellectually, he knew it didn’t matter when it happened. Eventually, it would, whether this month or a year from now. But for some reason he couldn’t explain, he wanted that ring on his finger. That paper in his hand.
Maybe it was because he’d spent so many years running from people that he wanted to stand in one place and scream…this is my life. My wife. My future.
And maybe he just wanted to prove to himself that he wasn’t so scared anymore. That he wasn’t worried so much about failing people who counted on him. Not like…
He took a sip of his beer, refusing to think of his buddies.
The therapy had helped, but there were still times when he saw that scene as if it were happening in real time, right in front of him. Maybe that would never fully go away. Maybe the sadness and guilt of being the lone survivor would never fully fade.
Kylie snuggled against him, and he breathed in the scent of her hair. The realness of her. And smiled.
She’d swept into his life like a tornado, tossing him this way and that.
He had thought he wanted quiet and peace, but he was thriving on chaos and laughter.
Thriving on Kylie.
His wife.
Some day.
But today, he had other things to think about. Other people to think about. His friend.
As if reading his mind, Kylie said, “Have you heard any more about Will?”
He took another long drink of beer. “They ruled it an accident and suspect it to be alcohol-related, though Will’s body lay in the woods too long for a positive ruling. The police think he might’ve been spooked by a deer or a fox and was too impaired to correct his vehicle. The skid marks in the area are consistent with that.”
Kylie sighed and rubbed his arm, the long up and down strokes immensely soothing. “How awful.”
“Yeah. But I don’t know. He was a drinker, sure. But he was careful too, when he knew he had to drive, especially since he’d gotten slapped with a DUI once before. Maybe he had something that just threw him for a loop.”