Broken Rebel (Sparrow Sisters Book 2)

by Lora Richardson

  “Rick told Dustin to put away the gun,” I continued, after they were done with my hands, “and Rick pulled out a knife. But Dustin didn’t put the gun away. Then it was Will who picked up a gas can I hadn’t noticed until then, and dumped the contents. He lit a match and dropped it. I thought I was about to be shot and left to burn, but Rick stabbed Clay and then ran, the others following him. So we ran out, and you were there by then, so you know the rest.”

  I was exhausted when they led me back to my cell. Adam was already there but Graham was still gone. “You okay?” I asked, sitting on the bed.

  He shrugged.

  “Me neither. Did they tell you what happens next?”

  “No.”

  I pressed my lips together. The officers had told me I was free to go, but that they’d be in touch if they had more questions. I knew that meant they’d be keeping a close eye on me, in case new information came to light. I’d asked them if I could go back to the cell, though, to stay with Adam. Clay would want me to take care of his brother. He’d want me to try and help him through this. I was still angry, but I wanted to do what my friend needed me to do. Plus, I’d known Adam since he was little, and I kind of liked the brat. He was just going through a rough patch.

  “Johnny?”

  I looked over to see my mom standing at the bars of the cell. I breathed out a frustrated breath and walked to her. “What are you doing here?”

  She reached through the bars and rested a hand on my cheek. ”Where you are, I am.”

  “Well, how did you know I was here?”

  She chuckled. “It’s a small town.”

  “It wasn’t me, Mom. I don’t know what rumors are flying, but I’m the one who called the cops. I tried to stop it from happening in the first place.”

  “I know, they told me out front. Since you’re almost nineteen, they tried to refuse to give me any information, but I used to babysit Mack O’Clare, so I wheedled it out of him.”

  I smiled. “I’m free to go…” I glanced behind me at Adam, curled up once again in the corner of the cell. “But I asked to stay with Adam until his dad comes. Will you go to the hospital and check on Clay?”

  “Of course I will. Do you know which one they took him to?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “I’ll find out, and I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”

  “They didn’t give me my phone back yet, but I don’t think it will be too long before Mr. Jones gets here. Leave a message and I’ll get it when I can.”

  She studied me a moment, her eyes so familiar it was like looking in a mirror. “Are you okay, Johnny?”

  I was scared. I was afraid I’d lose my best friend. I was afraid I’d already lost my girlfriend. I was worried about what this meant for Adam. “No.”

  “You got in too deep.”

  I smiled sheepishly. “You were right again, and I was wrong again.”

  “At least you admit it.” She put her arms through the bars and we hugged as best we could. When she left, I went to the corner and slid down the wall to sit by Adam. I put an arm around his shoulders, and he held himself stiffly for a minute, resisting the comfort I offered. Then he sniffled and I patted his arm. It only took another minute before he leaned into me and rested his head on my shoulder and cried.

  Chapter 25

  Audrey

  I sat on the couch, my knees pulled to my chest and my arms wrapped around them. On the outside I appeared calm. On the inside, I was anything but. I couldn’t put a name to what I was feeling, because I was feeling everything.

  It had been two hours since the fire, since Johnny was taken away in handcuffs. I’d told Valerie the story as well as I could, and asked her all the questions that didn’t have answers. She tried her best to calm me down, but I couldn’t find my footing.

  “Did Johnny start that fire?” I had asked, sobbing against her chest.

  “Of course not,” she said. “That doesn’t make any logical sense. Johnny likes Mama and Dad, and things with you are wonderful. Why would he ruin it?”

  “Sometimes people ruin things they think they don’t deserve.” I echoed Johnny’s words from our first date, and it made me cry harder. Valerie didn’t have an answer for that one.

  “They took him in handcuffs and put him in a police car. What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know what that means,” Val consoled. “It doesn’t do any good to speculate. Let’s wait to worry until you know more.”

  “I can’t help it. I’m freaking out, and I can’t stop.”

  Valerie told me it was okay, but it wasn’t. Nothing was. When Cat ran through the front door shouting that Dad’s office had caught fire, I let Valerie fill her in.

  Now the three of us sat here, wondering what on earth was taking our parents so long. My sisters beside me, my thoughts finally slowed to a pace where I could examine them. I couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Johnny’s face as they put him in that police car. His eyes had been completely distraught. Devastated. Destroyed. A light bulb going off in my brain, I stood abruptly. “I have to go.” I ran to the entryway and grabbed my purse.

  “Where are you going?” Valerie asked.

  “I was wrong. Now I have to go help.”

  “Wrong about what?” Cat asked, frantic.

  Suddenly, all my helpless worry turned to determination. I looked at my sisters. “There’s no way Johnny did this. I know him. I trust him. He’s falling in love with me and he wouldn’t do this. And he might need my help.”

  They both stood at the same time. “We’ll come with you,” Cat said. “I’ll drive.”

  I held out my hand. “No. I want to go alone.” Cat stared at me a while, then nodded. “Okay. Call if you need us.”

  Valerie pulled me into a hug. Holding me tightly, she spoke into my ear. “I’m proud of you, you know that? I know you don’t always need us to take care of you. But it’s okay to need that sometimes. I certainly need you to take care of me sometimes.”

  “Thanks, Val. Can you call me the instant Mama and Dad get home?”

  “Of course.”

  I headed out the front door at a run, angry with myself for spending so much time worrying and waiting. Doubting. How could I have doubted him? Even for a second? I wasn’t helpless, so why had I acted like it? My pulse thrummed in my ears, and I hurried toward town, more certain than ever that he was innocent.

  Finding Johnny turned out to be a scavenger hunt. First I went to Dad’s office, to see if my parents were still there. I thought they might know what was going on and I could get an update before I found Johnny. I also wanted to tell them I was sure he wasn’t responsible. But no one was there.

  Next I went to the police station, trying to give myself some worst-case-scenario warnings so I wouldn’t be shocked. Would they even let me see him? Did county jails have visiting hours? I never found out, because the woman at the front desk told me that Johnny wasn’t there. She wouldn’t give me any other information, and I was so frustrated I wanted to scream.

  Thoroughly confused, and trying not to get my hopes up, I went to his house. At this point, I’d done so much walking all over town that all my fears about driving had gone out the window. At my first possible opportunity, I was going to get my license and take the car my father offered to get me.

  Sweaty and disheveled, I knocked on Johnny’s front door. I should have expected it, but it wasn’t Johnny who answered. It was his mother. Taken aback, I smoothed my hair and blotted the sweat from my brow. I looked at my clothes—a pair of cotton shorts and a ratty T-shirt I’d thrown on earlier after I cried myself out and couldn’t take the feel of a tight waistband. My face was likely red from the heat, and blotchy from crying. I knew my eyes were red because they burned, and my hair was a rat’s nest.

  This wasn’t exactly the impression I’d hoped to make with Ms. Bright.

  But as soon as she recognized me, her face broke into a sympathetic smile, and her eyes were warm and welcoming. She opened the
door wider and beckoned me in, squeezing my shoulder as I passed. “Is he here?” I said, my voice breaking on the last word.

  “No, honey, I’m sorry but he’s at the hospital.”

  I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t get any air. I tipped forward and put my hands on my knees, gasping.

  “Oh, goodness, he’s not in the hospital, he’s at the hospital. He’s visiting Clay.”

  I stood abruptly, eyes wide. “Clay’s hurt?”

  She gave me a kind, patient look. “Come, sit in the living room. Let’s chat a minute.”

  Numbly, I followed her to the couch. Embarrassingly, my eyes burned. I couldn’t hold back the tears, which infuriated me. I wiped under my eyes and then curled my hands into fists, pressing them into my thighs. “Is Clay going to be okay?”

  “Yes. Johnny called from the hospital to tell me that Clay will be there overnight, but he’ll be okay.”

  I released a breath, that one thing incredibly relieving, but tension coiled in me again immediately. “Johnny didn’t do it. He couldn’t have,” I blurted. “But I can’t get any answers about what happened tonight. Do you know? Can you tell me?”

  She patted my hand sympathetically. “It’s been a crazy night. I haven’t been able to have a long conversation with Johnny yet. But I know a little bit. It has to do with Adam Jones.” She proceeded to tell me about Rick’s intention to rob the pharmacy, and how Clay found out. She told me it was Johnny who called the police, right at the start, and then she told me how he went there anyway, to try and stop Adam.

  Tears gathered in my eyes yet again. Johnny had put himself in the path of a tornado to help someone he cared about. “I guess he was thinking that if he got there in time, he could pull Adam away from the situation and save him a mark on his record,” I said.

  “I’m sure he didn’t think the situation would escalate like it did. There were several young men there, some from out of town, and one of them had a gun. Clay was stabbed, and then the fire...I don’t know all the details. But I do know you’re right, Johnny wasn’t there to steal from the pharmacy, and he didn’t set your father’s office on fire.” She sighed, but smiled at me. “It’s frustrating that he keeps finding himself in these situations, though. Johnny’s heart’s in the right place, but sometimes he loses track of his brain.”

  I laughed a little at that.

  “Johnny didn’t have a father to look out for him. He filled that role for himself. I tried my best, and actually, your father was a big help to me in raising Johnny. But he has his own pain, his own demons. I’m glad he has channeled his pain into a desire to help others. My hope is that someday he’ll learn how to manage it so that he doesn’t end up in trouble in the process.”

  I stared into her understanding eyes. Here she was, wearing her scrubs for work and with worries of her own, holding space for my wild range of emotions, comforting me and listening to me. “I love your son.”

  She laughed, then. “That’s wonderful to hear.” She put her arms around me and gave me a tight hug.

  The front door clicked open and we both turned in that direction. Johnny stopped when he saw us, keys in hand. He looked exhausted—dark circles under his eyes, his hair a mess, his shoulders drooping. Apparently seeing me there in his mother’s arms had sent him into shock, because he didn’t move or say anything.

  I walked across the room and stopped in front of him. He blinked at me, perhaps wondering if he were imagining me standing there. “How’s Clay?”

  “He’s going to be okay.”

  Nodding, I took hold of his hand. “We need to have a talk.”

  He flinched and turned away, dropping my hand. His jaw tightened, but he nodded. “Let’s go to my room.”

  “I have to head out to work,” his mom said, walking toward us. She laid a hand on Johnny’s cheek. “You call me if you need anything. I’ll come right home.”

  He nodded and she left. He walked down the hall and opened a door on the right. I followed him inside, looking around with curiosity. I took in his unmade bed with the gray sheets and blanket, his neat dresser, with only a few items lined up on top. I noticed the butter cookie tin, and my heart went soft. I wanted to explore, to snoop around, to let this space fill me in on everything I didn’t know about him.

  But my mind was still reeling from the events of the last several hours. I was furious with myself for doubting him. He might change his mind about me when he found out, but I wouldn’t keep it from him. I’d been so wrong about so many things. I sat on the bed and tucked my hands under my thighs.

  Johnny ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Then he put his hands on his hips and paced the floor in front of me.

  “Johnny?”

  He looked in my direction, but avoided looking at my face. “You know what happened tonight?” he asked.

  “Some of it. I know you didn’t steal from the pharmacy and you didn’t start that fire.”

  He nodded and resumed pacing. My eyes went to his hands, and I held in a gasp when I saw the cuts on the knuckles.

  “I was there,” he said, running both hands through his hair, pulling on it in frustration. He blew out a breath and dropped his hands to his sides. “I know I’ve lost you. I knew the rules going into this, and I broke them tonight. I understand.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  He was looking at the floor as he paced. “I hit Rick. And some other guy.”

  His nostrils flared, and he finally looked at me. “So I get it.” He held my eyes for one more second, then turned and faced the window.

  “What are you talking about?” I said, exasperated. “What do you get?”

  He spun around to face me again. “I’m not good enough for you, Audrey. I thought I could be, and I tried. I really did. I thought I could change. I thought I could be the man you need. But tonight proved that I can’t, and I don’t blame you. I screwed up. I wrecked it.” He threw his arms in the air in defeat.

  “You’re not the man I need?” I said, glaring at him. “You don’t get to decide what I need or what I want, Johnny. I don’t let people decide things for me. Not anymore. You think I don’t want a man who would risk his reputation to help his friends? You think I don’t want someone who would put his own life on the line in order to save someone he cares about?”

  He glared right back at me. “That’s exactly what I think. I didn’t save anyone tonight. You know what I did? I got myself in trouble again. My best friend got stabbed. He could have died. My girlfriend’s dad’s business was set on fire. If I hadn’t gone, none of that would have happened. And Adam still got in trouble anyway. I did nothing. I helped nothing.”

  I angrily swiped away the tears from my cheeks. “That isn’t true. Your mom told me you were the one who called the police.”

  He scoffed, rejecting that immediately. “It didn’t matter. It was too late. I helped no one, and lost you in the process.”

  “You think you lost me because I asked you not to get in fights?”

  “You made yourself perfectly clear, Audrey. You set a boundary, and I crossed it.”

  I couldn’t catch my breath. My heart was cracking in two. “You’ve always been so concerned about being seen in public with me. Afraid everyone will think you’re corrupting me. But you’re not the bad influence. It’s me.

  “I made you feel like you couldn’t stand up for what’s right. I made you feel like the only way to defend someone was to call for help from someone else. It’s easy for me to say, sitting there in my big house with my respected father and my cake life, that you just have to go through the proper channels. That you call the authorities and someone else will handle the mess. Well, I see now that it doesn’t work that way for everyone. Sometimes a person has to jump into the fray and be the one to help. Maybe it doesn’t always go perfectly, but at least you take action. At least you care enough to get messy. All I do is cry about it and act helpless.”

  The hard, closed-off expression melted from his face. His gaze bored right into me as
he stalked forward. He put his hands on my hips but I jumped back, holding up both my hands. He was going to try and comfort me, and I didn’t deserve it. “I have a confession. When I saw you in handcuffs, I thought you must have done something wrong. But you didn’t. Of course you didn’t. I doubted you. You don’t get to tell me you’re not good enough for me, Johnny. Not when it’s the other way around.”

  He studied me carefully, placing his hands on his hips. He spoke low, his tone serious. “If I don’t get to say it, then neither do you. Audrey, you can’t be blamed for trusting your own eyes. You saw me being shoved into a cop car; it’s reasonable to have doubts. And I did do something wrong. I shouldn’t have gone there. It was stupid, and rash, and I got myself in trouble. Not to mention Clay...I’m trying to tell you that you were right all along.”

  “No,” I growled in frustration. “I’m trying to tell you that you were.” I picked up his right hand and gently kissed each injured knuckle. “Sometimes a person has to fight to make things right. Listen to me. I was stupid before. I don’t want you to change for me. I don’t want you to hide any part of yourself from me. You have the heart I want. I’m laying my claim, Johnny. And you need to get your head on straight and see your own worth if you plan to lay a claim on mine.”

  He charged forward and grabbed me up, holding me tight to him. He stared into my eyes, both of us breathing hard. After a long moment, he pressed his mouth to mine, fiercely, claiming my heart with his actions, because where I used words, he used gestures. I groaned in relief. “You haven’t lost me,” I said against his lips. “I was afraid I’d lost you.”

  “No. Never.” He walked us forward until we fell back onto his bed, a tangle of legs and hands and mouths.

  After several frenzied minutes, he lay on his side, his head on his pillow, looking into my eyes. I rested my fingers on his cheek and traced his features. “I am changing, Audrey. You challenge me to see things in new ways. I can’t help but change a little.”