by K. C. Lynn
“What the fuck do you need that for?”
I look over at Jaxson. “Are you going to try and tell me you’re not packing?”
He glares at me, “Of course I am. So you don’t fucking need that. It will be too fucking tempting for you.”
I grunt, “Don’t worry about it. You know I could kill him with my bare hands if I wanted to, a gun doesn’t mean shit.”
Reaching under my seat, I pull out the wooden baseball bat I stashed in there last night.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Jaxson mutters.
I hand the bat over to Cade, “Hold this please.” He takes it from me without question.
“How the fuck is it I’m being the fucking reasonable one here? Evans, you need to keep your fucking cool, man. I’m serious.”
“Jesus, I told you what my priority is. Quit acting like a fucking chick and let’s go.”
“Chick, my ass, I’ll fucking remind you just how fucking un-chick-like I am when we’re done with this shit.”
I ignore his grumbling threat and get out of the truck; Jaxson and Cade both follow behind me as we walk up to the door. One neighbor, who walks out to get his paper, walks back in when he sees the three of us. I’m assuming the bat Cade is holding doesn’t look all that good.
Wasting no time, I knock. When there’s no answer I start fucking banging on it, knowing the son of a bitch is home.
Finally there’s movement on the other side. “Hold the fuck on!”
The door swings open, revealing the most pathetic fucking sight I’ve ever seen in my life. A grown man who looks like he hasn’t showered in a fucking week and smells like it too. His blonde hair, that’s started to grey, is in a greasy mess; blood- shot eyes are sunken in on a pale face. He’s tall and his body isn’t in as bad as shape compared to the rest of him.
“What the fuck do you want?” he rasps, sizing up the three of us.
“You Earl Morgan?” I ask, even though I’m pretty fucking positive he is.
“Yeah, who the fuck are you?”
I smile, but there’s nothing friendly about it. “I’m a friend of Grace’s.”
Recognition dawns in his eyes before they narrow. “Listen, like I told the other guy. I don’t know where the fuck that whore…”
I don’t let him finish. My rage breaks loose and I kick the fucking door open. It hits him square in the face, and the force of it snaps his head back. I charge in after him before sending another blow to his face knocking him to the ground.
I briefly register Jaxson and Cade following in before closing the door behind them. My hand wraps around the fucker’s neck, pinning him to the ground before I pull my gun out and jam it against his forehead.
“Earl. What was that noise?” a woman’s slurring voice breaks in. An exact replica of this white trash, but female, comes walking in. “Oh my god!”
She runs to grab the phone but Cade steps in front of her while Jaxson raises his gun. “I wouldn’t do that, lady, if I were you,” Cade’s warning is loaded with dangerous intent.
Knowing they have her, I bring my attention back to this useless fuck, “You have something that belongs to my girl, and I’m here to collect it. If you fucking cooperate I might leave you alive.”
His blood-shot eyes turn hard, “You’re not going to get away with this. I’ll have the cops all over your asses before you can leave town.”
I smile down menacingly at him, “Call the cops, I fucking dare you. Actually, why don’t we have her call them right now? They could come here and I could tell them all about how you like to fuck with helpless girls. Girls you’re supposed to fucking take care of and protect. But instead you beat them with fucking belts and try coming into their fucking room at night?” The words leaving my mouth, has my violence hitting a level I’ve never felt before…
I press the gun harder into his skull, making him howl in pain. My finger hovers over the tempting trigger. “What do you think about that, you sick fuck!”
“Earl, what’s he talking about?”
“Nothing, Candy, just shut the fuck up!” he slurs through his busted lip. “Look I don’t know what she told you, but the little bitch is fucking lying.”
His words send me over the edge again. Raising my gun I send blow after blow across his face, once, twice, three times before shoving the gun into his dick with brutal force. He coughs and wheezes as blood pours from his mouth and nose. “I should blow your fucking dick off…”
“I never fucking touched her like that. I swear…”
He screams in pain when I jam the gun harder against his dick. “Only because you were interrupted. You held her down and you were going to force your dick inside my girl. I should kill you for that alone.” My finger starts to shake with restraint, and I’m barely able to suppress the urge to pull the fucking trigger.
“Evans, man, remember what we came here for. Let’s get it,” Jaxson warns.
“What is it you fucking want?” he asks, sputtering through blood.
“I want her mom’s ashes that you fucking stole from her and I want them now.”
“I don’t know where they are.”
It’s easy to tell he’s lying. “Wrong answer, motherfucker.” Grabbing his hand, I hear the sickening crack before feeling bones shatter between the crushing force of my hand.
He howls in pain again and his voice is laced with agony.
“Next it will be your other one, then your arms and legs. I will break every fucking bone in your body until you tell me where it is. And if you still don’t answer I will fucking kill you and tear this house apart until I find it. What’s it going to be?”
He glares at me, staying silent while cradling his hand to his chest. “Jesus, Earl, just give him what he wants,” Candy sobs fearfully.
“I told you to shut the fuck up!” he screams at her.
“Fine.” I grab his other hand… .
“No wait! I’ll get it for you.”
Standing up, I drag him to his feet by the collar of his dirty white shirt. I shove him in front of me while keeping the gun against the back of his head. “One wrong move and I will blow your fucking head off without a second thought.”
As he leads me into the kitchen he begins to visibly shake as he approaches one of the cupboards. I shove the gun in the back of his head. “That’s far enough. Is that where it is?” When he doesn’t answer I kick him in the back of the knee, hard enough that a loud crack fills the air.
“FUCK!” He drops onto the ground, wailing in pain.
“You better start answering my fucking questions faster, asshole.”
“Yes! It’s on the top shelf!”
I look over at Jaxson. Walking over, he reaches up to the top shelf and moves shit around until he locates it at the back. “Yeah, it’s here,” he says before pulling down a cream marble urn. One that has gold letters scripted across it:
Hope Morgan 1973- 2011
Seeing the urn and name of Grace’s mother shifts something inside of me. Whenever it came to hearing about this woman I felt bad for Grace, because she hurt, but now I look at this and feel fucking sad that I didn’t get to meet the woman who raised the most amazing girl… my girl. A woman who was ripped from the world unfairly and who died way too young.
“And look what else I found up there,” Jaxson says, pulling me from my thoughts, before bringing down a gun.
My rage coming back, I grab a handful of the asshole’s hair before slamming his head into the counter. Another agonized scream fills the air. I see Jaxson lift his shirt to tuck the gun into the back of his waistband.
“I’ve decided I am going to be nice and leave you alive. But I’m warning you right fucking now, if you ever come near her again, or so much as even breathe her fucking name, I will come back here and fucking kill you. I know exactly what to do with your body so you are never found. Do you understand?”
“Yes! I fucking understand!” he breathes out painfully through clenched teeth, his face soaked with blood.
&n
bsp; “Good!”
Pushing away from him, his head slams back into the counter again before he curls into a ball on the ground, his knee busted and his broken hand cradled into his chest. And I still don’t feel he got what he deserves.
“Let’s go!” Jaxson claps me on the back, handing me the urn.
Taking it, I reluctantly turn away and head to the front door. Cade follows suit, leaving a fearful, shaking Candy. “I didn’t know,” she cries as my hand reaches for the door handle, “I swear I didn’t know he did that to her.”
I turn around to see her eyes filled with shame and regret. “If I knew I would have tried to help her.”
I stare at her for a moment, not really caring either way because the damage has been done. “It doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters is it will never happen to her again by anyone, or I will kill them. Remind your boyfriend that.”
Turning back around, I head out the door and look at the truck in the driveway. One more thing to take care of before I go.
I grab Cade’s arm, telling him to hold up. “Trade me for a minute,” I say, handing him the urn in exchange for the bat.
I start walking over to the truck. “Evans. What are you doing man? Let’s not draw more attention to ourselves then we already have.”
I look over at Jaxson. “He stole every fucking penny that was left to her and bought this truck. He’s not keeping it.” Turning back around, I hop up on the hood before starting in on the windshield. After I’m done I move to the side windows. I catch Cade’s shrug at Jaxson as he hands him the urn. Picking up a crow bar that sat on the driveway he follows my lead.
We finish quickly and by the time we’re done it’s fucking demolished and completely un-drivable. And for the first time since coming here, I feel a small measure of satisfaction.
Getting in the truck we start the six hour drive home. Besides the occasional comments from Jaxson and Cade, on what the fucker did to Grace, the drive is mostly silent. Once we’re far enough away, and things have been silent for a while, I start mauling over what just went down in my head, when something hits me, a recollection of what that he said. “Hey, what the hell do you think he meant, when he said he told the last guy who went there he didn’t know where Grace was?”
“I assumed he was talking about Miguel. It would make sense. He found out she lived there and checked there first, out of all places,” Jaxson replies.
“Yeah, maybe…”
“What, you don’t think so?” Cade asks.
I shrug, “I don’t know, I guess.”
“Maybe it’s something we should bring up to Coop anyways, just to be on the safe side,” he adds.
When I stay silent Jaxson speaks up, “Don’t worry, she’s good, man. I just got a text from Jules, they’re having a blast dress shopping.”
Letting out a breath, I nod, “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sure it’s fine.”
Then why the fuck can’t I get this sick feeling out of my gut?
“I love the dress. You girls are going to look so beautiful!” Kayla gushes before pouring more wine for her and me.
After a long day of bridesmaid dress shopping we decided to stop and have supper at Giovanni’s, a quaint little Italian restaurant located dead center of Sunset Bay. I just finished the best Italian meal I’ve ever had.
“No one is going to notice us next to you. I can’t wait until Cooper sees you in your dress,” Julia replies back with a smile.
“It is pretty epic isn’t it?” Kayla’s smirk turns into a laugh we all share.
Julia gets a text, pulling her from the conversation. As she reads it a major blush stains her face.
Kayla rolls her eyes, “Is the Hulk sexting you right now?”
Her smile says it all as she tucks the phone back into her purse before looking over at me. “Jax says they’re not too far away. Only about an hour or less.”
I nod, “I got one from Sawyer a little bit ago saying the same. They sure did travel far. Did Jaxson say where they were goin’?”
“No, but I didn’t really ask either.”
“They went to Virginia.”
I freeze; Kayla’s answer has my blood beginning to run cold as she says the name of the one place I try to forget exists.
Relax, Grace. There could be many reasons why they went there.
“How do you know?” I ask her, attempting to keep myself calm and collected.
She shrugs, “I overheard Coop talking to Jaxson about it over the phone. Whatever took them there has Coop in a stressful mess.”
And it’s now I know that this has nothing to do about getting stuff for the gym like I assumed. Like he led me to believe.
Betrayal, fear and anxiety slams into me like a freight train.
“Grace? Hey are you all right?” Julia asks, putting a warm hand on my shoulder.
I try to paste a reassuring smile on my face but I feel tears sting my eyes. I have to get the hell out of here. “Yeah, I’m all right, but I need to go. There’s somethin’ I have to take care of.”
Pulling money out of my purse I leave enough to make sure my portion is paid for. “Whoa. Hold on there, girl,” Kayla says, grabbing my wrist. “First off, I’m paying and secondly you don’t look okay. What’s going on?”
I try to swallow past the hurt clogging my throat, “I’m so sorry you guys. I need to go. I promise I’ll explain everything to you later, but I just can’t right now.”
They both watch me and can clearly see how close I am to losing it.
“Okay. I’ll take you now then.” Kayla replies, grabbing the keys from her purse.
I shake my head stopping her. “No, it’s not that far and I need the fresh air right now. Really you guys stay and have dessert. I promise I’ll call y’all later, okay?”
I give them both a hug then get the hell out of there before I completely lose it in front of them. My boots stomp the pavement as I walk with speed, a million emotions plaguing me.
How could he do this? He promised me!
Starting to shake with anger I pull out my phone and dial his cell. He answers on the third ring.
“Hey, Cupcake. We’re almost home.”
Hearing his voice has my heart skipping a beat, like always, before hurt takes over.
I swallow past the lump that’s lodged in my throat. “Wow, that was a pretty far drive for gym equipment. Where did you say you were goin’ again?”
I try to sound nonchalant but I don’t succeed. He goes silent, realizing I know.
I laugh but there’s nothing funny-sounding about it. “I can’t believe you! I can’t believe you lied to me!”
“I did not lie! Listen…”
“Yes, you did! You promised me, Sawyer.” My voice cracks along with my heart. “You promised you wouldn’t ever go there, that you wouldn’t tell a soul. How could you betray me like that? I trusted you with my secret.”
“Grace, we will fucking talk about this when I get home!”
“I don’t think so, buddy, you are not comin’ back to my house, you can sleep at your own damn place tonight!”
“Goddammit, Grace! …”
That’s the last thing I hear before hanging up. I’m too hurt and angry to talk to him right now, I don’t want to say somethin’ I’ll regret.
My phone begins ringing immediately. Knowing it’s Sawyer I throw it back in my purse and ignore it.
I can’t believe he did this. Why would he go there? Just to beat him up? Oh God, please don’t let him have killed him. Not that I care if Earl is dead, but for Sawyer’s sake…
God, now Jaxson and Cade know too. My own best friends don’t even know. I can’t believe he would betray my trust like this- whether his heart is in the right place or not.
Walkin’ up my driveway I get sad thinkin’ about sleepin’ without him tonight, and even though I’m mad as hell I consider callin’ him back, telling him he can come here. I love the big stupid dummy but I don’t want him thinkin’ what he did is okay.
Ugh,
what the heck am I goin’ to do?
Walking into the house, with my mind racin’ and my heart heavy, I lock the door behind me before heading into the kitchen to drop my purse on the table. Then I clue in to Chuckie not doing his usual greeting.
“Chuckie boy, where are ya?” I hear him whine from my room. What the heck?
As I start down the hall to my bedroom, a familiar feelin’ begins to plague me, the same one I felt three years ago. Slowing my steps, I look around but don’t see or hear anythin’ out of the ordinary, except Chuckie’s whining.
My heart starts to pound so loud I fear it’s about to fly out of my chest. Pushing open my door, I turn on the light and see Chuckie hiding under my bed.
I look around again, but don’t see anythin’.
“Chuckie? Come here boy, what’s wrong?”
Continuing to whimper, he begins to crawl out from under my bed wearily, and I notice he’s limpin’. I worriedly start towards him when a loud bang sounds to my left, a second before a huge black figure rushes out of my closet. My reaction is fast. Turning, I bolt out the door just as he reaches for me.
Chuckie barks like crazy as I run down my hallway as fast as I can, fear fueling my speed. Right when I make it to the end, a hulking force knocks into me from behind, and it sends us both flying into my living room. My face hits the side of my coffee table. The impact splits my cheek open and has black spots dancing in my vision. Getting flipped to my back, a guy with dark hair and black malicious eyes, which looks vaguely familiar, straddles me and wraps a hand around my throat.
I kick and fight, trying to get him off. When my hand connects with his face he rears back and slaps me. My head snaps to the side, and blood fills my mouth. It was happening all over again.
“Ah, Grace, we finally meet. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment. I’m actually glad it worked out this way.”
Before I can even attempt to find out what he’s talkin’ about, a loud snarl fills the air as Chuckie jumps at him and sinks his teeth in the side of the guy’s neck.
He howls in pain a second before throwing Chuckie off him. Chuckie yelps and sails a few feet through the air before landing on his back. As soon as he hits the ground the guy pulls a gun and points it at him.
