The Me I Used to Be

by Jennifer Ryan

  “Maybe you followed Tom.”

  “I was at the winery most of the day. You said goodbye to me before I left. I’ve been at home working until Charlie, then you, interrupted me.”

  “It had to be you.” But his eyes clouded with uncertainty, which only seemed to make him angrier. Because if it wasn’t her, it had to be someone else in the know.

  And she used that against him and to her benefit. “Why? Because Tom said so? The last time I saw him, he threatened me. Maybe he doesn’t want me in on what you’re doing and taking a share of the cut. And I’ll point out, I haven’t gotten my share of the four cases you stole the other night.”

  “Because I haven’t sold them yet. I’m doctoring the wine so I can sell it for a hell of a lot more than what it’s worth.”

  “Fine.” She folded her arms, giving him the impression that she was the one put out. “But that doesn’t solve this problem. Tell me what happened.”

  He took a curve way too fast, which pinned her body into the door before the road straightened out and they headed farther away from her house and Chris’s place in town.

  Would he catch up in time?

  She had no idea what was coming, but Darren’s anger hadn’t subsided and she hadn’t convinced him she didn’t know what was going on. But she had recorded him copping to stealing the wine and doctoring it to counterfeit a higher-priced wine. Brownie points for that, but she needed to earn those bonus points by finding where Chris and Tom stashed the wine.

  This game was getting old. And more dangerous by the minute.

  Though her mind conjured some dark deserted forest where he’d simply shoot her in the head and leave her where she’d never be found, she prayed, Please take me to your lair so Chris can arrest you and I can finally be done with all of this.

  “You’ll find out soon enough.” Darren pulled off the two-lane road onto a dirt road that led through an orchard of trees that could be anything from almonds to peaches, for all she could see in the dark.

  The BMW bounced along on the uneven road. “Where are we?”

  “You don’t need to know.”

  She huffed out a sigh, crossed her arms, settled back in the seat, and stared out the window, trying to find any landmark that told her where she was or how to get out of here if she had to make a run for it.

  Darren turned left down another dirt road through more trees. A right took them along a water canal toward a pump house and beyond a white building with a single light burning over a roll-up steel door.

  Darren parked beside a newer Accord and a dusty white pickup with a bumper sticker that read simply OUTLAW. Had to belong to Tom, who should be tattooed with a stamp that read NONCOMPLIANT.

  Soon, he and Darren would simply be known by the numbers on their prison jumpsuits.

  She liked that image. It helped calm her racing heart and steady her nerves.

  And Chris was on their trail. At least she hoped he was, because out here, who knew if her phone had a signal? She didn’t dare check.

  Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. She took a breath, trying to stay calm, cool, and collected. Or at least appear so.

  “Let’s go. They’re waiting.”

  She slipped out of the car, making sure her phone was still secure at her waist, and followed Darren to a dark side door and noticed the small windows were covered in foil.

  She thought it best to keep her mouth shut as they walked through the door and her eyes took a minute to adjust to the bright overhead lights. Just as her vision cleared, Tom barreled toward her, his face contorted with rage. She stopped in her tracks as he advanced and swung before her brain caught up to the attack. His hand smacked across her cheek and mouth, his ring cutting her lip. She leaned away from the blow and lost her balance with the force of it and fell on her ass, hands back to catch herself.

  Darren rushed in and planted his hands on Tom’s chest to hold him off.

  “This is all your damn fault,” Tom bellowed, his arm outstretched over Darren’s shoulder, finger pointed at her.

  Stunned, heart pounding, she pressed her hand to her throbbing cheek and swollen mouth. She licked at her stinging lip and tasted blood. She’d been hit before and took it in relative stride. “What the hell, asshole?”

  “I’ll fucking kill you, bitch. You ruined everything.”

  Evangeline wasn’t going to sit on her ass on the cement floor defending herself. She rose, swiped the blood from her chin with the back of her hand, and stood her ground. “I got you into the Cross Cellars inventory system.” She pointed to the cases of wine stacked next to hundreds of others. Really, the amount of wine they had stored here boggled her mind. Not to mention the two tables set up with all kinds of jars of spices and herbs and other things she couldn’t identify at the moment. The bottle corker, racks of empty bottles in all shapes and sizes, various types of blank labels, and a high-resolution printer showed just how sophisticated they’d gotten at counterfeiting high-priced wines. She took in all that and tried to stay focused on the threat in front of her. “I got you that wine without anyone knowing it’s even missing.”

  Tom strained against Darren’s hold. “You almost got me arrested tonight.”

  Lyssa stepped out from behind Tom and Darren. The devious smile said it all. She enjoyed seeing them think this was all Evangeline’s fault. The idea of them kicking her out of their group thrilled Lyssa because she wanted Darren all to herself. She might be sleeping with the buyers, but she didn’t want to share Darren.

  Not that Evangeline wanted him, but Lyssa didn’t know that.

  “Will someone please explain what happened?” Evangeline shouted, letting her frustration show.

  Tom tried to come after her again, but Darren held him back. “Stop. You got your shot in.”

  He got his shot!

  Evangeline couldn’t believe Darren didn’t care that his brother hit her.

  You just wait. I’m going to get mine.

  Lyssa was all too happy to lay the blame on her. “Everything was fine with the pickup. The driver stopped at the designated place, opened up the back of the truck, and started unloading. Then the cops show up, lights flashing.”

  She held her hands out wide. “How is that my fault?”

  “One cop car could be a coincidence. They happened by and saw the exchange. Four cop cars all at once is a setup. They knew where to find the truck and that the exchange was going down.” Lyssa’s wicked smile brightened when Tom broke free from Darren and took another swipe at Evangeline, his arm arcing wide.

  She flinched and narrowly avoided the hit. But she’d learned a thing or two in prison and used his momentum to bash Tom on the side of the head and send him sprawling on the floor. She kicked him right in the gut as hard as she could. He rolled into a ball, grasping his stomach, and wailed, “Bitch.”

  Darren grabbed her by the shirt, hauled her up to her toes, and got right in her face. “Did you do it?”

  “Fuck you.” That raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes with surprise. “I didn’t do anything, because I didn’t know anything.” The bust had been a good idea, but also a huge risk for her. But she had a scapegoat. “Why don’t you ask your girlfriend over there what she did? Because she knew a hell of a lot more than you told me.”

  Darren shook her. “Why would she call the cops on us?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe to blame it on me so she can have you all to herself.” Darren couldn’t refute or dismiss Lyssa’s jealousy, so Evangeline used it against both of them.

  Darren didn’t let go, but dropped her back down on her feet and stared over at Lyssa, whose smile faded. Lyssa’s anger simmered in her eyes. Evangeline relished the feeling of getting her back.

  Darren read Lyssa’s expression as guilt and released Evangeline to confront Lyssa. “You did this.”

  Lyssa held her hands out wide. “Are you out of your mind? She’s playing you. Are you so blinded by her that you can’t see she’s manipulating you? She wants to turn us all agai
nst each other.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “To get back at you for putting her ass in jail.”

  The gasp that came out of Evangeline was born of sheer surprise that Lyssa would out Darren, but she used it to cover that she already knew that bit of devious news. “You. How? Why?”

  Lyssa didn’t know when to shut up. “He did exactly what you did today and called the cops about the shipment.”

  Evangeline narrowed her gaze and finally let her anger show. “You tried to get my father arrested so you could take over the operation without him?”

  “He wanted out, but refused to let me keep the business going. You weren’t supposed to be driving that damn truck!” Darren raked his fingers through his hair.

  Evangeline wasn’t about to let Lyssa blame this on her. Not until Chris and the cavalry arrived and got her out of here. “Then it’s fitting that Lyssa turned on you the way you turned on my father. Be happy you got away tonight. I wasn’t that lucky.” And neither will you be, when Chris gets here. She hoped it was soon because her face hurt and Tom was getting up off the floor. She didn’t know if she could take his skinny ass in a full-on fight, but she’d give it a hell of a shot, because she wasn’t the one going down tonight.

  “I didn’t do this. You did!” Lyssa advanced on her.

  Darren, confused and looking from Lyssa to her and back again, couldn’t figure out who was lying or telling the truth. Evangeline faced the same dilemma the night Chris arrested her.

  Tom grabbed Evangeline by the hair at the back of her head. “Lyssa’s with us. You’re the one—”

  Everyone stilled at the odd sound coming from the back of the room. Metal clanked against metal. They stared, immobile, their collective breath held. Then all hell broke loose. The huge door rolled up and at least ten cops drew down on them, some with rifles at their shoulders, others with handguns drawn, SHERIFF emblazoned across their chests.

  Chris stood in the middle of them. His gaze narrowed on her and his eyes blazed with fury when he saw her wounded face and Tom holding her by the head. The barrel of his gun leveled on Tom’s head. “Sheriff’s department. Let her go. Hands up.”

  Tom drew Evangeline back with him as he rushed away from the cops.

  Darren ran right for her, grabbed her arm, and tried to rip her away from Tom, who held on tighter, pulling her hair. “Give her to me.”

  She reached over her head and tried to pull Tom’s hand free, but ended up only holding on to his wrist so he didn’t rip her hair right out of her scalp.

  Darren socked his brother in the side and gained the upper hand. Tom dropped his arm to protect his ribs. Darren yanked her away. She slammed into Darren, sending him careening into a table. A lamp and several bottles of wine and glass canisters of spices crashed and shattered on the cement floor. Somehow she and Darren managed to stay on their feet.

  Darren hooked his arm around her neck and drew her in front of him like a shield. Chris advanced, but he and the other officers were still too far away, and Darren dragged her to the door at the back of the building.

  Tom unscrewed the lids off two gas cans for the generator she heard running out back. He stuffed a rag in each opening, pulled his lighter from his pocket, and lit the ends.

  Her eyes went wide when he handed one off to Darren, then opened the back door. Darren threw his out, right between two officers covering the door. Before Tom threw his, Chris shot him, hitting him in the shoulder. He fell back and bounced off the wall, dropping the gas can. Darren dragged her through the door, headed right for the flames that spread across the drought-dry grass and spread over the landscape. Everything in their path fed the spreading, building flames.

  An explosion sounded behind them as Tom’s gas can burst and set the building on fire.

  Darren cut right.

  They passed one of the officers who’d fallen to the ground, the legs of his uniform on fire. He scurried back as the fire advanced on him across the grass to the dirt road.

  Evangeline struggled to get free, hoping she could help the poor screaming officer.

  Even if Darren could get to his car, several sheriff’s vehicles now blocked it, and officers stood between them and the cars. Darren pulled her into the orchard. She stumbled over roots and tried to keep her feet under her so he didn’t choke her to death as they dodged low limbs.

  She barely had her breath when he stopped with his back against a tree trunk, tangled branches over their heads.

  “Come out, Darren,” Chris shouted. “You can’t get away. Officers are spreading out. We will find you.”

  “Let me go and she won’t get hurt,” Darren yelled back.

  “She’s not going with you. You hurt her, I can’t guarantee you get out of here in one piece.” The deadly tone in Chris’s voice made Darren’s body tremble at her back.

  She gripped his arm and prayed that she would get out of this alive. Maybe she could still salvage this day and end it kissing Chris.

  What she wouldn’t give to be in his arms right now.

  Darren shouted over his shoulder, “You turned your back on your best friend. You turned Evangeline against me.”

  “You did both those things first. You broke the law, putting us on opposite sides. You called in that tip about her father’s truck and what he was hauling. You could have come forward and gotten her out of trouble, but you saved your own ass instead.” Every bitter word out of Chris’s mouth reflected her exact thoughts.

  “You couldn’t touch me for four years,” Darren taunted. “You had to use her to get me.”

  “Because I knew you couldn’t resist using her skills. You always take the easy way out. And she deserved her revenge and to see you go to jail.”

  Darren grabbed her hair at the side of her head and pressed the side of her face to his cheek. “I can’t believe you did this to me.”

  “You fucking put me in a cell and took four years of my life. Five if you count the year we dated, you asshole.” She wanted to thank him for letting go of her neck, but instead she taught him a lesson, shoving her hips back into him as she bent forward. He was forced to release her. She turned and slammed the heel of her hand up into his nose, sending him stumbling backward, his nose exploding with blood, bone cracking. “I learned that in prison.”

  “You broke my nose, you fucking bitch.” He rushed her, but stopped short, his whole body going rigid as he fell to the ground twitching. Wires stuck out his back leading to the Taser in Chris’s hand, making a crackling noise until Chris released the trigger.

  Two officers rushed in on both sides of Darren and grabbed his arms.

  He tried to fight them off.

  “Hit him again.” She didn’t care if he suffered. It was nothing compared to what she’d survived in prison.

  “They got him, sweetheart.” Chris handed the Taser off to a nearby officer and came toward her. “You okay?”

  She licked at the swollen cut on her lip. “Fine. How was your day?”

  “I busted the asshole who sent the woman he didn’t deserve and I wanted for myself to prison.”

  Her whole body began to shake with shock after the ordeal she’d been through. “Well, come here and get her.” She didn’t wait for him, she ran into his arms and held on tight.

  “You’re okay now. I’ve got you, sweetheart. You did it. You got him.”

  “You don’t have shit. You can’t prove anything.” Darren sat on his heels, hands cuffed behind his back, and glanced over at the growing blaze engulfing the building. “You have no proof.”

  She didn’t step out of Chris’s arms, just pulled her phone from her waistband, and held it up to Darren. “I recorded every conversation we had and have pictures of you stealing the wine from Cross Cellars to go with the record of the transaction of the fake database I set up. Chris also got the wine you sold to that Silicon Valley exec. I’m sure when they test the wine, they’ll find it’s not what you sold it as, and many other buyers will come forward with counterfei
t wine. I think all those drivers of the trucks from wineries you bribed to look the other way while you stole their cargo will roll over on you, too.”

  “Take him away,” Chris ordered the two officers holding Darren.

  Darren struggled to get to her again. “You deserved what you got.”

  She stepped away from Chris and stood facing Darren and let him have it. “When you get to jail and they put you in a cell, you’re going to hope it’s all by yourself. When that door slams, locking you in, there will be a moment when you realize you can’t get out. That will not be the most terrifying or loneliest feeling. It will come later when you realize you’re still locked in and everyone else you know is living their life, moving forward, and you are still stuck in a place where every day the best you can hope for is that you survive.” She traced the scar on her neck and, with her gaze locked on his, said, “Watch your back. Because they’re coming for you.”

  The two officers turned Darren and walked him back toward the cars.

  Chris embraced her from behind. He dipped his head and whispered in her ear, “You’re bad.”

  “He has no idea what’s about to happen to him. You think you know, but you don’t. Time—that bitch—will be his worst enemy.”

  “Lyssa is in custody. Tom is on his way to the hospital. Come on. I have to answer for the shooting, have the paramedics check you out, and get you home.”

  She turned in his arms and stared up at him. “First . . .” She went up on tiptoe and put her hand on his face. “Thank you for coming to the rescue.”

  “You seemed to be holding your own. You busted Darren’s nose.”

  True. “Still, when I saw you, I knew everything would be all right and this day would end well.” She pressed her lips to his, careful of her wound, but needing to feel the connection between them.

  Chris kept the kiss soft, but it packed a punch because she felt how he poured everything into it and the way he held her close. He ended the kiss too soon and pressed his forehead to hers. “This turned out to be a really good day after all. I got to kiss you again.” He sucked in a ragged breath. “If anything happened to you . . .”