by B. B. Hamel
“What?” I ask gently.
“I think he was going to hurt me.” She looks over at me, and I can tell she means it.
“Shit,” I say softly. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“I had no clue they’d get… violent.”
“Nobody could have known.”
I reach out and take her hand. “It’s over. I won’t let you be in danger again.”
“More like I’ll try and keep you safe.” She grins at me.
I laugh softly, the adrenaline coursing through my veins, but the fear and the anger is still there. That was too fucking close for comfort. I had no clue the second Walker brother was there, and I got lucky. He underestimated me, gave me a chance to get away. If Franklin or Julian had realized that I was in that shed, things might have gone much worse.
We got fucking lucky. But now I know they’re coming for me, and they’re paying attention. Which means I’m on the right track.
I’m going to nail those fuckers. And I’m going to keep Avery safe, no matter what.
20
Avery
He pulls up down the block from my house and kills the engine. “Be careful,” he says. “Your brother might know something.”
“You think he’ll go to my parents?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. I doubt it.”
I stare at him, my heart still pounding from earlier. I thought I was going to get hurt back there, maybe even get killed, but he saved me. The Walker brothers are going to be pissed, but I realize that I don’t care. I’m more and more convinced that they’re the ones who did this to begin with, the ones that got Luke locked up from the start.
I open my door. “Come with me,” I say.
“I can’t,” he answers. “We can’t be seen together.”
“Come with me,” I repeat, stepping out of the car. Without thinking, I cut across a lawn and head back toward the woods.
I hear Luke’s door open and shut, and he hurries to catch up with me. He doesn’t say anything as we walk into the woods together.
My heart’s beating so fast, and has been since the shed. When the brothers appeared, I thought this was all over, but I should have known better. Luke can take care of me and both of those bastards if he has to, and he proved it today.
What really scares me, though, is the thought of losing him. I kept thinking he’d get killed, murdered right there in front of me, and I wouldn’t know what to do. My whole world was in peril, and I was so scared I could barely breathe. But he got us through it.
And I realize how badly I need him. As soon as we get close to the creek, I turn and face him. I have so many things I want to say to him, so many things he needs to know.
But I don’t get any of that out, because he pulls me against him and kisses me.
I kiss him back, and that’s enough. Desire pulses through me, heightened by what just happened. I fumble with his belt, sliding my hand down the front of his jeans to feel his massive cock stiffening in my palm.
I stroke him and he pins me up against a tree, kissing me desperately. I’m so happy to be alive, so happy that I can keep this going with him. His lips linger on my neck and I pull his cock out, stroking him as he reaches down to unzip my jeans.
“You were perfect,” he whispers in my ear. “I’ll never let them get close to you.”
“I know that.” I gasp as his fingers find my pussy, slowly stroking me.
“This is mine. Every inch of you is mine. I can’t let them take what’s mine, not ever, not again.”
He presses his fingers deep inside of me and I gasp. He kisses my lips, his taste on my tongue, and I can’t help but moan as he slowly strokes me again.
I bite his lower lip as he fucks me with his fingers again. I stroke his cock fast, feeling his thick shaft, his soft tip. I need him so badly I can barely breathe.
He slides his hands out and grabs my hips. He turns me around, pushes me against the tree, tugging my jeans down more, exposing my wet pussy to the cold air.
His hands palm my ass. “Fuck, girl,” he whispers in my ear, pinning me against the bark. “You’re trouble, you know that?”
“Yeah,” I gasp as I feel his cock teasing me from behind.
“Lots of fucking trouble.”
I moan as he slowly sinks himself inside of me.
“But you’re worth it,” he grunts, filling me up.
I grip the tree as he rocks himself in and out of my pussy, fucking me from behind. We’re out in public and I know anyone could walk past and see us, but I don’t care.
He grabs my hips and starts to fuck me. He pins my right wrist up above my head and slaps my ass with his left palm. I gasp as the pain stings and makes the pleasure even better, more enticing as it rolls through me. He fucks me hard and deep, fast and rough. We’re not making love right now, we’re fucking, because we’re alive.
And it feels so good. The pleasure is so much sweeter because of what almost happened earlier. I need this so badly, need the pleasure and the pain of him, need to feel alive. He grabs my hair roughly, slamming his cock into me, sensing my need. I reach back and turn my head, putting my palm on his cheek and kissing him as his cock buries itself into my tight pussy.
I move my hips back, sliding along his shaft. I’m soaking wet, and I should be cold, but he’s fucking me so hard, taking me so rough, that I don’t feel anything but him. He pins me back up against the tree, pulling my wrists behind my back, slamming into me from behind.
“Fuck, girl,” he groans. “I need this pussy every day. This perfect round ass. You know I dream about this ass?” He releases my wrists with one hand and slaps my ass, nice and hard. “Nothing fucking sexier than my handprint on your perfect skin.”
I buck back against him, needing more. He fucks me harder, slaps my ass. I push back against him and that only drives him harder into me, making me hurt, making it feel so fucking good I can barely breathe.
I feel my orgasm growing inside of me, ready to come out. He’s fucking me like an animal, taking me fast and rough. It’s what I need, what makes me feel so alive.
“Come on, Luke,” I groan. “Make me come.”
“You want more?” he grunts. “You think you can handle it?”
“Come on, asshole.”
He wraps one hand around my neck, not tight, but enough to know it’s there. He fucks me harder, ripping into me, and I let the moans escape my lips with wild abandon. I throw my head back, feeling him, feeling it all.
I come hard then, orgasming on his fat cock. He fills me rough and deep, railing into me as my body explodes with pleasure, twitching out of control and intense. I can barely handle it, but he holds me there, pinning me in place, ramming his cock between my legs.
I hear him grunt and I feel him coming inside of me. I move my hips, sliding back and forth, riding him as he comes, filling me. I gasp and groan, and we finish together, panting, drawing in air. He wraps his arms around me as he slides out and holds me there, tight against him.
We get ourselves together and he leans against the tree, watching me.
“Are you sure you want this?” he asks suddenly.
I look at him, my head cocked to the side. “What do you mean?”
“What I’m doing,” he says, his face serious. “It’s dangerous. I can stop, if you want me to. We can just… be a family.”
That word sends my heart racing all over again. I want nothing more than to be a family with him. I could move out of my parents’ house and live with him and Max. We can be a real couple, have a real life together. We could put all of this behind us and just live, just be happy, just be a family.
But I can’t ask that of him. I know I can’t, not after what he’s been through. Not after how far we’ve come. We’re so close to getting him what he wants, to finding out the truth. And frankly, I worked hard for this as well. I can’t just back down.
“I’m sure,” I say softly, feeling anything but.
&
nbsp; He nods once. “This is your chance. Say the word and I’ll back down for you.”
“No,” I say. “I can’t.”
“You can.” He steps toward me, tipping my chin up. He kisses my lips softly. “You can.”
I take a deep breath. Everything in me yearns for this. “No,” I say again.
He looks intensely sad, but I think he understands. “Okay,” he whispers. “We’ll see it through.”
I nod and he pulls me against him. He hugs me close and I don’t know what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling, but I know this is the right thing to do. We can’t back down. We can’t give up.
We can’t let the bastards win.
21
Luke
Jason Slick takes a long drag from his cigarette and looks at me through the rearview mirror. “You sure about this, kid?”
I nod at him. “I’m sure.”
Avery turns to look at me and just smiles. I’ve been relegated to the back seat, but that’s okay with me. Avery’s been in this since the beginning, and she clearly has a better relationship with Slick than I do.
The revelation that she’s the one who paid for Slick and got me freed shouldn’t have surprised me. I can’t think of anyone else that would care enough about me to do it. I don’t fully understand why she was so afraid to tell me, but she has her reasons. I think things are worse in her house than I realize.
That shouldn’t surprise me, either. Her father is an awful man, and her mother is a fucking alcoholic. She has enough to deal with on a daily basis, but adding an investigation in on top of that… I bet it was so stressful she could barely handle it all.
I’m glad she told me, though. For a long time, five long years behind bars, I thought she abandoned me. I realize now that she never did. All the anger I had toward her, it’s all gone. She never gave up on me. She just did what she had to do to survive, and I can’t blame her for it.
We’re past that now, though. I gave her the option to back down from this, to give it all up, but she wouldn’t do it. That just made me want her even more, because I know she’s doing it for me. She knows I can never live with myself if I don’t follow this all the way to the end, I’m just not that kind of man. I have to see it through.
Slick sighs and opens his door. “All right then. Let’s go.”
Avery and I follow him out. We’re in a little neighborhood off a side street on the very far edge of town. This area is mostly the poorest of the poor around here, which means I’m intensely familiar with it. My parents grew up here and I still have family living in the area. My cousin owns a place just a couple streets away, or at least he used to. The Harper family abandoned me when I went to prison, everyone except my uncle.
We walk up to a small little bungalow house. The porch is rotting and falling apart, the shutters are dangling from their hooks, and the whole place needs a fresh coat of paint. Old, broken washing machines are sitting out front in the middle of the yard, and there’s a beat-up truck in the driveway.
Dominic lives here. Slick looked him up a while ago, confirmed it back when he was investigating, but never spoke to him. He never needed to, not after he found that hard drive and vindicated me. But now we’re taking this one step further, and we need to talk to him.
Slick knocks on the door. He’s wearing a long, brown coat, jeans, and a white button-down tucked into his pants. He looks like a PI or a college professor, I can’t tell which. The only thing that ruins the professor image is the bulge at his hip, which I’m positive is a gun.
Slick knocks a few more times, loudly.
“Yeah, fuck, hold on.” The shout comes from inside the house.
Slick glances back at me and gives me a look. Instinctively, I step in front of Avery, just in case.
The door cracks open and a bald man, probably Hispanic, gazes out at us. He matches the description I got from Ron perfectly.
“Are you Dominic? Work for the mill?”
The guy squints at us. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“My name is Jason Slick. I was hoping we could talk about a job.”
Dominic glances at me and Avery. “What sort of job?” he asks.
“It’s nothing big, we were just told that you provide certain services.” Slick flashes him a smile.
“I dunno what you heard but I’m not interested.” He goes to shut the door.
Slick shoves his foot out, blocking the door.
“Just a second,” he says.
“Hey, what the fuck,” Dominic answers. “Move, asshole.”
Slick tries a new tact. “We were sent here by Ron. I think you met him five years ago… when that boy went to jail.” Slick nods toward me.
Dominic looks at me again and recognition flashes in his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Let’s have a conversation, okay?” Slick pushes forward, opening the door.
“What the fuck,” Dominic gets out.
“We know you were paid to bribe him,” Slick says. “Talk now and save yourself some trouble.”
Dominic stumbles back into his house, eyes wide, staring at us. I catch a glimpse of a messy living room, beer cans on the floor, a huge flat screen TV mounted on one wall. There’s a bunch of electronics all over the place, like a brand new PlayStation and a nice MacBook, but I don’t have time to think about it.
Because Dominic turns and bolts.
Slick follows him right away.
“Stay here!” I yell at Avery and take off after them.
We crash through the living room and back through a kitchen. I get a glimpse of more beer cans, dirty dishes, an overflowing trash can. Dominic hits the back door and bursts through it, Slick right on his heels. I come through a second later, running as fast as I can.
Dominic sprints across his back yard, hopping over a fence. Slick follows and I catch up to him. I glance back and spot Avery following at a distance.
“Go back!” I yell at her as we sprint off after Dominic.
He threads his way through the houses, stumbling slightly. I realize he must be drunk, because he runs into a trashcan, knocking it over. We nearly get to him, but he scrambles away.
We stay close, my breath coming in ragged and rough. My legs and arms are screaming out for me to stop, but I’m not letting this fucking bastard get away. Slick is right there, face determined and focused.
Dominic runs down a driveway and spins out into the road. I hear the screech of tires and a scream as I watch a car collide right into him. He hits the ground and skids a bit, before slowly getting to his feet, groaning.
Slick and I get there a second later. We grab him and haul him up to his feet. An older woman slowly climbs out of her car.
“It’s okay, ma’am,” Slick says. “We got him.” He flashes her what looks like a police badge.
She’s totally bewildered and just stares as we drag Dominic off. We pull him back up past the houses and into a little wooded area. He struggles a little, but mostly just groans, clearly hurting from the accident.
Avery shows up a second later. Slick throws Dominic onto the ground, and he hits hard.
“Fuck,” he grunts.
“Okay, asshole,” Slick says. “You made us run, and you got hit by a car. I bet that was fun. But it’s time to fucking talk.”
“I don’t know shit.” He can’t meet our gaze, though.
I crouch down in front of him. “Five years of my life,” I say softly. “My son was born, did you know that? He doesn’t know me. I’m a stranger to him. How much did they pay you?”
He finally looks at me. He’s older than I would have guessed, a little gray in his mustache. He frowns and shakes his head.
“I can’t,” he says, sounding pained.
“You can,” I say back. “We know the Walkers paid you to bribe that night clerk and those witnesses. They probably had you do some other things, lots of things over the years, but we don’t care about that.”
Slick crouches down next to me. “We just care about this, Dominic.
Just tell us the truth. Spare yourself the pain.”
Dominic closes his eyes. “I don’t know which of them did it,” he says finally. “Fuck, they didn’t pay me enough.”
I look at Slick and his face is grim. Avery gasps and covers her mouth.
“Say it clearly,” Slick says.
“The Walkers had me bribe them. I didn’t know… I’m not a killer. I didn’t know they’d put you in jail.” He meets my gaze and for a second, I believe that he’s genuinely sorry.
But it doesn’t matter. “Who were they covering for?” I ask him.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I really don’t. They never told me and I never asked.”
Slick reaches into his pocket and clicks something. “We got what we needed.”
Dominic’s eyes go wide. “You recorded that?”
“We did. And if you’re smart, you’ll say you gave it willingly. Maybe they’ll go easy on your sentencing.” He stands up and turns away.
“You fucking… fuck,” Dominic says, groaning. He tries to get up, but he can’t.
I stand. “You deserve worse,” I say, and turn away.
The three of us walk back to the car in silence, trying to process what we just witnessed and what we just heard.
Once we’re all back in the car, Avery turns to me. “So it’s true,” she says. “But that begs the question, why would the Walkers choose you?”
“They hate me,” I say, “and it was convenient.”
“No,” Slick says quickly. “I don’t think that’s all it is.”
I look at him, frowning. “What, then?”
“The Walkers didn’t need someone to go down for that murder,” he says. “It was an unnecessary risk for them… unless they really wanted it.”
I stare at him, my mind whirling. “What are you suggesting?”
He sighs. “The only person with motive is Avery’s father.” He looks at her. “Sorry, Avery.”
“You think my dad did this?”
He nods. “Or at least he had a part in it. If I had to guess, he’s the one that convinced the Walkers to pin it on Luke. You had just gotten pregnant, right?”
