The pain caused her to suck in breath as her eyes watered. Riley shoved her off and she fell on her back. The teen grabbed the knife and perched on top of her, the weapon poised in her hand. Riley squeezed her knees tightly against the side of Brynn’s legs so she couldn’t perform the same move she’d used against her.
Brynn had only seconds to do something or the police would never make it in time. She grabbed two fistfuls of dark hair and hit Riley's head with her own, before the girl could plunge the knife into her.
A horrible crack sounded when their skulls met and stars flew before her eyes. Pain ricocheted through Brynn’s head. She shoved Riley's body off of hers and rolled to her side, struggling to get up but she couldn't. The need to throw up was too strong.
“Damn, girl,” she heard the sheriff's familiar voice say as footsteps pounded all around her. “You trying to help the girl kill ya or what?” He knelt beside her and helped her into a sitting position. Her stomach instantly rebelled.
“I'm gonna puke,” she groaned.
“A bad blow to the head will do that to ya.” Sheriff Clarkson eased her upper body back down to the ground.
“Coop’s taking care of Adam. Both of you are going to be fine,” he added before his attention was diverted by the shouts of his men.
“She's got my gun!” a disembodied voice yelled from her right.
“Drop it, Riley, or my men won't hesitate to drop you,” Clarkson warned as he left Brynn's side. “Come on, girl, you don't want to go out this way.”
There were several more shouts thrown around, but Brynn was unable to see most of the action. Her head swam every time she tried to open her eyes, but she knew Riley had a gun and that couldn't be good.
Still, the girl was surrounded by cops, so she and Adam had to be safe from her. Adam. She had to get to him.
As the shouting elevated and the cries for Riley to “Don't do it” grew more desperate, Brynn forced herself to a sitting position and one by one, forced her eyes to open.
She regained focus as the gun went off, just in time to see something far more gruesome than she could have ever imagined.
And, then, she did throw up.
Chapter Seventeen
“Brynn?” Adam croaked, fighting to open his eyes against a blinding light.
“She's being treated in another room,” the familiar voice of Sheriff Clarkson stated from Adam's left.
He finally got his eyes to stay open, finding himself in a hospital bed with the most annoyingly bright light hanging above him and what felt like duct tape wrapped around his head. He tried to sit up, which caused pain to ricochet through his head and neck.
“Take it easy, buddy,” Clarkson warned, materializing by his bedside. “You and Brynn both suffered some nasty head injuries.”
“Riley got to Brynn.” Alarm slammed into Adam as he recalled his last conscious moment, being knocked out from behind to leave Brynn alone with the enemy. “Oh God. How bad is she?”
“She's fine.” The sheriff motioned for Adam to calm down. “Both of you are going to be just fine. Shoot, all Brynn's damage was inflicted by her own hand…or head,” he added with a chuckle. “Crazy woman damn near brained herself beating the hell out of Riley Wood.”
Adam shook his head in disgust despite the pain the gesture caused. “I couldn't even save her from a teenage girl.” Self-loathing thickly coated his words. “Thank God she's tough.”
“The girl got you from behind, Adam. She knew Brynn would follow you and diverted your attention long enough for Riley to sneak in and take you out. Hell, it could have happened to anybody.”
“Doesn't change the fact I failed to protect her,” Adam stated firmly, closing his eyes against the light driving nails through his skull. “So, you have Riley in custody?”
“Not necessary. By the time we got to the house, Brynn was already on your trail in the woods. Her boy told us where ya'll went, so we hit the trees from all angles, coming to where ya'll were just in time to see Brynn head-butt Riley. My boys had the girl surrounded, but she grabbed Jimmy Nelson's gun and blew her brains out right there when she realized my boys had you two covered and it was all over.”
Adam grimaced, imagining the scene playing out in his mind. “The end could have been a lot worse.” He sighed, thanking his lucky stars the police had protected Brynn better than he had. “So, what now?”
“Well, the arson case is solved. Brynn's filled us in on quite a bit, and, combined with Rachel Wood's diary, the videotapes you handed over, and the evidence found in Riley Wood's home we're pretty confident Zeke was Rachel Wood's murderer, as much as that blows my mind.” He shook his head. “We located an address to his out-of-town apartment, and I'll be making a trip there soon to see what else we find. As for your mother, well…”
“She's an accomplice.”
Clarkson nodded his head, his eyes downcast. “Going off the conversation I interrupted between the two of you earlier and things she let slip during the ranting she did after you left, yeah, she knew a whole lot of stuff that should have been reported to me. I have no choice but to hold her on—”
“Good. Lock her up and throw away the key.”
“Adam.” Clarkson’s gaze flew back to Adam’s face.
“What?” He glared at the sheriff.
“You don't really mean that. I know this whole situation is an outright mess, but family is still family.”
“Go preach that to someone who doesn't come from devils,” Adam spat.
“Your father was a good man.”
“Yes, well, fortunately for him he died without knowing the truth…as far as I know.” Adam banished the thought of his father knowing about Zeke. If he discovered one more warped family member, he’d go crazy himself.
“Zeke was a pretty sick little puppy, I'll give you that, but your daddy was a good man. As for your mama, well, a mother's love knows no bounds. If you don't believe me, just ask Brynn how far she'd go for that boy of¼” The sheriff looked away, sucking on his bottom lip a moment before clearing his throat.
“She told me about the boy and…your brother and Calvin Wylie. The whole deal.”
“She did?” Adam allowed himself a little smile, relieved that Brynn had apparently gotten over some of the shame she felt from the incident. Holding it all inside for so long couldn’t have been healthy.
“Yeah, what a damn shame.” He shook his head, clicked his teeth. “Anyway, I know a guy who works at the crime lab in the city. Even though you and Zeke are brothers, a DNA test can still tell us which one of you actually fathered the kid. We can use the same DNA sample we used when we had to identify your brother's remains and all you have to give is a blood sample and we're in business. My guy will put a rush on it. I know you gotta be going nuts with wondering.”
“I'll make sure the boy is taken care of whether he's mine or not. It's the least I can do for Brynn, but Nate might want to know who fathered him.”
Clarkson nodded. “All right then, I'll tell the doc you're awake and hang around for the blood sample.” He started for the door and turned to add with a smile, “I'll tell your girl you're ready for visitors. I know she'll want to see you.”
“No visitors,” Adam stated firmly. “Just send in the doctor.”
“But Brynn—”
“No visitors,” he restated, a warning to his instruction this time. “Especially not her. She's the last person whose concern I deserve.”
The sheriff looked at him hard, shook his head and grunted. “You're a hard-headed, stupid son-of-a-bitch, you know that, Good?” He left the room, mumbling “unbelievable,” as he pulled the door closed behind him.
“You got the son-of-a-bitch part right.” Adam rested his aching head on the pillow. He toyed with the idea of getting up and walking out of the small county hospital but cast the thought aside. The blood sample needed to be taken first.
Very little time passed before the doctor entered, gave him the details of his injury and instructions on keeping his
wound clean. They'd had to buzz a little of his hair off to properly treat the gash, but the rest of his hair covered the area.
Not that he really cared. His whole world had crumbled around him. They could have taken all of his hair. Hell, they could have left him to bleed to death in the woods. Brynn would be leaving Black Bear Gorge soon, and he loved her too much to stop her. She’d been raped and nearly killed here.
The news about Zeke would soon be out, someone would see Nate and speculation would start, neither of them deserved that. Only a selfish man would ask them to stay…and only a selfish man would leave with them, ensuring a constant reminder that Brynn had nearly been killed because of his demented family.
He pulled on his shoes after the blood sample was taken, thanked the doctor and left the room to sign himself out. He couldn't drive according to the doctor's orders, but the sheriff stood at the counter waiting on him, the man's face looked half as grumpy as he was sure his did.
Ignoring the look he received from the sheriff, Adam focused on the task of listening to the nurse explain to him how to properly treat his wound again while signing himself out of the hospital's care. He was nearly home free before he heard the sheriff's soft chuckle.
“You're in trouble now, boy.”
He looked up from the release form he'd just signed to see a trio of angry women approaching.
Brynn led, her complexion deathly pale, or so it seemed, against the myriad of colors blossoming out from under the bandage on her forehead. She was followed closely by her mother on the left and Jamie Lee on the right.
The latter two folded their arms together in front of their chests while they stopped to pin him to the wall with venomous glares, but Brynn, being her usual fiery self, reached out and shoved him hard in the chest with both hands, knocking him back a few steps.
“Do you see this?” she screeched, indicating the bandage on her forehead and its accompanying colors. “Do you?”
Adam looked at the sheriff for help, but the older man just grinned and held his hands up, backing away to let Adam face the small army of women alone.
“Um, yes,” Adam answered, facing the small but fear-inducing woman, aware they were drawing the attention of the entire medical staff.
“This is from me taking out the woman who killed your brother. This is from how much I would give to save your life and to make sure my son has a parent to raise him. This is evidence that I don't need you to fight my battles for me.”
“It wasn't your battle to fight,” Adam responded, cutting her off before she could take in the extra breath she needed to continue with her yelling spree. “I led that crazy girl to you, just like I led my brother and Cal to you thirteen years ago.”
“Oh, that's bull,” she yelled, stepping so close her breath warmed his face. “Bad people do bad things. That's all there is to it. Going off your logic, I guess you blame the person who calls the police when a cop is shot and killed by a bank robber.”
“That's ridiculous.”
“So is what you're saying. You did not cause any of this, Adam, regardless of who you came from or what you did or didn't know about them. And you didn't cause Riley Wood to lose her mind and come after me.”
“Whether I caused it or not, the point is I didn’t protect you when I should have. I've had more than one opportunity, and I failed, repeatedly.” Adam struggled to speak through the emotion clogging his throat.
“Oh, really?” Brynn let out a huff of air and folded her arms across her chest. “Who caught me before I had the chance to hit the floor when I broke through the floorboards at the Mulroney property? Who saved me when I was almost hit by a falling beam inside an abandoned farmhouse and got me to safety before the whole place caved? And, who defended my honor when some gawkers at Red's Tavern made some snide remarks about me? Don't think I didn't hear all about that. Damn it, Adam, you took a bullet for me, too.”
Adam looked at the floor, letting her words roll off him. None of those things could make up for the times he hadn't been there, regardless how badly he wanted them to. “My brother raped you,” he whispered. “He killed a girl's sister and she nearly killed you in retaliation, because of me. I can't live with that. I just can't. And I can't risk putting you in danger again, allowing you to be hurt again.”
Brynn's eyes softened as she reached out to cup his face with her hand. “You had no idea any of that was going to happen. I never blamed you, not even once. You're a good man, but if you allow those things to keep us apart you will hurt me, Adam. You will cause me far greater pain than anything I've been through yet. And, frankly, if you're not strong enough to accept the fact that I don't need you to be my knight in shining armor, then you're not the man I thought you were.”
She dropped her hand, kissed him lightly on the lips and walked past him followed by her glaring mother who simply shook her head as if to say she'd thought better of him, too.
Jamie Lee stepped closer, grabbed his head with both hands and stated firmly, “You are going to lose the one person you'd give your life for if you don't suck up your guilt and just be there for her. She's not asking for Super-Man, you idiot. She's just asking for you to be there when she needs two arms to hold her. That's all.”
Jamie Lee let go and stepped back, glancing at the sheriff. “Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”
Adam watched the women leave then glared at the grinning sheriff. “Not one word out of you.”
“After that, what's left to say?” The sheriff erupted into laughter. “Come on, son, you've been dragged over the coals enough for one day.”
~~~
Brynn grimaced as she swallowed the bitter pain pills prescribed by the doctor. It had been a month since she'd nearly cracked her own skull banging it into Riley's, and she still suffered headaches.
Since that night when she’d witnessed Riley commit suicide, she’d been plagued with nightmares, which caused her to wake up reaching toward the other side of the bed for a comforting set of arms to hold her tight and chase the nightmare away…but she always came up empty. She hadn't seen or spoke to Adam since she left the hospital.
He'd obviously made his choice, and that choice wasn't to forgive himself and move on. Brynn didn't know who to feel sorrier for, the man she'd loved unconditionally, who was too ensnared in his own guilt to realize how great he truly was, or the young man who would never know a father's love.
Whether Adam turned out to be Nate's father or his uncle, she'd been sure he'd love her child like a son either way, but in the end maybe it was too much to ask him to love a child who quite possibly could have been the product of the night she was raped by his brother.
Poor Nate. Brynn looked through the door of her father's den to watch as the boy studied for a test his grandmother would give him later. She'd agreed to let him go to regular school but not until the start of the new school year. Time had to be allowed for things to die down.
The news was out. There was enough evidence found in Zeke's apartment to link him directly to Rachel Wood's murder along with several rapes and drug deals. In a small town like Black Bear Gorge, news of that caliber spread at light speed.
The main question on everyone's minds—after the initial controversy of one of the Goods being a drug-dealing, murdering rapist—was who were the victims?
Brynn couldn't just sit by while other victims felt the shame of being one of “the ones he'd gotten,” so she'd talked to Nate about it and they'd both agreed it would be a good thing for the community to start a support group.
She'd led the first meeting earlier in the week and three women had shown up, each of them visibly relieved to have someone to talk to about the trauma they'd suffered thanks to Ezekiel Good.
Since then, she'd gotten a few phone calls from other women, some of whom were Zeke's victims, some of whom had suffered at the hands of family friends or others.
Although the rumors were flying about Nathaniel and the hot question was whether he was fathered by Zeke or Adam, no one dar
ed say a negative word to her or her son. Either they were very wise, or the town had evolved a little bit since Brynn had left it after all.
She smiled, relieved to finally be free of the weight of carrying such a dark secret around for so long. Her mother had cried for hours, and Nate had taken it hard, but with time they all seemed to have come to terms with what had happened and were moving past it. She could only wish that Adam would find a way to do the same someday.
She knew in her heart that Nate really wanted Adam to turn out to be his father. They'd had several discussions about Adam and her life in Black Bear Gorge before the rape occurred. Nate had come to realize that Adam wasn't a bad guy at all, just a man who put it upon himself to protect all of his loved ones.
That was a promise no man could keep one hundred percent of the time, no matter how hard he tried. And Nate realized it was she who had kept everything a secret, a fact he'd thoroughly forgiven her for once he'd had time to really consider what she'd been going through the past thirteen years in her quest to protect those she loved from the horror of the truth.
Her mother and her son knew the truth and they still loved her, even understood her actions. The town she'd thought would condemn her more once the truth was out had even seemed to open its arms wider, but it still wasn't enough. There was a void inside her, a hole in her heart that would never be filled unless Adam Good could learn to forgive himself for sins he did not commit.
The sound of tires crunching over gravel caught her attention, and as she stepped out onto the front porch to see Adam pulling his truck to a stop in her front yard, her heart pounded furiously.
She gripped the banister as he approached, clutching a large manila envelope in his hand. She couldn't see his eyes behind the dark sunglasses he wore, but she could tell by the tight set of his mouth that he wasn't coming to sweep her off of her front porch and drive away into the sunset with her.
“Hey.” He stepped onto the porch and leaned against the banister, his tone giving no clue as to his mood.
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