This delicious morsel was all his. The realization staggered him. Tessa belonged to him now. It made everything he had done worth it.
If only she was as happy about that as he was. She had to be. He would make sure of it.
Lucas loved her too much to accept anything less.
“Tessa. What’s wrong? What else has you tied in knots?” She shivered as his murmured words tickled her neck. Chills ran up and down her spine, goosebumps popping up all over her exposed skin. “Tell me. I’ll make it all better. You know I will.”
He was so distracting. Part of her wanted to just give in, let Lucas take over as he had been doing all along. She couldn’t. This was too important. Tess had to be sure.
“I just… I can’t stop thinking about it. I know why we did it. I don’t see what we could’ve done differently and maybe that makes us monsters, but I don’t care—”
“You’re no monster, mia cuore. You want to blame someone, blame me. It was my idea.”
“And I was with you all the way, Luc. I still am. I love you. I don’t regret a damn thing that happened but… Jesus Christ, what if they believe him? We both gave up so much to have a chance at this, at us. I want to it be worth it, but someone might figure it all out. He can’t give any details, right? Someone might wonder if he’s really as innocent as he claims.”
Because, of course, Mason Walsh was innocent. And while there were only three people in the whole world who knew for a fact that he was innocent of the murders, what if someone else figured it out? What if he could convince someone?
Lucas thought her worries were charming. Ridiculous yet cute at the same time. When he went along with her idea to frame Walsh rather than give him an “accident” like Turner, he did everything he had to to ensure that no one would ever think that the deputy was anything except what Lucas wanted them to believe.
From the moment the Sullivans arrived in Hamlet, he’d been one step ahead of everyone. It really was the perfect crime. No one would ever guess that the respected doctor had anything to do with the murders. And while they might always suspect the outsider, he’d been careful to shield Tessa. This was all for her, after all. He couldn’t stop Caitlin from interrogating his sweet Tessa. He’d never allow anyone else the chance.
Everything he’d done, he’d done for her. For them.
Every little detail and interaction was thought up in advance, planned perfectly and executed flawlessly. Tessa’s airtight alibi. Acting like they never met before, even going so far as to play out their “first” meetings in front of an audience. The threatening note Lucas slipped under her door without any advance warning so that her reaction would be genuine.
Of course, he remembered with a scowl, he never expected Tessa would run right into Walsh which just goes to show that even the best laid plans could have a kink or two in them.
Like when he got shot. Now that was a kink. He’d provided Tessa with the pair of guns he lifted from Caity’s place, instructed her on how to rig them to give the impression that she’d been shot at while in the good doctor’s company. No one in Hamlet would doubt his word as witness. But their aim was erratic at best and Lucas was lucky he was only grazed.
It worked better than he guessed, though. It was tangible proof that even the sheriff couldn’t ignore. The queen of conspiracy theories never once suspected he engineered his own injury. No sane man would ever consider it a plus to be shot.
Then again, he figured he left the last of his sanity far behind the first time a double murder seemed like a viable option for him to get what he wanted.
As for Walsh, being wrongfully imprisoned for crimes he didn’t commit was a better fate than what Lucas wanted for him. The foolish deputy could insist he was innocent until he was blue in the face. It wouldn’t do him any good. Lucas buried him in so much circumstantial evidence, Walsh would eventually collapse under the weight of it. He wasn’t dead, but he would wish he was.
And that was good enough for Lucas. Served him right. Six weeks later and he was still touchy that Walsh dared to kiss his Tessa.
Massaging her shoulders, he dug his fingers in her flesh in an attempt to banish some of the tension that lingered there.
“We have nothing to worry about,” he promised. “I made sure of that when I planted some of the rope in his garage.”
Lucas was always so amazed by how stupidly trustworthy other people were. No one locked their doors in Hamlet. People like Caitlin and Walsh were just begging to be set up. Was it so terrible that he obliged them?
Nuzzling her neck, he added, “And then I used his gun to kill Caity after you set him up, egging him on that last night.”
He pointedly didn’t mention Tessa’s change of heart that night, or how she tried to stop Lucas from turning on his ex and the deputy. She really had run off to Caitlin’s in a panic, towing poor Maria along, only to serve as a witness when Lucas pulled the trigger from a distance.
After that, she realized they had no choice but to continue in the plan to frame Walsh. When the alternative was targeting him next, Tess let it go. He insisted.
It was imperative that she let the past go so that could start their future.
“No one will look past that. How can they? It’s his gun. So let Walsh cry that he didn’t do it. No one will believe him. We’re home free. You said it before. We did it.”
She turned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Bright eyes, golden eyes stared up at him utter worship. “You sure, Luc? Really?”
He looped his arms around her, pulling her close until her cheek was pressed to his chest. He gently kissed the top of her hair. “I’m positive,” Lucas assured her.
And then he smiled into the loose curls.
“Trust me.”
About the Author
After more than a decade of writing, Don’t Trust Me is Jessica’s debut novel. She lives in New Jersey with her family, including enough pets to cement her status as the neighborhood’s future Cat Lady. She spends her days working in retail, and her nights lost in whatever world the current novel she is reading is set in. She always wanted to have a book of her own, one to draw in readers like the countless novels she has read. The characters in Don’t Trust Me have been part of her writing in some shape or form since she wrote her first sentence. In this novel, they finally get the chance to come alive.
Well, some of them any way. Sorry, Jack.
For more information about Jessica:
jessicalynchwrites.com
[email protected]
A Note From Jessica
I want to thank you for taking the time to read Don’t Trust Me. Now that you’ve reached the end, I would be honored if you took a few minutes to leave a review of your honest opinion. Just some small token that might entice other readers to discover the hidden path into Hamlet.
And hopefully you might want to return there some day yourself!
xoxo,
Jessica
Also by Jessica Lynch
Welcome to Hamlet
Don’t Trust Me
Ophelia
I’ll Never Stop: coming soon
Mirrorside
Stalk the Moon: coming on September 7th
Available Now
Ophelia
In a small village with a population less than two hundred, there was rarely a need for an inn. There was definitely no reason for one of the locals to open a bed and breakfast when outsiders were few and far between. That didn't stop Maria De Angelis. Though she knew she would never manage to escape Hamlet—and she didn't want to—running Ophelia was her dream.
But when did she decide to do it? Why? Where did she get the name for it?
And what really happened with Mack Turner?
Told in snippets, this novella spans eight years, showing the birth of the idea for Ophelia all the way to the day Maria reopens her bed and breakfast and has Tessa Sullivan for a guest. The reader gets a closer look at the relationship between Lucas and Maria De Angelis, as well as gli
mpses of some of the Hamlet residents that are featured in the first novel.
Available Soon
Stalk the Moon
She doesn't know she's Artemis, mythical huntress and goddess of the moon—but he does. And that's all he needs to make sure he gets his happy ending this time.
Except he's expecting the Artemis he remembers. Who he gets instead is—
Noelle
With a potty mouth and a Jersey attitude, I've never been the type of girl who cries when things don't go my way. I'm no damsel in distress. Whatever life throws at me, I can handle it. No matter how rough or tough or... weird?
Because falling through a full-length mirror and ending up in a forest wearing nothing but a nightgown is definitely weird. Stabbing a giant scorpion in the eye with a stick? Yup. Weird. Discovering I’m a whiz with a bow and that I can apparently communicate with animals like some grouchy Disney princess—okay, not gonna lie. That's kind of cool.
Being told that I'm supposedly the reincarnation of the Greek goddess Artemis? Super friggin' weird. How am I supposed to believe that? Or that some gorgeous hunk of a guy insists we're meant to be together?
I mean, I might not know a lot about mythology, but wasn't Artemis some kind of virgin?
Hunter
She's back.
After all this time, after all this waiting, she's back in my reach and nothing is going to keep me from changing the way this story ends.
Not the tragedy of our shared history, or the countless times I've already died. Not the fact that her brother has proven repeatedly that he will stop at nothing to keep us separated.
Not even the undeniable truth that Artemis doesn't remember me—or even herself.
She's back. And, this time, she's mine.
Coming Soon
I’ll Never Stop
It was supposed to be one date. After connecting on an online dating site, Grace Delaney agreed to go out with Thomas for coffee—and that was the beginning of the end for her.
Thomas Mathers is rich, he’s smart, he’s arrogant and, after one afternoon, he’s decided that the lovely ballerina is meant to be his. And because he quickly reveals how obsessed he is by her, he’s not about to take Grace’s no for an answer.
No matter where she goes, he’ll find her. In the seven months since they met, she’s been forced to move twice, change her number three times. The cops won’t help her. Her friends think she’s just being stubborn. Thomas would be good for her, they said.
Thomas would never let her go.
He stalks her, tracks her using his wits and the best technology that money can buy. How can she escape him?
Simple. By hiding out in a small town where there’s no phone, no television, and a former Marine turned Sheriff’s deputy is willing to do whatever he has to to protect the frightened outsider.
Welcome back to Hamlet.
Sign Up For My Newsletter
Are you interested in learning about news, sales, extras and upcoming releases by Jessica Lynch? If so, sign up for my newsletter!
http://jessicalynchwrites.com/newsletter
Don't Trust Me Page 26
