“I know what he said. Don’t.”
Logan’s gaze locked on Daniel and filled with rage. Bear had seen that look before. In the mirror. Most of his life.
“Look at me,” Bear said.
Logan didn’t.
“Logan. Look at me.”
The boy’s gaze cut to him.
Bear held it. “He’s drunk. He’s trying to get a reaction. He doesn’t know your mother, and he doesn’t know you. Don’t give him the satisfaction. Stand where you are. Breathe.”
Logan’s chest moved fast like he wasn’t sucking in enough oxygen.
“Breathe, son.”
Logan inhaled. Exhaled. Once. Twice. The third one came out shaky.
Bear kept his arm across Logan’s chest a beat longer, then dropped it. “Stay with Walker. Don’t move from him.”
Logan nodded and moved back to stand beside Walker.
Bear faced Daniel again, and his own rage rose up from his chest, hot and choking. His hands curled into fists at his sides. He made them open.
Logan is right behind me. Logan is watching. Don’t be the man you used to be.
He breathed through the anger. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.
“Go home, Daniel,” Greta said again. Her voice was steadier than it had any right to be. “Before you do something stupid and end up back in the hospital or worse.”
Daniel took another step.
Atlas’s lip lifted off his teeth, and he let out a growl.
Daniel didn’t even glance at the dog. “Are you threatening me?” he demanded, his words slurring and crashing into each other. “You think you’re so much better than everyone else. Running your little business, playing hero in the mountains, spreading your legs for the first felon who looks at you twice. You’re just like your sister. Both of you, asking for it. Begging for someone to?—”
“Why are you so obsessed with her?” River called and took a bite of his corndog. “Seriously, man. She turned you down once and you’re still out here making an ass of yourself.”
Daniel’s head swiveled toward River. “Shut your mouth.”
“I’m just asking.” River chewed. “You follow her around. You vandalize her property. You show up drunk to harass her in parking lots. That’s some Joe Goldbergshit, brother. You need a hobby.”
“She’s mine.” Daniel’s attention snapped back to Greta. “She was always supposed to be mine. Just like Alice was supposed to be mine. But you both thought you were too good for me.”
Greta went still. “Oh my God,” she said softly. “You killed her, didn’t you? You killed Alice.”
The parking lot went silent.
Daniel stared at her. “What?”
“You were obsessed with her, too. That summer before she disappeared. You kept showing up at the house, trying to get her to go out with you. She turned you down, and you wouldn’t let it go.” Greta took a step forward, and Atlas moved with her. “And then she vanished. And now you’re doing the same thing to me.”
“That’s bullshit?—”
“Where were you the night of August seventeenth, 2011?”
“I don’t have to answer that.”
