“Shit, sorry.” Toni quickly lowered the beam back down to the forest ground. “It was a joke, by the way. I couldn’t take the silence anymore.”
Ranger blinked away the spots in his vision. “It’s fine. Let’s keep going.”
“I’m not exactly dressed for a trek in the woods. Are you sure this part of the show-and-tell is needed?”
She gestured down to the skirt he’d hated to butcher, but also needed to do to get her on his bike. He hadn’t wanted to take Sophia’s cage because it was too claustrophobic. He needed airright now, not another prison cell. But fuck, he really had not thought this through.
Turning, he squatted down in front of her and gave her his back. “Climb on.”
“What? No! I just meant?—”
“We still have a lot of ground to cover, and you’re right that you’re not dressed appropriately. Climb on, and just keep the flashlight pointed in front of me.”
Leaves and brush crunched under her feet. “Crap. I cannot believe I’m doing this.” Then he felt her hands on his shoulders as she got into position. She let out a small yip as he stood with his arms under her legs. “Please don’t drop me, and don’t feel obligated to do this the whole way. I’m not exactly small.”
Ranger loosened the hold she had on his neck and bent his head to kiss the inside of her wrist. “You’re perfect. Just remember to keep the beam in front of me.” He didn’t need it, not really. The moon was out, and he knew these woods extremely well. But he thought giving her a task might soothe her mind.
She lasted maybe another two minutes of silence. “Okay, I either need you to talk or be allowed to ask questions, because right now, my brain is having trouble processing what you told me back there.”
Ranger wasn’t sure what to say, so he caved. “You can ask your questions.”
“Fuck. Now I don’t know where to start. You said all this was over an inheritance, right?” Her mouth was next to his right ear.
“Yes. Ritchie, Becks’ ex-fiancé, worked at the law office where my grandma filed her will. He and his stepsister then targeted Becks and me romantically. Their plan was to marry each of us to gain access to the inheritance when our grandma passed.”
“That’s…diabolical, and so unethical and illegal and just…” He felt her shake her head next to his. “People are such asshats.”
Ranger’s chuckle held no humor. “No truer words have ever been spoken.”
“Can I ask you about the heroin?”
He tried to keep his emotions in check as he said softly, “Sure.”
But then Toni was quiet for a minute, most likely gathering her thoughts together. “I grew up with parents who were addicts. For a long time in my teens, I hated them for their addiction. Thought the saying ‘it’s a disease’ to be nothing more than a lazy excuse. But then I actually did my research and I learned how different drugs alter the pathways in the brain, and how some genetics can be attributed to the struggle some have.
“As angry as I am with my parents right now, I can’t compare your two situations. My parentschoseto become addicts. Maybe they didn’t know the extent of the drugs or believed they were strong enough to stop using whenever they wanted. I’ve heard a lot of addicts talk about ‘mind over matter’, and how they thought it would be just that simple to stop. But for you, it’s so different. You didn’t choose that risk. You didn’t decide one day to just try heroin for the hell of it, or allowed peer pressure to get you hooked. It was forced on you. And I know you don’t want my pity, but tough shit, Liam. You’re getting it anyway. I’m so sorry that happened to you. As if torture wasn’t bad enough, you were also given a highly addictive drug to force your compliance. That’s a whole different level of addiction, and I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, Toni.” Ranger kept walking, following the beam in front of him like a cat went after a laser dot. “I gave myself that first injection.”
He felt her shift on his back. “I don’t understand. You were addicted before the kidnapping?”
Ranger shook his head. “No, I meanIgave myself that first injection. Cameron had a gun to Becks’ head and she was goingto shoot if I didn’t. I didn’t know it was heroin. I think I thought it was a sedative, but I was the one who injected myself.”
Toni was silent for a long minute, the only sounds in the woods Ranger’s boots on the leaves and forest debris. “Can you put me down, please?”
Ranger stopped walking, immediately lowering himself to aid her descent off his back. Toni then walked around in front of him, keeping the light low between them. Then she switched the flashlight to her left hand and slapped him across the face with her right.
It wasn’t hard. Ranger’s head barely shifted, but the shock of her reaction had him reeling. “What the hell, Toni?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. You’re allowed to pull my hair when I call myself a slut, but I’m not allowed to slap you when you’re being a fucking martyr?”
Ranger blinked, having no idea what it was she was talking about.
Thankfully, she didn’t make him ask. “Your sister, whom I also understand is Ghost’s wife, had a gun to her head, and you want to make sure to clarify for me that it wasyouwho inserted the first needle, not your crazy ex-girlfriend? Are you serious right now?”
“I didn’t want you to find out that detail later and think I was trying to hide something from you.”
Toni shook her head, lifting a finger at him. “No, you are trying to shoulder the blame for something thatclearlywas not your fault. I don’t know if you’re doing it to scare me, to make me not want to be with you, which completely contradicts what you said to me in Sophia’s car, or you honestly believe you’re to blame for any of this, but just stop it. I’m a criminal defense attorney, Liam. I know what guilt looks like and I know what evil looks like. I also know the difference between the two. And despite what you might think of me after last night, I am not aviolent person, but I absolutely will slap you again if youeversay that what happened to you and your sister was your fault.”
