Page 84 of Overkill

I couldn’t help but laugh. “This is about the inheritance, isn’t it? Your daddy can’t get his hands on what Luke left behind because it was ruled an accident?”

I wanted to laugh. Was I experiencing hysteria? The laughing at the absurdity of everything! How was it possible for all these things to happen right now? What else could go wrong? I wanted to ask the sky, to ask what deity could possibly exist above this chaotic, nonsensical world.

“Get in the car, Mel!” Ian said.

Lightning lit the sky, revealing his pale hand holding a Glock. His elbow bent at his waist, aiming from the hip like an idiot.

I couldn’t take him seriously.

“Go home, Ian.” I walked on.

“Hey! Hey! Mel!” he called. “Stop!”

Lightning. Thunder. Gunshot.

I stopped.

“Get in the car, Mel!”

I turned and stared at him. He’d actually fired. I had no idea where it landed, because the kid couldn’t aim, but he’d fired the gun. In that sense, he was dangerous.

I got in the car. The overpriced, black Lexus!

“Why do you always have to make things hard, huh? We warned you!” He slammed his fist on the steering wheel. “I fucking warned you!”

“Text?” I asked, unable to stop the bubbling giggles. “That was you?”

It had been him all along. Even if I had reported the harassment, nothing would have been done. The Grays were untouchable. And I was not a Gray…

Chapter 29

Love

Vedder

I was back in the barn, though it felt hollow and bleak now. The big, cavernous space and the tiny loft in the corner was depressing after having spent the night with my woman. Her cramped, twin-size bed, too small for me and leaving my feet dangling off the edge, was bigger than this expansive emptiness.

I was so close…

So close to having it all. The woman, the kids…a home.

I sat on my red toolbox, back against the rough, unfinished wood, and propped my elbows on my knees. Soaked to the bone, I wondered whether I’d catch a death of cold the way Ma always said I would. Would that be a relief?

I’d promised Melody.

I’d promised I’d wait. That I’d be there, even if she didn’t want me. I intended to keep that promise, but damn…

“The fuck were you thinking?” The barn door slipped open and slammed shut. In came the last person I wanted to see.

The fucking twaffle of a human had his nose up in the air, his too-rich cologne announcing the oncoming bullshit sure to follow.

“Not the time, Griff,” I grumbled, still staring at the ground ten feet in front of me. Ten feet in front, and through the ground, straight down to hell.

I could hear my mother’s voice in my ear. “You’re gonna go to hell, Gregory. You’re just like your father, Gregory. You’re a sinner and should repent, Gregory.”

I rubbed the base of my neck where my hair was plastered.

“Not the fucking time? You left me and Taz in that fucking place with the bill for you and your girl when you just up and disappeared. What the ever-living fuck?” His feet got in my way, his brown boots trailing mud in with him.