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“Geez, Jayce. If Sid ever sees this, he’s gonna think youdidsteal from the Copperheads.”
It was a joke. A lighthearted jab between two lovers who spent all day teasing each other. I didn’treallythink it was the Copperheads’ money. It was probably just where Jayce hid his savings since there wasn’t a bank in this crummy little town.
But Jayce tensed. Only for a moment, but by now I knew him well enough to notice it immediately.
“Hah, right,” he said back. But it was too late. I’d seen the hesitation before he laughed it off. The way he clenched his jaw.
I felt my body go cold. “Jayce, what is this?”
He tensed again. His face was covered with shadows caused by the indirect glow of the flashlight, but I could see the fear in his cobalt eyes. Absolute terror that I had discovered the truth.
“Peaches…” he began.
“You did it,” I whispered. Even saying it out loud, it didn’t seem real. “This is the Copperhead money. Youdidsteal from Sid!”
“It’s not that simple,” he began, palms held out to calm me down.
“It’s not? Then tell me what this is. Is this the drug money Sid has been searching for? The money you insisted youdidn’ttake?”
“Yes.” The word was as soft as the moonlight streaming through the trees, but still struck me like a hammer. “It is.”
“How much is in there?” I asked. The bag was so small. I’d imagined boxes and boxes of cash. “Fifteen grand? Twenty?”
“I didn’t want you to know about it,” he said as he covered up the hole with the crate top, and then a layer of leaves and dirt. “The more you know, the more danger you’re in from Sid. All right? That’s why I lied.”
I hesitated, then nodded. The logic made sense. “Okay.”
Jayce walked back toward the barn and I followed a few steps behind, processing everything. By the time we got back inside, the logic was crumbling in my head.
“Your sister was killed,” I said slowly. “You let her die for that money.”
He rounded on me, face twisted in anger and pain. He pointed a finger at my face. “Don’t say that.”
“But you did,” I insisted. “Sid wanted his money back, and instead of giving it to him, you let the Copperheads kill her.”
“Of course I would have given him the money!” he roared, voice echoing in the barn. His face was red and his eyes glistened with tears. “If I had known he would go after Theresa, I would have handed it over without thinking twice. But Sid never gave me the chance. He went to Theresa’s house and killed her before I could.”
I wanted to believe him. Part of me did. But I was thinking about all the other chances Jayce had had…
“That day on the road,” I said softly. “The first time I ever saw Sid. One of the Copperheads held you in a headlock while Sid walked toward me with the crowbar.”
“When he trashed my truck?” Jayce asked. “I remember.”
“But you didn’t know he was going for the truck.” My voice cracked with emotion. Pain for me, and pain at having to confront him like this. “Later, you told me that you thought he was coming to hurtme. Right?”
Jayce responded only with silence. A tear finally broke from his eye.
“You thought Sid was going to hurt me,” I said, tears blurring my own vision now. “You had the way to stop him. And you said nothing.”
“Peaches…”
“Nothing!” I said, voice trembling. “You thought he was about to kill me and you saidnothing. You were going to let him do it!”
Jayce sat on the bed. He looked like a broken, defeated man. “You don’t understand how Sid thinks. If I had caved then, it would have let him know I cared about what happened to you. Then he would have killed you anyway, just to make me pay. At the time, I barely knew you…”
“Oh, well thenokay.” I was shouting now, but I didn’t care. “It’s totally cool that he was going to bash my head in with a crowbar when I was just a random girl to you. But now that you’ve beenfucking meit makes you sad. Is that it? A girl is only worth saving if you get to stick your dick in her?”
He rose from the bed and took my head in both of his hands. “Charlotte. You don’t understand what I’ve gone through. What that money represents. Please, you have to understand…”
