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But still, Five-Mile? It was a swimming hole in summer. There was nothing to do there this time of year. It wasn’t exactly a hiking spot.
Whatever. I’d get there and we could finally have it out, once and for all. I’d put all my cards on the table, or try to.
Reece’s words echoed in my head: You were always just as fucked up as me. Could I admit that to Ruth and explain that I needed her? That I wasn’t as perfect as I always pretended, even if it was hard for me to swallow my pride and fucking admit it. There were reasons I was the way I was and maybe someday I’d even be able to open up and talk about it…
In the meantime, I just shoved the truck into fifth gear and opened up the engine as I sped down the back streets of the hill country as the sunset streaked across the sky.
Twenty minutes later, the sun had dipped below the horizon and the pinks and oranges were settling into the purple haze of twilight as I pulled into the Five-Mile parking lot.
I drove from one end of the parking lot to another, my car lights on bright. But nowhere did I see Olivia’s little Honda.
Goddammit, I’d seen Ruth’s phone lighting up right near this spot less than half an hour ago. Where the hell was she?
Had I missed her on the road somewhere or had she already moved on? But when I pulled out my phone to see if I could catch her GPS dot, I couldn’t get any signal. “Fucking great,” I muttered, shoving my phone back onto its holder in the dash as I spun the truck around and pulled out of the driveway onto the backroads again. I drove a little ways down the stretch of road in the direction I hadn’t come from and slowed when I saw a vehicle pulled off and parked on a slight inlet a little way down from the dam.
I came to a stop and squinted at the car. It wasn’t Olivia’s car but it looked familiar. Then I caught sight of the gold naked woman emblem on the back of his mudflaps.
Holy shit. It was Buck’s car.
I was shoving out the door of my truck even as I tried to figure out what the hell Ruth would be doing out here in the middle of nowhere with Buck of all people. They never interacted that much, as far as I knew.
Then again, maybe she had really wanted to get back at me. Or wash me out of her system. The best way to get over one man was to get under another one, some bullshit like that.
One part of me knew I couldn’t blame her after everything I’d said and done, while another, less evolved part of me wanted to find Buck and leave him without any teeth for daring to touch what was mine.
Not knowing what I’d do once I found them together, I couldn’t stop myself from stomping forwards toward the SUV and yanking open the door.
Only to find no one inside. The raging bull in my chest was only slightly mollified. Because I realized a moment later that just because I hadn’t found them in flagrante in the car didn’t mean they weren’t curled up somewhere else cozy nearby.
I turned on my phone’s flashlight and looked around in the increasing darkness. At first, I didn’t see anything but the normal Texas scrub brush that lined the sides of all Central Texas sideroads… until in the distance, I glimpsed a small structure. A storage hut of some kind? An old bathroom for Five-Mile Dam Park before it had become the lost, forgotten place it was now until folks remembered it each summer when the water levels rose enough to make it of interest again?
I lowered my flashlight and stomped toward the place. How had they even gotten inside? And Jesus, I knew Ruth was adventurous, but coming out here in the middle of nowhere to fuck Buck of all guys? I wasn’t usually judgmental when it came to my coworkers, but Buck was by far the weakest link at the farm, happy to slack off work whenever he could. And the way he spoke about women… well, yeah, I was surprised Ruth would dally with him no matter how pissed I’d made her.
Brambles pulled at my slacks and I barely dodged a large cactus as I made my way toward the structure. Getting closer didn’t help me figure out what it was meant to be used for any better.
But I did see a door, cracked a little, and I could see light pouring out from within.
They were in there.
I swallowed hard.
A bigger man would have turned around right there and gotten back in his truck. But I wasn’t a bigger man. I needed to see for myself, even though the image would torture me.
So I pushed open the door.
And realized that yet again, I’d been a complete fucking idiot who had completely underestimated the situation I was in.
Because as I opened the door to the most fucking horrific scene of Ruth struggling uselessly, duct-taped to a chair, the Winstons unconscious or worse on the ground, the unmistakable feeling of a gun barrel pressed to the back of my neck.
“Step inside and don’t make a single fucking noise,” Buck’s voice came so close I could smell his alcohol-soured breath from behind me. In fact, the fucker smelled so bad, he must have intentionally been standing downwind. These Texas boys grew up hunting and tracking. How long had he been stalking me? Ever since I got out of my truck, stomping around and flashing my presence like the big dumb bastard that I was.
“Okay,” I said, lifting my hands up in the air. “Not sure what I’m walking into here, Buck, but I’m sure we can work something out.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Buck said, digging the barrel of the gun more painfully into the back of my neck until I took a step forward into the small hut. Which looked uncannily like something out of Dexter’s wet dreams, apart from the fact that it was missing plastic spread out everywhere. But I couldn’t tell if the two elderly folks on the ground were even breathing. I wasn’t a fan of Charlie’s mom and dad or anything, but I hadn’t wanted them dead.
“Ruth?” I asked. “You okay?”
She just looked at me with wide eyes like, are you kidding? Fair point.
