AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Seriously, we should move. I think I heard something.”
It’s funny. The man deals with thousand-pound cattle and unpredictable horses all day long, but he’s afraid of the dark and a few lizards.
I had him the box, toss the unturned soil back into place, then motion him in front of me.
He doesn’t waste time. Frogs, crickets, and the slow slurp of steps sing in chorus as we make our way back toward the dirt road we came in on. It’s late spring, but it’s already hot and muggy.How do people live like this?
Through the mist, we hike up the slight trench and toward the truck parked on the other side of the street.
“There. No gators. Do you feel better?” I say to Dex, lifting into the truck.
He glances toward me. “You’re really fucking with her privacy here. You know that, right?”
I stare toward him. “She stole from me! Forgive me if I don’t give a fuck about her privacy.”
“You don’t know that she stole the necklace. She was scared, and we put her on the spot.”
I laugh and start up the truck, tucking the box between us. I’m not sure why I don’t open it straight away. Maybe it’s because I’ve let Dex get into my head. What if there’s nothing but a few family photos in that box? What if she was telling the truth? What if she’s covering for someone else, like her brother? I let the thoughts permeate and put the truck in drive, moving slowly through the fog and toward the main road.
“Is this you listening to me for once?” Dex laughs, rolling the window down to rid the truck of the rotting smell from our boots, though it isn’t much better outside.
“We’re going to see Beth. She can open the box herself.”
Dex glances at me, but I don’t turn toward him.
“You’re going to humiliate her. I thought you—”
“Which is it, Dex? Does she have privacy, is she lying, or am I going to humiliate her? We need to pick a lane, mate.”
“What if she did put the jewels inside? Then she’s going to be called out in front of everyone.”
I tip my head toward him. “Exactly, and then she can’t bullshit us anymore. I’ll know the truth, and we can move the fuck on before we ruin our lives with some woman who used us.”
Dex pauses for a long while before looking back again. “You miss her, don’t you? You want to see her.”
I shake my head. “What the fuck are you talking about? She lied to me about having a miscarriage, about the jewels, and she let me get close to her without any regard for me or my—”
“We were holding her hostage. She was being threatened. Liam… we can’t show up at her house again and frighten her with this box. She told you it’s location in privacy.”
“She’s not at her house,” I growl.
“Where is she?”
“At her brother’s.”
“How do you know?”
I reach into my pocket and pull out her cell phone. I’d taken it a few days before when we’d tied her up. “Stupid Bryan never turned his tracker off. This gives me their exact address.”
Dex scrolls the map on the phone and stays quiet for a long while before speaking again. “And you don’t think this guy has a militia guarding the place?”
“Possibly, but from what Beth said, he went out there for some quiet.”
Dex laughs. “And you just said you don’t trust her, so…”
“We’re going to see her,” I growl. “End of story.”
Chapter Fourteen
