I had to cover. I was shaking all over, but I needed to keep my cool so this wouldn’t turn into a thing. This went from what could be at worst a simple assault charge to potential murder if this went wrong. I needed to control the narrative.
“Oops. Looks like you tried to catch the knife while it was falling. Breathe my name or any indication that I was here, and I will come back and finish the job. Are we clear?”
“Yes,” he whimpered, writhing against me.
“And you’re going to do whatever Mara wants.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to apologize to Aspen for missing his birthday and make sure he knows what a special little boy he is.”
The rage boiled again. Maybe he did deserve the knife.
“Yes. Yes, I’m sorry.”
“Good.” I kicked him facedown and knelt on his back to hold him down. “Make no mistake, motherfucker. I will kill you if you fuck this up.”
Tears streamed down his cheeks and the gravity of what I’d done sank in again.
I stabbed a man—I had to keep my cool.
“Better leave that knife in, Bryce. It’ll control the bleeding.”
I lifted the tent flap and headed for the hills, his screams for help becoming fainter as I hiked away.
And even fainter still when I put my earbuds in, queued up my favorite dad rock playlist, and let those more pleasant sounds fill my ears.
At least it would cover my pounding heart and screams of doubt.
FORTY-SEVEN
MARA
MARCH
I wokeup to the bed quivering in the dead of the night. I’d gone to sleep alone, but now Jack was with me on the other side of the bed.
“Jack?” I put a gentle hand on his back and he jumped. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
He turned over and his eyes were wild.
“Did you have a nightmare?” I asked.
“It felt real.”
“Aw, come here.” I opened my arms and he scooted my way, resting his head on my chest. I stroked his hair. “It’s alright. Dreams aren’t real.”
I felt his nod in the dark and continued soothing him. In all the time we’d been together, Jack had never done this.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s too awful.”
“Okay,” I said. “We can just be here.”
His palm scraped down my side, clutching my hip. “Mara, I’m not a good person. You should get out while you can.”
I struggled to focus on what he was saying since I was so disoriented. “Sure you are, Jack. What are you talking about?”
