“Me?” She sat up suddenly, the rag flopping to her lap as she gaped at me. “Oh, yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?”
“You still didn’t answer my question,” Liam growled, his footsteps prowling toward me in that way that made me feel like a caged animal about to be gobbled up.
“Well, maybe if you asked a question without making me feel like you were about to eat me for dinner…”
“Why the hell did you leave? You were supposed to stay with Ma.”
“Why does it matter if I left?” I argued. “I’m a big girl, and I’m perfectly capable of going into town by myself.”
“Not when—” Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the sound of Krista wrenching.
“Uh, I don’t feel so good.”
Snatching the trash bin, I rushed over to her just as she hurled into the opening. The stench was too much to take and almost made me vomit, but I was a good friend and held my breath so I didn’t throw up on her.
“This is so horrible,” Krista moaned. “You have no idea what this is like.”
“I’m getting a pretty good idea,” I muttered as my stomach churned from the smell wafting up to my face.
When she was done, she flopped back on the couch, holding her stomach as she moaned pathetically.
“I’ve done my part. You can deal with the rest of this,” I said to Liam.
“I only have one working arm.”
“Well, I guess you’ll figure it out,” I snapped, still pissed that he was treating me like an insolent teenager.
“What’s your problem?”
Carrying the garbage can to the kitchen, I pulled out the bag and tied it up before the stench permeated every corner of the house.
“My problem is that you’re yelling at me for going into town.”
“Well, why the hell did you look so damn guilty?”
“Because Krista told me not to talk to you about Mr. Callahan and what happened?—”
In my anger, I didn’t think to hold back the worst of it, but as his face mottled with rage, I realized my grave error.
“Nothing—” I tried, but failed miserably.
“Bailey, tell me right now what happened.”
Spinning on my heel, I headed for the back door, but he caught up to me, blocking the exit before I could escape.
“I’m not gonna ask again.”
He was so damn demanding, and no matter what I said or did, there was no getting out of this. “I went in to get groceries, and Mr. Callahan mentioned how he thought you finally got what was coming to you.”
“That’s it?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
“Ugh, just the usual,” Krista muttered as she sat up. “The usualyou’ll pay for this.AndYou deserve everything that’s coming to you.”
“It wasn’t quite that dramatic.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Again, Krista told me not to, which I thought we were sticking to,” I said, tossing a glare at her, though she was hardly coherent enough to even see.
