Zach leaned on his elbows. “What are we doing? Why are you here?”
She looked down at her hands, picking at her fingernails and looking nervous for the first time. “Because I heard the way you talked to your brother. I know you wanted to do the right thing. I saw something good in you.”
He chuckled. “That’s a huge stretch. There’s nothing good in me, angel.”
“Stop acting,” she demanded. “Stop pretending tobe worse than you are. I know how to read people, and you’re putting on a front. Just be real with me. Would that be so hard?”
Wow. He had to admire her tenacity. “Probably.”
“Now, stop being difficult, or I’ll use the other Snickers I brought to bribe Mack to shine his flashlight in your face every night while you sleep.”
He bit his lips between his teeth until the urge to grin faded. “You brought another one?”
“Is it yours or Mack’s?”
Zach studied her while he considered his options. She’d found his weakness, or maybe that was what she’d become.
“Two minutes,” she said. “Anything you want to say to me?”
A strand of her hair fell over her shoulder, and he traced the line with his gaze. There were a million things he wanted to say to her. “Can I please have that Snickers?”
Lauren reached beneath the table and pulled out the prize. “You were nice, and you didn’t die. I’d say that’s a total win.”
He took the candy bar and held it up between them.
“Time’s up,” Mack said from behind Lauren.
Lauren stood and brushed her hands down her shirt. “Well, I guess that’s it. Should I bring Snickers, or is there another treat you prefer?”
Zach rose to his feet, towering over her small frameas he studied her. Who knew when she’d be back. “A picture. Something sexy.”
Her smile didn’t falter as she clasped her hands in front of her. “Snickers it is. Have a good day.”
“See you later.”
He didn’t deserve another visit from the angel of light, but he didn’t have anything else to do except hope.
3
Lauren
Two years later
The stormy sky matched Lauren’s mood as she sat in the minivan in front of the Wyoming State Penitentiary. She’d read a whopping six pages of her book in the last hour, and her attention wasn’t getting better. It would have been helpful if the man she’d spoken to on the phone could have given her an approximate time for inmate releases.
After three years, Zach Wilson would be walking the streets as a free man again. After three years, Lauren was finally beginning to pull her way out of the darkness.
Beginning. That was the key word. She still had a lot of work to do, but progress was progress. Hopefully, Zach would be willing to help her now.
The phone in the cup holder rang, and the name Lyric Scott lit up on the screen. Of course Lyric would call today. The man who shot her husband was becoming a free man again.
A pang of guilt throbbed in Lauren’s chest. She’d been lying to her friend for years, but could she keep it up now that Zach could tell the tale?
Putting up her walls, Lauren answered the call. “Hello.”
“Hey. How are you holding up today?”
It was just like Lyric to be a good friend, worried about how Lauren would take the news. Lauren was the original victim. Lyric’s police officer husband, Asa, had been doing his job when he’d been caught in the crossfire.
