“The man’s been sniffing around to find out what happened to Heath. Guess where it led him? Straight to the escort agency.” His whispers sounded like shouts. “Sandra didn’t give him your name. She contacted me, though, when she couldn’t reach you. Anyway, she promised not to give you away in exchange for some hushmoney.”
“You paid heroff?”
“Yes. I paid heroff.”
“Howmuch?”
“Don’t concern yourself with how much. I covered it.” He palmed his mussy redhair.
“I think Liam already knows. Last night, heimplied—”
“He doesn’t know. He’s trying to guess, but he doesn’tknow.”
I dropped heavily into the armchair, rested my head back, and sighed. “I realize my being there the night Heath died doesn’t look good, but I didn’t kill him, Everest. I should just comeclean.”
When Everest didn’t say anything, I propped my head back up. His lips were so thin and his cheeks so pale my heart stilled for a couplebeats.
“What?”
He sat on the foot of mybed.
“You’re scaring me…What?”
“Ness, I heard Lucas and Matt talk about Heath’s tox screen. How the coroner found drugs in hissystem.”
My spine went rigid. “So?”
“He drowned because those pills… They fucked up his nervoussystem.”
“Are you—are you—” Tremors crawled over my arms and legs, rattled inside my chest, rippled over my skin. I lifted a trembling hand to my gaping mouth. “No,” Iwhispered.
Everest hung his head then craned his neck and shot me the grimmest, most doleful stare in the history of stares. “Yes.”
The room distorted. “You mean to say… You mean to tellme…”
“That you killed him?Yes.”
My breathing halted as fear clambered down my throat and squashed mylungs.
I killedHeath.
For all my talk of murdering him, I wouldneverhave gone through withit.
I wasn’t some blood-thirstyexecutioner.
Everest leaned forward and caught one of my hands. “I have aplan.”
I tried to swallow, but jagged lumps clogged my airway like clumps of hair in a shower drain. “I need to…to runaway.”
“No.”
I killed Liam’s father. The pack Alpha. The pack was going to come after me and shred me toribbons.
“I have a plan. A plan that will keep you safe. I promise. It’sfoolproof.”
Nothingwasfoolproof.
Silver bars materialized in front of my eyes. The Boulders were going to toss me in that hole of theirs. I removed my hand from Everest’s and massaged my temples. If the pack didn’t kill me, the authorities would lock me up for involuntary manslaughter. It wouldn’t matter that it hadn’t beenintentional.
