My vertebrae locked up. “How could you even thinkthat?”
“Because of what he did toMaggie.”
“In case you forgot, Heath also raped Becca. Maybesheasked Everest to killHeath.”
“She was in acoma.”
My throat locked up like my spine. I swallowed. “Before she tried to take her life and fell into acoma.”
My uncle’s reddened gaze drifted toward me before returning to the panorama of mountains. In a way—unknowingly—I’d been an accomplice to Heath’s murder, but if I’d meant to kill him, I would’ve done it. I would never have asked someone to do my dirty business. How could my uncle think so poorly ofme?
“Call me,” I whispered, backing away from his bedside. “If you need anything, call me.” I wheeled around and clambered back down thestairs.
Isobel looked up from the computer monitor she was checking. “Is everythingokay?”
I nodded. “Concerned about Jeb, that’sall.”
Isobel didn’t respond, but I could feel her studyingme.
I went out onto the wrap-around deck to clear my mind. Instead, the dense forest reminded me of Aidan and of the strange note he’d sent. I tried phoning Liam to tell him about it, but my call went tovoicemail.
The pack meeting was in a few hours. Informing him could surely wait until then. It wasn’t as though it was a threat. You didn’t threaten people with invitations. Then again, Aidan Michaels was a crafty man. Maybe it was an underhanded threat. A reminder that he knew how to get to me . . . how to get under myskin.
I pushed away from the knotted wood railing my father and the Watts had crafted. I wanted someone else’s opinion on the matter and since Liam wasn’t answering, I decided to seek out my “roommate.”
6
Iknockedon Lucas’s bedroom door and didn’t stop until he drew itopen.
“Geez. Give a man a minute.” Lucas stood there barefoot, sporting a pair of low-riding sweatpants that displayed too much boxers and a wifebeater that showed off too much biceps. Although I wanted to tell him to pull up his pants, I hadn’t come to police his poor taste infashion.
I strode into the room, kicking the doorshut.
“I usually don’t turn down booty calls,but—”
“Oh my God, get over yourself.” I rolled my eyes. “If you were the last man on Earth, I would still never get withyou.”
He smiled. “That’s cold,Clark.”
“I’m here because I got a strangedelivery.”
His smile vanished. “I’mlistening.”
“The night I went to Aidan Michaels’s house, the night he shot Liam, well, I used one of the inn bikes to get there, and it was returned to me just now with a note saying,So you can stop by again.” I said this all in onebreath.
Lucas’s eyes darkened. “Who returnedit?”
“I don’t know. Isobel found it in thedriveway.”
“How do you know it was the samebike?”
“I don’t,but—”
“Maybe the note was meant for someoneelse.”
I growled in frustration. “Fine. Don’t take thisseriously.”
His jaw ticked. “Have you calledLiam?”
