Kyle adjusts his weapons belt under his paunch as he steps onto the sidewalk.
There’s no time to worry about why Dizzy is scared of the cops—or if it’s West she’s in fear of—as the sheriff clocks the rest of us through the shop window.
“Still can’t believe that jack off’s a cop,” Jett grumbles.
“Sherrif’s department. I see you in there.” Kyle’s lips turn up in an ugly manner as he zeroes in on me. Lifting his fist, he pounds hard enough to make the door rattle against the casing.
“I hate that sound,” Rebel says through gritted teeth. His hands wrap around my biceps, a current of strength as my heart bangs hard against my ribcage.
41
Ivy
“Ivy, hurry.” Dizzy rushes ahead of me down the hallway. Her pink hair swings against her shoulders with every step. “This is not good. If he saw me... it’s bad.”
“I don’t think a small-town sheriff from Devil’s Bend is going to know who you are, Dizzy.” I frown. She reacted weirdly about the FBI agent too. She’d told me it wasn’t about Jackson when I bought it up. And then she’d sucked the FBI guy’s face.
I’d forgotten about it during the party. We’d been celebrating, and I’d been caught up in my husband-to-be.
But now it seems it was a big deal. And her running from the cops is a big red flag. And the way she hogtied that guy by herself, put a loop around his neck to strangle him, was too perfect.
“Dizzy?” I grab her hand, slow her down. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing. It’s just not how I planned this. It wasn’t meant to be this way.”
“What wasn’t?”
She’s frantic. Her fearful gaze flicks here and there and settles nowhere. It’s like she’s looking at ghosts, not at me.
I grab her arm and shake it. “Look at me.”
Her blue eyes lock on mine.
“Why are you running from the police? And the FBI?”
“Because I...” She wraps her cotton candy pink nails around her throat before she turns away without answering the question. “We shouldn’t talk here.”
She said she would take care of anyone who tried to hurt me. Alec certainly fit the criteria. It would make sense of why she’s hiding from law enforcement like a fugitive.
“You killed Alec, didn’t you?” My stomach lurches. In my heart, I know it’s the truth. He’s been completely off the radar for months. That would be possible for an average Joe, but for my brother who lived in front of the cameras and wanted everyone to know his name, it would never happen.
Unless he was dead.
“Ivy.”
“What was it you said this afternoon when I admitted it might have been easier if he were gone?” My back meets the wall. “You wished you could tell me you took care of it.”
“It’s okay.” She moves toward me, her hands outstretched.
“You didn’t say you wished youcould take care of it, because you already had.” I cover my mouth with my hand. Bile burns up my throat. “You killed Jackson.”
“To save you,” she says. “It was self-defense. You said so yourself.”
“Yes. But Alec? It’s different, isn’t it? It wasn’t self-defense, was it? You murdered him.” She’s dangerous. Perhaps a psychopath. Every time she’s talked about blowing things up or multiple ways to murder someone, she’s been revealing smallparts of herself, and I refused to see it. Even when she killed Jackson and basically kidnapped me.
I talked myself into believing it was self-defense. I wanted a sister so badly. I wanted us to be a family and I was willing to ignore what was right in front of my face.
She crowds me against the wall. “I could lie to you and tell you he came after me, if that would help. But I want to be honest with you. You should try being honest with yourself too.”
