No delivery receipt.
Pulling my legs to my chest, I wrapped my arms around them and dropped my head to my knees.Tears spilled down my face, soaking into my pajama pants.It was over.I’d fucked it all up.Sixx had probably already killed Gaviria by now.I was simply waiting for the call.His mom or one of his aunts would tell me he was in jail.Or…
Eight dead.
Sixx would be number nine.
With a sob, I grabbed the rim of the toilet, my stomach spasming so hard I struggled to breathe.There was nothing left inside me to come up, just a few drops of yellow-green bile.My ears started ringing, the world going dim around the edges.
And then I heard the buzz of my phone.
Heart stopping, I reached for it.My hands were shaking, and I dropped it in my rush, the screen landing facedown.I fumbled, and it took a few rings before I could pick it up.Seeing Bentley’s name on the screen, I fought back another sob and accepted the call.“Tell me he’s alive!”I cried.
“Christ, Ali,” he groaned, his deep voice breaking in a way I’d never heard from my cousin.“Are you okay?”
“Bentley, please tell me Sixx is alive,” I begged.
“Yes, of course he’s alive.I’ve been with him for the last two days, trying to keep the destruction to a minimum.Otherwise, I would have called to check on you before now.”His exhale was full of exhausted frustration.“Fuck it.I should have just checked on you instead of shadowing him.I’m sorry, Ali.I’m so sorry.”
Head pounding, I tried to make sense of what he was saying.“Why areyouapologizing?”
“Because you’ve been going through a nightmare.I wish you would have told me.I could have helped you.”
“How?”I whispered, slouching against the side of the tube once again.“How would you have helped me, Bentley?What could you have done?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I would have found a way.”
My tears fell faster.“Not telling you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.I was just scared of what Sixx would do.”
“When this is over, we’re going to have a long talk, okay?”His voice was so soft, it eased a tiny bit of the ache in my heart.
“O-okay,” I choked out on another sob.
“That’s my girl.Take a few deep breaths for me.We’re going to figure this out.”He waited for me to suck in a breath, hold it in, and release it.“Again.”
When I had my sobs under control, he cleared his throat.“I don’t want you to panic, but Sixx disappeared on me.I was babysitting him, making sure he didn’t kill Evan.I’m not saying I wouldn’t help bury that body, but I figured it would upset you.”
“Maybe not as much as you might think,” I muttered.
“Yeah,” he sighed.“We were at Evan’s house for a while the other night.Then we staked out your school.”
“Oh God.”Dropping my head back down on the rim of the bathtub, I squeezed my eyes closed.
“Evan showed us a picture of the coach.Gaviria.”I gagged at the sound of his name.“He didn’t show up for work yesterday, though.So we went back today.We spotted him as soon as he pulled into the parking lot.I thought Sixx would confront him then, but he didn’t.”
A chill skated up my spine.“That doesn’t sound like Sixx.”
“Right?”Bentley grunted.“He sat there watching the guy’s car for a few hours.We saw Gaviria leave for lunch and come back.Still, Sixx didn’t move.That’s when I got stupid, Ali.I let my guard down.Sixx suggested getting food, taking a piss break, grabbing coffee.Neither of us had eaten since yesterday, and I needed caffeine.We walked in, and he went to order while I made a pit stop.I should have known better.He ditched me.”
“Can you track his phone?”Bentley did that all the time.With Sixx or Charlotte and sometimes even with me.
“He turned it off.”
“Fuck!”On shaking legs, I stood.Pins and needles flooded my feet and legs as I stumbled to the sink.“We have to find him.Maybe we can stop him before anything happens.”
I’d been scared that he would let his violent side free once Evan told him what he knew.Instead, Evan was apparently alive, and so was Gaviria.For the moment.This changed everything.I had a chance to save Sixx from himself if I got to him in time.
“I took an Uber home to get my car.Now I’m on my way to pick you up.Should be there in less than thirty minutes.Be ready.”
