“Yeah… I stole shit, but I pawned it all. I took a bunch of…” He freezes and looks up at me. “Oh fuck, I was able to sell everything but a class ring. They told me they couldn’t resell it and it wasn’t worth melting down, so they refused to even take it.”
“You still have it?”
“Somewhere.”
“I want it.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
I lean into him. “I’m going to save your ass. Do not forget that. Do you understand? Do not fuck me over.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Jesse’s watching me closely. “Sometimes you get this expression that reminds me of him… of Whitaker.”
Before I can say anything, the front door opens and Gabriel takes one look at us before nearly expiring right then and there.
“Fucking hell, what did you two do?” he asks, running over. He has his hands up, but he doesn’t seem to know who or what to grab. We must really look like a mess.
Jesse looks like a beaten dog as his head droops down. “I… was really fucking stupid and went after Tate Piers… he kicked my ass, nearly killed me, and threw me under the ice where I would have died if Liam hadn’t saved me,” he admits.
“Fuck. Are you okay?” Gabriel asks, carefully parting Jesse’s hair to inspect where he’d cracked his head on the ice.
“Yes.”
“We should take you to the hospital.”
“If we can avoid doing so, it’d be great,” I say.
“Why?” Gabriel asks before going, “Where’s Tate?”
“He’s dead.”
“Did you call it in?”
“No. I have a better idea. I just need this ring from Jesse first,” I say. “I’m going to go get the ring and I’m going to plant it on the body. Do you understand, Jesse?”
“Yes.”
“We will draw Whitaker into this and we will get him arrested by doing this, so you don’t need to follow his wishes ever again, okay?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Gabriel, we need to have someone pick up Lacey and her brother, make sure they’re safe.”
“I will,” he promises.
I head to the bathroom, knowing I’ll have to make sure I’m not bleeding anywhere near the crime scene before I even begin. First, I strip off my clothes, not needing to track any more of Tate’s blood around, and start to clean up.
Gabriel rushes in and sees my arm. “Liam, that needs stitches…”
“It’ll be fine,” I assure him as I run it under the water. It does not feel fine.
“Liam.”
“Gabriel, I don’t have time.”
