Something I should have done sooner. I’m sorry Ididn’t. My imagination painted a prettier picture than what reality does. When I asked Bobby what Phil did to her, he gave me the CliffsNotes version. All I could see was the photo I took of that woman. I didn’t put it past Phil to do the same thing to her again. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to try to kill her. The harsh marks around her neck tell me just how close he got to ending her life. Her long-sleeved shirt and pajama pants cover the rest of her body.
As much as I wanted to know what else he did to her, I couldn’t bring myself to check while she was passed out. The urge to push her sleeves up and pull her shirt up to examine her arms and stomach drove me insane the entire trip. I knew if I did, not only would I shatter any remaining trust with her, I would’ve also told Dale to turn back and start a hunting party for Phil. We need to be smarter than that.
“Forgive me if I have problems believing you,Cash,” she spits my name as if it were something foul. “If that’s even your name. You did kidnap me.”
“You wouldn’t answer your phone. I tried calling to tell you I was on my way to get you.”
“Thanks for sending the welcoming party. They did a phenomenal fucking job of making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” she yells at me. I can’t help but chuckle at her sarcasm. “I’m so glad you find that funny. I can assure you it wasn’t. It was terrifying knowing that I might face death so soon after escaping it.”
I sober immediately. Her glassy eyes tell of the impending meltdown coming soon. I reach for her, and she backs away. The trust I worked so hard to build is gone. All of it. I’ll do whatever I can to get it back.
“What’s your name?” she asks as she moves around the chair putting it between us.
“Cash Rians.”
She nods her head, her caramel brown hair swaying with the movement. “Where did you bring me?”
“Right now, we are at my factory right outside of Hattiesburg.”
“Your factory outside of Hattiesburg,” she repeats. “What do you do at this factory?”
“I am the CEO of Rians Chemical Company. We make industrial strength cleansers.”
“I see,” she says, and tilts her head. “And what else do you make here, Cash?”
I stare her straight in the eye, refusing to lie to her. “Snap.”
“So Phil works for you?” She grips the back of the chair so hard I’m surprised it doesn’t crack under the pressure.
“No. Phil’s an independent dealer who scores off one of our most important buyers. He doesn’t know who makes it.”
She raises a brow at me before turning toward the table. Her voice is quiet and wavers slightly when she speaks. “A friend of mine died yesterday from using Snap. You killed her, Cash.”
Her head drops, and her shoulders shake as shesilently cries. The weight on my chest gets heavier knowing the pain and suffering I’ve caused her. If we hadn’t started this venture, perhaps Phil wouldn’t have done the things he did. Hazel would be home leading a happy life. Her friend would be alive. And I wouldn’t have witnessed her life falling apart.
You never would’ve met her.
I walk up behind her and hesitantly put my hands on her arms. Tilting my head down to her ear, I get a faint whiff of coconut and pause for a moment remembering the night we spent together. It wasn’t that long ago, but now it seems as if eons have passed and continents divide us.
“People make their own choices,” I whisper to her. “I chose to sell Snap, Phil chose to alter the drug, making it lethal, and your friend chose to take it. I’m not the only reason they died, but I’m truly sorry it happened.”
“I bet you are,” she mumbles.
Her hand swings across her body, and I barely have time to register what she’s attempting to do. I grab her wrist before she’s able to shove the needle into my arm, squeezing the fragile bones just hard enough for her hand to open and drop it. Gripping her other wrist, I wrap my arms around her like a straitjacket. She fights me for a moment before she drops her head and truly cries this time.
I walk over to the bed and sit down, lowering her onto my lap. I feel the frustration, fear,and loss that she lets loose with her tears. What I feel is only a fraction of what she has endured, though. In a short period of time, her life has been turned upside down and inside out. How she’s survived, and is even functioning, is beyond me. And it’s all my fault. I hate that. The choices we make cause a domino effect, branching out to others. My choices are destroying people’s lives. People I’ve never even met.
As her tears slow, Hazel chokes out, “I want to go home.”
“Not yet.”
“When?” she asks, getting agitated again.
“After I find Phil…and kill him.”
CHAPTER 6
HAZEL
