“Are you crazy?” She tried to tug her hands free, but Jep held on tighter. Fear started to course through her like a current.
“I swear,” Jep went on. “I’ll still take the blame to protect Ella, but I can’t lose the garage. It’s my family’s business. My grandfather started that garage, and my father passed it down to me. Please don’t do that to them.”
“You’re lying. I don’t believe one word.” Lucy jerked her hands free and stalked toward the sidewalk. She had to get away from him, from his disgusting lies.
Jep followed. “I took the fall for her.”
“No, you didn’t. You’re blaming her now to cover your ass.”
“Don’t you get it? That’s why I wanted you to give her the note! I didn’t want her to tell the truth because she’d be arrested. Because she’d have a record, and then Tufts would find out.”
Lucy spun around to face him. “What does Tufts have to do with anything?”
“They’d take her scholarship away! She’d loseeverythingshe’s worked for.”
“Hasn’t she already?” Lucy wanted to scream. What he was saying was outrageous. The police had never said anything different. Nor had the accident report, or the lawyers. Jep was lying.
Lucy blazed around the corner of the house and down the sidewalk, shoving past the tourists coming toward them. She didn’t care. Jep Parsons was a lying piece of crap. He’d almost killed her sister. Now he was trying to take her down with him.
The sound of footsteps reverberated behind her, and Jep pulled up alongside her just as she reached the shop door. She reached for the handle, but he grabbed for it first, holding it closed.
“Lucy, please.” His breath came in gasps. “Tell your parents to call off the suit. It wasn’t me.”
Eudora appeared, eyes wide with alarm on the other side of the glass. When she tugged the door open, Jep let go. Lucy surged inside. Only then did she stop and turn around. Jep Parsons was gone.
