Page 91 of Deserving Maisy
“Get her out of here,” Jack ordered Tiny.
“We should all go,” Maisy said desperately.
“I’m thinking your brother and I need to have words,” Jack said.
“No, Jack. Let’s just go. He doesn’t matter.”
But it was as if Jack didn’t hear her. His back was ramrod straight and when she touched him, she could feel every muscle in his back tense.
“Please, Jack,” she said again. “I’m begging you, let’s just go.” He’d once told her that he’d never make her beg for anything. She was using his words against him. She knew it, and she didn’t care. Anything to get them away from her brother’s poisonous tongue.
“This isn’t done!” Jason yelled as Brick and Jack began to back toward the front door.
Maisy didn’t care what her brother said, itwasdone. Her brother would hopefully be going to prison for a very long time as a result of what he’d done to Jack, to Martha. Ry would send over the electronic evidence she’d discovered, and maybe if the police dug hard enough, they’d even be able to find who Jason solicited to kill their parents.
She felt sad and relieved all at the same time. She was finally free of her brother’s control. She couldn’t think about his final shouted threat. She was too focused on getting out of this house once and for all.
Maisy didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until all four of them were out of the house and the door had slammed behind them. Jack took her arm and hustled her down the sidewalk toward their car. No one said a word as they climbed in and Tiny drove off.
But Maisy was internally freaking out. Not because of what Jason had said. Not because she now had to go to the police station and convince a detective that her brother was a murderer.
No, it was because Jack was sitting next to her, looking out the window…not touching her.
In the last twenty-four hours, he’d touched her every second possible, like he had before his memories returned. He’d held her hand on the plane, in the car, had his hand on her thigh as they ate, held her all night…and now he was inches away, but it might as well have been miles.
His jaw was tight, head turned away, his eyes focused on the landscape as they passed. Maisy had no idea what he was thinking. Which of her brother’s insults he’d taken to heart. But it was obvious something Jason said was affecting him now, making him distance himself from her.
She wanted to beg him to talk to her, but with Brickand Tiny in earshot, this wasn’t the place. All she could do was bide her time. Pray that he’d realize Jason was desperate, full of shit, and would say anything to get a rise out of either of them.
Stone sat in a chair in the police station staring straight ahead. He’d rebuffed both Tiny and Brick’s attempts to talk. He couldn’t stop replaying the words Maisy’s brother had spewed. He’d already been furious over the shit he’d said to his sister, and for some reason hadn’t been ready for the venom to be turned his way.
He should’ve been. He’d heard worse when he was a POW. But the things Jason had said to him had hit their mark with deadly accuracy.
A real man would’ve fought.
It was true, Stone hadn’t fought at all. He’d been caught unaware and had been knocked unconscious before he even knew he was in danger.
Wouldn’t have lost his mind—literally—after being stuck in a trunk for what, twenty minutes?
Instead of figuring out how to get out of that trunk, disabling the brake lights, using the emergency release handle that all cars had now, Stone had freaked out. His mind had shut down, unable to deal with the stress of the situation. What kind of man did that make him?
A pathetic one, just like Jason had accused.
You bought my story hook, line, and sinker. Without even blinking.
That was true too. Many of the details Maisy had given him about his past hadn’t rung true. But Stone hadn’t trulysecond-guessed the idea that he was married. Hadn’t offered much in the way of hesitation because of how “right” things felt between them. And all his training, all the things he’d seen and done, all he’d been through at the hands of international terrorists, hadn’t been enough for him to do something about the clear threat he’d sensed from her brother from the moment he’d awakened.
If you weren’t so weak, so laughable, you would’ve known you hadn’t met my sister until the moment you woke up.
Heshould’veknown. His instincts should’ve kicked in. Instead, he’d been happy enough to lose himself in Maisy, to ignore all the warning signs that were screaming at him that something wasn’t right. Not only that, but he’d let Jason continually abuse Maisy, telling himself not to cause even more trouble between a brother and sister who already had a tumultuous relationship.
He’d screwed up so badly. Hewaspathetic. Brick, or Pipe, or Owl…noneof his friends would’ve fallen for the story he’d been fed. They wouldn’t have been weak enough to let their brains shut down to begin with. Henley had explained to him that he’d experienced trauma-induced amnesia, which was sudden and rare, though a bit more common among combat vets and abuse victims…but that didn’t make him feel better in the least.
He was lost in a fog of self-loathing, and not even the sight of a pale and trembling Maisy coming toward him after being in an interrogation room for two hours could shake him out of it. In fact, seeing her made him feel more ashamed. He’d donenothingto help this woman. Because of him, she’d been put through evenmorehell. All her things were destroyed. Every last possession she owned.
Stone stood, but he couldn’t make his legs work.Couldn’t make himself walk toward her. Brick did what he should’ve, going to Maisy and wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders.
“What’s wrong with you?” Tiny hissed. “Get your head out of your ass, man.”
