Page 19 of Mountain Pine
Hell, I have a tiger’s eye charm hanging from the mirror of my truck. Do I know what it does? Hell no. Did she tell me to hang it and never take it down? Yes. It’ll stay there for however long I have this truck and then it’ll hang in whatever vehicle I get next. What do I care? It was important to her that I have it.
So I keep it.
“Is it that hard to just give her what she wants?” I growl. “Are you so pigheaded and selfish that you can’t give her the simplest gift of acceptance, you twatbag?”
Austin’s taunting laughter rips through me. “I can’t give her what she wants when all she fucking wants isyou.” He jabs his finger into my forehead, punctuating his words and it’s so demeaning, I rip myself out of Dean’s grip and attack him again.
“You’re the selfish idiot!” Austin yells as he blocks my blows. When he punches me on the side of the head, stars burst in my vision. “You’rethe one who can’t give her the simplest gift.Twatbag.”
We tear into each other, knocking furniture over until Nick rips Austin away while Dean grabs me again. Bennet stands between us, his arms up like a referee. And then Jesse, the bartender, comes forward with his trusty baseball bat.
“That’s enough,” Jesse says, hitting the tip of the bat against his palm. “You wanna keep fighting like dogs, go do it outside.”
Austin rips out of Nick’s grip and straightens his shirt. I’m still restrained, fighting nausea, and sucking in harsh breaths. The room is spinning.
“I’m not a cheater,” Austin says under his breath one last time before walking out of the door.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Conner.” Dean lets me goand the guys fix the furniture, righting the chairs and scooting the tables back into their place. “What the hell’s going on with you?”
“Something that should have happened forever ago,” Bennet says cautiously. “He’s facing reality.”
I don’t know what to say about that, so I grind my teeth together.
“I honestly thought you were over her,” Nick says, pushing the last chair in.
My three best friends stare at me, waiting for me to say something.
I keep silent and leave.
Chapter 6
Taylor
Grace and I are halfway through solving an unsolved murder case on TV when I’m pretty sure I’ve found the culprit. “It’s the creeper neighbor.”
“No way. Can’t be.” Grace shoves a bunch of popcorn in her mouth. “It’s the nanny.”
“The nanny has an alibi.”
“So does the neighbor.
“Yeah, but it’s a flimsy one.”
“Could be a poltergeist demon entity,” Grace suggests.
“Ohhh. Yeah. I’m changing my vote to that.” It totally fits the narrative of the guy who swears he never left the backyard while his whole family was murdered inside. Even said he didn’t hear anyone scream. “Can demons take your hearing away, you think?”
Grace shrugs, her eyes glued to the TV.
We’re invested in this to the end. Even if it is an unsolved mystery, which is why it’s on the TV to begin with, we’re gonna get to the bottom of it.
“Could be a Skinwalker,” I say, popping candy in my mouth.
“Oh, totally for sure.”
God bless Grace. This woman came out ofnowhere and turned this town upside. She’s with Dean and has become one of my closest friends. We clicked instantly when we met and have been inseparable.
Having Grace come into my life has been amazing. She’s funny, wild, sweet, and gets me. We’ve become pretty inseparable.
