Page 79 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Jackson muttered, “Well…shit.”

“Jackson,” Timothy warned.

“You know, Gia,” Jackson said carefully, “I really would’ve preferred we kept this between us.”

“It would’ve come out eventually,” I said.

He rocked back on his heels and rubbed a hand over his chin, tracing the scar on his chin.“Nope.Pretty sure it wouldn’t.He’s going to punch me.Then he’s going to hold a grudge.We all know he’s the worst at grudges.Look how he can’t get over the one he holds on you.”

“What is going on?”Timothy demanded.

I turned toward him, but it was Lisa I caught watching me now.Suspicious.Worried.

My stomach twisted.“I didn’t run away and hop on a bus or train that night long ago,” I said quietly.“I begged Jackson to drive me over the mountains.”

Timothy’s head snapped toward his cousin so fast it looked painful.“Why would she askyou?”

Jackson lifted both hands in surrender.“I need you to calm down long enough to hear this, ’cause if we’re going to tell this story, you’ll listen.”He crossed his arms and waited until Timothy took a breath.“That night after you and Gia had some kind of falling out, Jimmy went after her.Real bad.”His face hardened.“We already had it arranged for me to get her out that night, but she never showed.”

Timothy slowly turned back toward me.

I swallowed against the pressure climbing up my throat.

In a voice that sounded gutted, Timothy asked, “You calledhim?”

“Dad found out from Misty about us.I knew it was bound to happen.I’d just hoped it would be after I left.”I forced the words out.“He was the worst he’d ever been coming after me.Ididcall you.”I could barely get out at a whisper.“You didn’t answer.”

The color drained out of Timothy’s face so fast it scared me.The damaged phone.I saw the exact second it hit him that while he’d been angry and without a functioning phone, I’d been alone and in need of help.

“I didn’t have anyone else.I called Jackson,” I said it without looking at Timothy.“He came onto McClary land and got me.He wanted me to go to the local hospital and the police, but then I would’ve ended up back on the farm.Dad was school buddies with the sheriff back then.He wouldn’t have gone to jail.If I’d stayed here, he’d have killed me for sure.Jackson drove me across the state line and…”

The next part wasn’t good.I glanced over at Jackson who’d gone tight.

Timothy took one step toward me.“And what?”

Jackson opened his mouth.

I shook my head hard at him.Please don’t.Even now, after all these years, there was murder sitting just beneath Timothy’s skin where Jimmy’s name was concerned.

“And,” Timothy bit out, voice low and lethal.“What?”

Jackson looked at me one last time before answering softly, “I drove as fast as I could and took her to the first hospital I found just over the state line.”

Silence slammed down.

“She had two broken ribs,” he continued.“Her left arm had to be set.”His jaw flexed.“They kept her three days.She had a punctured lung, and she’d lost a lot of blood.She was covered in...”He shook his head.“There was internal stuff bruised up…bleeding.It was so bad.The doctors didn’t know how she didn’t die on the ride there.”He swallowed hard and whispered, “The motherfucker went after her with a rolling pin.”

Timothy stared at him blankly at first like his mind physically could not make sense of the words.I looked away before I had to see the full devastation on his face.

“He stayed with me those three days.”I still couldn’t look at Timothy as the shame of being a victim washed over me again.Three days of Jackson sleeping upright in a plastic chair beside my bed.Three days of him sneaking cafeteria pudding cups onto my tray when eating hurt too bad.Three days of him pretending not to notice when I cried after the nightmares.

“But graduation was coming,” I continued shakily.“He had to go back.”

“She made me swear not to tell you,” Jackson said hoarsely.“Said if you knew, you’d go after Jimmy and your mama would lose another son.”

Lisa made a broken sound.

Jackson looked at her immediately.“I’m sorry, ma’am.I hated keeping it from him, but we’d just lost Brian.Gia knew it would’ve been too much to lose Timothy too.Hell…” His voice broke and he wiped his eyes as if they bothered him.“If we lost Timothy, we would’ve lost Gia too when she found out.I just know…” He met my gaze and shook his head.“You would’ve let go.”