Page 67 of Sleeping with the Dark (The Righteous 3)
“Interception trajectory established.”
The map and dots appeared on the glass. “Shit, that’s going to take too much time.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he brainstormed, an idea coming to him. “Delilah set off all of the alarms.”
“Would you like car alarms or building alarms to sound?”
“All of them. Anything and everything within a mile radius of this location, especially the banks, I need them all to sound. Send a text to Renee to ignore the alarm in the building and stay in the condo.”
Trev pressed his foot down on the gas, the Hummer flying along the street. Headlights and horns flashed and sounded, even from driving cars whose passengers looked stunned by the sudden chaos. People were coming out of buildings and staring up at them as fire alarms from all around them began to go off. The noise was loud enough to be heard over the roar of the engine. The light outside the National Bank was flashing, and he smirked. That would draw everyone back this way, or at least he hoped.
“Status update on emergency vehicles pursuing Arek.”
“Vehicles are turning back this way, would you like to stop the sirens?”
“No, keep them going until the police are safely within the city limits.”
It took longer than he would’ve liked, but finally, Trev turned off the highway onto the out-of-the-way location where Arek’s phone stopped moving. As the lights of the Hummer rounded the gentle knoll toward the farmhouse, his heart sank.
Arek was sitting on his ass, head in his hands with his back to the Mustang. Yet, it was Cody sitting beside the passenger side of his car as he held Ray in his arms, that gripped his heart in a stranglehold.
He jogged over to Arek, and his brother looked up at him. “You, okay?”
“Physically,” was the only thing he said before burying his head in his hands once again. “I’ll be fine,” he mumbled. “Fucking shit show.”
Knowing there was nothing he could do to help Arek right then, he slowly stepped toward Cody. He could hear the soft sobs before he saw Cody’s tears dripping onto his friend’s face. He knelt down beside Cody and gripped his shoulder. His pain-filled eyes found his, and his heart sank through the floor. There was such anger in them, such hatred.
“I’m sorry,” Trev said. For the first time in a very long time he was at a loss as to what to do.
* * *
Cody clutched at Ray, gripping his body with closed fists, as if holding him tighter would make a difference.
Ray had been his only friend in a hell that no one could fully comprehend, and like a toxic plague Cody managed to destroy his friend's future in his wake.
“This is my fault. I shouldn’t have let him get wrapped up in my shit. I invited him into this life like he would be better off,” Cody’s sentences ran together. “I promised him a way out that didn’t end up with him dead or arrested. Does this look better off?” Cody asked, his body shaking as he cradled his friend’s head. “He was a good person, and he didn’t deserve this…I…I.”
Waves of nausea and grief so strong ripped through his body and took his breath away. He gasped for air as the reality set in.
“It should’ve been me. Why did I live, and he die? I was shot twice and I fucking lived. It’s not fair.” Tears streamed down his face until he was no longer able to see, his sobs nearing hysterical, he leaned into Trev. Cody buried his head against his chest and let Trev wrap him up in his arms.
“I deserved to die, I hurt so many people, did so many terrible things.” Cody lifted his head and stared into Trev’s calm eyes. “I raped people, did you know that? I’m a real sweetheart. You picked a winner to hook your wagon to.” Cody waited to see disgust in Trev’s face, but he showed no change in the concerned stare. “That piece of shit, Tyson ordered me to do it, but I did. It was my hands that hurt those people, that did his devil’s work. Ray never hurt anyone.” He lost control again and pulled Ray’s body up until he could lay his head where his heart once beat.
“It should’ve been me.”
“Don’t say that Cody, please,” Trev said, his voice quiet as he gave his shoulder a squeeze.
“Then why, Trev? Then tell me why did God take him? Take this good soul and not my blackened one.” Cody mumbled as another wave of grief gripped him in it’s grasp. Cody roared a scream into the night, like that might expel some of this torment.
He collapsed into Trev’s arms as his body grew weak. “I don’t have an answer to that Cody,” Trev said and kissed the top of his head.
The pain was a living creature inside his chest as it tried to rip his heart out and he wished it would. Anything to stop this ache, to stop the guilt, to bring back a good man. There was nothing that Trev could say to make this better.
His best friend was dead and he had to live with that on his conscious for the rest of his life. Trev gripped him harder like he knew he was ready to dive off the cliff into the sea of sorrow.
“I promise you, Cody, whoever did this will pay,” Trev whispered into his ear. “I’ll make sure they pay for Ray’s death.”
Cody nodded, but it was a lie to think that the death of another would change anything. That it would make any of this okay. Cody looked down into the sightless eyes of his best friend.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, as he gently closed Ray’s eyes for the last time.
