Page 100 of Malice
“No, no, no.” Hands shaking, I hung up and tried my brother. “Come on, Chad, pick up, pick up, dammit.” Tears blurred my vision as I tried my sister.
“This is Shannon.”
“Oh, thank god—” I started to say but was cut off.
“You know what to do.” Beep.
My body trembled as I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the screen, counting down the seconds I had to leave a message.
“Shan, it’s me. Um, I saw this thing on the news. Look, can you just call me? Please, it’s important.”
A pain-filled roar ripped from my body as the tears poured down my cheeks. Alex grabbed my hand as he sped down the Interstate, but it wouldn’t matter. We’d always be too late.
I wiped away a tear and rubbed it into my jeans like that could scrub away the memories. Raine let out a soft sob, and my eyes flicked over to see her covering her mouth as tears streamed down her face.
“I told you. Look, the point is, I don’t trust people often, and the only reason Lyle wasn’t behind bars was that my mom dropped the charges. She felt bad. Why? I have no idea, but they should still be alive. Raine, I don’t want to see you make the same mistake, and I definitely don’t want Avro dragged into whatever you have going on.”
She wiped at her eyes and shook her head. “It’s not like that. I’m sorry for your loss, but this is completely different.”
“Yeah, sure it is. Just another guy from prison assaulting his…what exactly were you before he went to jail? Friend, crush? Doesn’t matter, he’s a dick, and I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”
“Is this why you brought me out here, to see if you could convince me to turn my friend in? Unbelievable. I thought you wanted to connect. All you wanted to do was change my mind.”
Raine jumped down from the crypt and began marching away. Fuck, that didn’t go the way I hoped.
Raine
I should’ve known better. Jace didn’t have any interest in understanding me or supporting my decision. He wanted what he wanted and decided to pull on my heartstrings to get it.
“Peaches, hold up. That’s not what I was doing,” he said. I could hear the gravel crunching under his feet as he gained on me. Grabbing my arm, he pulled me to a halt.
“Let go, Jace. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Oh, you’ll hear out the asshole who, ‘did the crime he was charge for’, but not me?” he growled.
“Stop saying that.” I knew it was what happened, but I hated hearing the word repeatedly. It was like a lance to my heart each time.
“What? Rape? Don’t like that word? It’s what happened, you know.”
“I know that, and I explained why,” I fumed and tugged on my arm. Here I was once more with the dilemma of kicking him in the crotch or not.
“So, as long as the guy has a good reason, it’s okay?” Jace’s eyes flashed with anger, and my old fears slowly began to creep in as I realized just how isolated we were. Would anyone hear me scream? Where the hell did I go once I got out of here?
“I said let go of me,” I yanked on my arm again, but it had the same effect as one of those little finger traps that the more you pulled, the tighter it became.
Jace gripped both my arms as he glared down at me. “Why? This is what you like. You like it when a guy gets rough with you and terrifies you.” His hands didn’t hurt, but his words did.
“Jace, I’m warning you to back the hell off,” I said, and pulled back hard. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I was on the verge of a panic attack and needed him to let go of me.
“I said let go,” I yelled and lashed out, catching him in the shin with my foot.
“Fuck,” Jace said, and sucked in a deep breath.
I yanked away and stared at him, doubled over, rubbing his leg. His eyes flicked up to mine, and they were full of anger. Oh shit. With a burst of adrenaline, I turned and sprinted along the path to…I didn’t know where. How the hell had I gotten so turned around?
“Not smart, Peaches,” Jace called out. “Not smart at all.”
Oh god, I could hear him coming. I looked over my shoulder, and even in the dark, the moonlight lit enough of the trail to see him chasing me down and gaining. A flutter of excitement had my stomach in knots, but I pushed it away. I hated that my body had that reaction at all.
