Page 106 of Unhinged Kallie

I cocked an eyebrow at her. “And that is?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.” I wasn’t sure what scared me more: Kallie screaming and threatening to kill everyone or when she was calm with an evil glint in her eye.

I wasn’t going to like this. I could already tell. “How so?”

She walked toward me like a lioness on the prowl. “Because you have the computer skills I need. If I give you information, you could run it down for me. If I need you to get into a phone, that may or may not be mine….” She smirked. “You could do it for me, and if I need you to cover for me, I know you will.”

I stepped back as she went to touch me. “No,” I said and waited for the explosion. Her eyes narrowed into the scariest glare I’d ever seen, and considering I grew up with her father, that said something.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re asking me to help you hunt down the man who murdered your mother in cold blood. She wore a bulletproof vest, had a gun, a taser, and could fight her ass off. Do you really think I’ll give you information that will send you into danger all alone?”

“Who said anything about alone? I’ll take Tro—” She stopped as she caught herself and looked down. “You don’t understand. I can’t explain why I need to do this, but he needs to die. I have to finish what my mom started.”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled and rubbed my face. This was a terrible fucking idea.

“Carter, this will happen with or without your help. I’m positive I can find him without you. It will just be easier with, and this way, you won’t wonder what I’m doing or when.”

It was my turn to pace, and I almost felt Kirby’s dead eyes staring at me from her grave. Was the weight of her presence encouraging me to help her daughter or telling me to keep her the fuck away from it? The problem was that Kallie would do whatever she wanted, no matter what. She was right about knowing where she was. It didn’t comfort me much, but it was the best I would get unless….

“I will help you under one condition and one condition only,” I said, deciding to hedge my only leverage.

“You want me to tell my father, don’t you?”

“Take it or leave it?”

She stomped away but stopped when she reached the forest's edge and let out a frustrated scream. “Fine. Fine, I’ll tell him,” she growled.

Her tone was angry, and I didn’t know where it was suddenly coming from, but I got what I wanted other than her not going at all. This compromise was the next best thing.

“Good. Then I’ll help you.” I introduced the rock to the hard place. “Come on, we better go in. We have the service tomorrow and should get some sleep.”

Kallie was complicated, and as much as I knew she loved me, I also knew she wouldn’t keep her word. She probably crossed every finger and toe as she agreed to my demand. If I wanted her to stay alive, I would have to be one step ahead of her.

Chapter Forty-One

KALLIE

I looked over my shoulder at my dad as he hummed You Are My Sunshine for the millionth time. I was about to tell him to hum anything else—including the Barney song, if he wanted—but the look on his face made me pause. He was staring off into space as he cleaned his tools from the latest kill, and an old memory clawed its way to the surface of my mind.

“Good morning, Sweetheart,” my mom said, sweetly smiling as my dad stepped into the kitchen.

“Hello, Sunshine.” He kissed her, and I shoved my bowl of cereal away. Yuck. I made a gagging noise when it looked like they would never stop, making my mom laugh. My dad held my mom closer, his arms wrapped around her waist as they looked at me.

“If I didn’t hold your mom like this, we never would’ve had you,” Dad said, and my mom swatted his arm.

“She’s three. Way too early for the birds and bees,” Mom said, but she was wrong. I liked birds and bees.

“I’m three and a half,” I said, crossing my arms.

“What your dad is trying to say is that when you love someone like we love each other, you want to show them affection.”

“Nope, boys are icky.”