Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
None of it makes sense.
We can’t really talk, with Mrs. Wallace sitting so close to us.
Buck stands then. “Mrs. Wallace, we’re very happy to hear that your husband will be okay.” Then to Luke and me. “We should go.”
I know what he means. He’s not suggesting that we leave the hospital. But we need to leave this area, so we can speak freely.
“Yes, of course,” Mrs. Wallace says. “Thank you for being here with him.”
Buck merely nods, and Luke and I don’t say anything as we walk out of the waiting area.
Once outside—
Luke turns to Buck. “Let’s go somewhere secure.”
“Back to your place?” Buck says.
He nods. “Wallace is under guard, so he’s not going anywhere. Katelyn will be worried, and I don’t want her to go through any pain.”
“We’ll see you there.”
45
BUCK
Aspen and I are quiet as we drive to the beach house, following Luke in his Tesla.
I don’t speak because I can’t put one thought out of my mind: If not for Luke Ashton — Lucifer Raven—I could be dead right now.
Most likely not, as the chance of Harrison Wallace making a left-handed shot wasn’t good, but what if he’d been able to?
Even a bad shot could have done significant damage.
Now I’m indebted to Luke.
I don’t like the feeling.
But he didn’t have to take the shot.
Now he’s going to have to answer to the cops, and he may well lose his immunity. Or at least go on probation or something. I can’t imagine any immunity agreement that allows him to be in possession of a firearm.
He fucking saved me.
And boy, that grates on me.
Aspen lets out a soft sigh.
“You okay, baby?”
“I’m so far from okay, Buck. But at least we’re getting some answers. Harrison Wallace almost evaded us.”
“I know.”
“If you hadn’t recognized that conch shell…”
“Even with the conch shell, it was still a long shot. I mean, maybe he just collects shells from South Pacific places. But I just had a feeling when we walked in that office. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I knew something was off.”
“Your instinct is phenomenal,” she says. “I owe you everything, Buck.”
“I wish my instinct had kicked in a little sooner, before I took you in there.”
“You think you could have kept me out?” She rubs my thigh. “I’m fine. We’re both fine. You saved me. You got that shot to his wrist and got his gun off me.”
I say nothing.
Yeah, I was pretty sure I could make the shot, but I knew there was still a risk.
A risk I probably shouldn’t have taken.
I knew with ninety-five percent certainty that I could make the shot. But what about the remaining five percent?
What if I had missed? And he had shot Aspen dead?
I can’t even allow myself to go there.
“There’s still so much I don’t know,” Aspen says with a sigh. “Like why the albino was impersonating Greg Wallace, why Greg was killed, why Harrison disowned Taylor…”
We pull up in front of the beach house. Luke drives into the garage and goes in the back way. Aspen and I go in the front door.
Jed and Edgar greet us with lots of jumping and licking.
That puts a smile on Aspen’s face, so I’m forever grateful to those dogs.
When we are finally settled on the deck, and the dogs are playing, I turn to Luke.
Katelyn and Aspen are talking, and while I know I should let Aspen in on what’s going on, and I will, right now she needs to be with Katelyn.
“What did you find out?”
“Just that Harrison was the bad guy, not his brother. He framed him.”
Luke turns to me. “How did you figure it out?”
“It was a hunch, really. I just had a feeling when I walked in that office that something was off. Then I saw the South Pacific conch shell on his desk. The only time I’ve ever seen a shell like that was on Derek Wolfe’s island. When I went to rescue”—I clear my throat—“Emily.”
Luke simply nods.
He doesn’t add anything, and I don’t expect him to.
I shot him that day, in the shoulder. Nearly the exact same shot that he gave to Harrison Wallace today.
“Where’d you learn to shoot?” I ask Luke.
“My old man, of course. You saw the shooting range in his bunker.”
I nod. “So not on the streets of LA? Hustling drugs?”
“I never hustled drugs on the street. I was higher up than that.”
I say nothing.
He’s probably waiting for me to acknowledge that he’s not that man anymore. That he saved my life today. Man, I totally don’t want to do that.
But damn…
He thanked me. He thanked me for what I did for Katelyn when we were both being held captive by King Winston.
Today he saved my life.
After I saved Aspen’s.
Listen,” I say, “I’m in your debt now.”
Luke draws in a breath and then exhales. “No. We’ll call it even.”