Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Yeah, they were great,” I said. “So tell me all about it. Where did you guys go?”
“I want to check on the kids first,” Hannah said pointedly, narrowing her eyes at me. “Come with me.”
Way to be subtle, butthead. I nodded, smiling at Heath like a dumb bunny before following her into the girls’ room. Hannah’s body stilled as she realized Callie wasn’t in her bed. Turning on me, she shut the door.
“She’s in your room,” I whispered quickly.
Hannah’s mouth tightened.
“No, wait—before you get all pissy, you need to listen to me and listen carefully. Not only that, you need to not freak out or show anything on your face when you go back out there and see Heath. You’re going to laugh or smile or whatever it takes to keep him happy because this is very, very important.”
“What happened?” she whispered, and I could taste her sudden fear.
“Callie found a bag of meth in the bathroom,” I replied. “She said that it was Randy’s, and that he’d told her it was a secret. She told me a bunch more stuff, too. Real bad stuff, Hannah. Shade and I were talking on the phone and he overheard some of it, so he came over, demanding answers. I managed to hide the drugs in the fridge—I’m about 90 percent sure he didn’t see anything. He’s suspicious as hell, though. I was trying to get rid of him when you got home.”
My sister’s mouth dropped and she swallowed.
“Oh my God…” she whispered. “I—”
“We’re going to take care of it,” I said, reaching out to catch her shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “You and me. We always take care of things. The first step is getting rid of Heath. Then we can deal with Randy.”
“I hate him. I hate that fucking asshole so much. How could he do this to his own kids? What if she’d decided to eat it or something? That could kill her.”
“But it didn’t and it won’t. Now go out there and do what you have to do. Once he’s gone, we can figure out our next step.”
Hannah took a deep breath and nodded. We walked out of the bedroom and I stopped, frozen. Heath Andrews was standing in front of the open fridge. He glanced over toward us.
“I was looking for something to drink,” he said, pulling out a beer. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Hannah said quickly, her voice almost hysterical. She started toward him, trying to smile. I couldn’t breathe—my chest felt tight. Had he seen what was in there?
If he had, I’d take the fall. I couldn’t let Hannah get in trouble for this. Trevor had lied his ass off back in Missoula, making me out to be the mastermind behind his crimes. If they came for us, I’d lie, too. I’d say the drugs were mine and make damned sure they believed me.
Going back to jail would be a small price to pay to keep the girls out of foster care.
Heath came back into the living room, taking a drink of his beer.
“I think I’ll head to bed—give you guys some privacy,” I said, catching Hannah’s eye and glancing toward the couch. Hopefully she’d get the hint and find some way to distract him.
Heath looked between us, his eyes speculative.
Fuck.
I really, really wanted to drop this one in Future Me’s lap, but for once that wasn’t going to cut it. Hannah and I were going to have to figure something out, and figure it out fast.
In the bedroom, Callie was sleeping soundly, her small thumb tucked into her mouth. She gave soft, snuffly snores. She’d worn herself out crying, poor baby. I’d do anything for her. Anything at all. We’d get her through this. I didn’t care what I had to do, who I had to hurt. She and the twins were all that mattered.
After about twenty minutes, I heard the front door open and then close again, followed by the sound of a car pulling away. Slipping out of the bedroom, I went to find Hannah standing with her back to the front door, as if trying to hold out the world.
“Tell me everything,” she said, her eyes haunted.
Two hours later we sat next to each other, leaning back against the couch. First I’d explained everything to her, and then we’d torn the trailer apart. In the process we’d collected another baggie of meth, some pot, three pipes, and fifty bucks in cash. Now Randy’s stash sat in front of us on the battered coffee table like an accusation.
“I did this,” Hannah said, rubbing her temples despairingly. “I did this to us.”
“No, Randy did it.”
“I fell in love with him, though. And then I stayed with him, even when I started to suspect about the drugs. There were rumors. I just didn’t want to hear them, just like I didn’t want to hear about him cheating on me.”