Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
I scoff. “You’re not gettin’ off to a real good start here, Grimm.”
“First of all”—he holds up a finger to indicate ‘one’—“I know things about Collin. I know where he’s been and some of what he’s been doing, and this is just a friendly warning.”
“Since when are we friends?”
He pauses and I can practically hear the insults running through his mind. But he’s far more in control than I am right now, because he holds them all in, pretending I didn’t even speak. “He’s not the guy you think he is.”
“You know that how?”
“I’m on the board, Lowyn. I’ve been to all the meetings about Collin Creed over the past seven years. And I’ve been filled in on the ones that came before that.”
I don’t know what this means. I didn’t have any idea that the town board had been keeping tabs on Collin through the years.
When Grimm and I were closer a while back—we dated a little, nothin’ serious—but when we were closer, he told me a secret. He said he had to tell somebody, so it might as well be me. I was the most trustworthy person he had ever met, that’s what he said. So I do know a little bit about how the towns are all connected. But he never once—not once—told me anything about Collin.
This burns me a little. Because at that particular time in my life I was dyin’ for information about Collin. I would’ve wanted to hear all of it. Any of the bits and pieces would’ve gone a long way to settle my soul. So learning that Grimm had details like that does not paint him in a good light. In fact, it makes me dislike him more.
“OK. So what?” This is the best I can come up with because other than the stories Collin’s been telling me about his time away, I really have no idea what he’s been doing.
“So he’s… well, the easiest way to put it is that he’s a really dangerous man, Lowyn.”
Is this a surprise? Not really. I saw Collin Creed, with my own eyes, kill a man when he was eighteen years old. “Are you trying to say he’s gonna hurt me, Grimm? Because that’s just stupid.”
“Considering the secrets you and I share, and taking into account the kind of man Collin is, and has turned into over the years, don’t you feel like all this leads up to someone gettin’ hurt? Because I sure do.”
I force myself to stay calm and think this through.
Grimm and I do share secrets. I have one of his and he’s got one of mine. His secret is about how the towns work and how they’re all tangled up with the government. He learned his secret from being on the town board.
My secret is about Blackberry Hill and I learned about it from first-hand experience.
But I only told Grimm about that place because he brought the name up first.
It was a moment of weakness, in my opinion. And then I resented him for knowing that secret. It all goes back to how I don’t want people to know me. How people don’t have the right to know me.
Not without my permission.
And this is the real problem. I actually gave him this permission and I should not have.
If Grimm truly wants to know why I’m confrontational with him, this is why. He’s got my secret I would like to take it back.
But I can’t.
“What’s number two, Grimm? I really am busy.”
“He’s gonna find out, Lowyn. Because your secret isn’t really a secret. Lots of people know about it. And if it’s not a secret, he’s gonna find out.”
“OK.” I’m starting to shake a little. I mean, I knew this. I’ve been living with this lie—secret, whatever you wanna call it—for nine years. And of course, Jim Bob knows my secret because he’s part of it. And if there’s one thing I know about secrets around here, it’s that they don’t exist. Not really. When you get a secret in Disciple you tell someone real fast. So I know that Jim Bob told someone. I never had confirmation, not until now, but I always knew he told someone. He would’ve had to. It’s too big not to. “Is that it, Grimm?”
“If you don’t tell him, I will.”
“Is that a threat? Are you threatening me?”
“I would call it an opportunity, Lowyn. Not a threat.”
“You need to—”
But I am cut off by the jingling bell over the door. Grimm and I both glance in that direction.
“Hi, there, Lowyn!” Former one-time country music star Sassy Lorraine waves enthusiastically. But she must really know how to read a room, because her smile drops almost immediately. “Did I interrupt something?”
Grimm says, “Yes.”
But I say, “No. We were just finishing up.” Then I look at Grimm. “Please see yourself out, and thanks for stoppin’ by.”