Chapter 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

LELAND

“I’m going with you,” Jackson says from where he’s sitting at the table eating breakfast alone. I think he’s gotten used to eating breakfast with Waylon, but since he’s off at his friend’s, he only has me… and I’m leaving. He really shouldn’t worry so much.

“Sweetums. Sugar tart, darling, I’m fine,” I assure him. “Are you feeling lonely? Is that your issue? Hold tight.”

I hurry off and return with Blow-Up Randy, who I tuck onto Jackson’s lap. His inflatable peen is creeping a bit close to his cereal, but hopefully Jackson doesn’t mind.

“There you go! Now whenever you feel lonely, you just give him a good ol’ squeeze, mkay?” I show him how by giving the penis a squeeze. “See?”

“Or I could just go with you,” Jackson says as Ellis and Tavish come down while I’m squeezing away on the inflatable phallus.

“Good mornin’, weasel. I’m just going to pretend you’re not over there squeezin’ a weenie,” Tavish declares as Ellis holds the African grey on his shoulder now that we know the dogs don’t mind her. Cayanne would absolutely love to become friends with her, but the parrot isn’t positive yet.

“Did you guys name her yet?” Jackson asks as I unhand Randy.

“I don’t know. I just know she’s a cutie pie and a sweetie pie. Aren’t you, baby girl?” Ellis coos while staring at her with adoration in his eyes.

“ I’m gonna kick your ass ,” she declares, but Ellis is still in love.

“Do I even ask what’s going on here?” Tavish asks as he waves toward Blow-Up Randy.

“Don’t be jealous,” I say as Tavish grabs a bowl and hands a second one to Ellis.

“Thank you for letting us eat here. I’ll make sure to pay you back for all the food we’ve eaten,” Ellis says because he’s easily confused.

“Tavish… where did you find this one?” I ask, also confused.

“I abducted him.”

“About the only way you’d get a man this nice.”

“I’m sure,” Tavish agrees, not even pretending like it’s not the case.

“On the computer you guys nabbed from Nate Stewart’s house, Cassel found proof that he was the one forging all of the information on Ellis that Tavish received. So clearly, he was in on quite a bit of it. He also had screenshots of bank information showing all of the transactions that have gone on between Arthur and this Sally lady who supposedly killed his daughter.”

“That’s great he’s finally found some proof,” Tavish says. “I’m glad Miller wasn’t lying.”

“Right?”

Ellis scritches his bird some more.

“So does she have a name?” I ask. “I will name her.”

Tavish grimaces. “Hell no. You’ll name her something stupid like Fence.”

“ Bad Fence Ass ,” the parrot announces.

I gasp. “That’s right! Badass motherfucker. Say badass motherfucker loves The Fence.”

“ Bad Fence Ass ,” the parrot declares as she dances a bit on Ellis’s shoulder.

“You’re so smart, you pretty bird! Leland, you already taught her new words!” Ellis says gleefully. He’s so gleeful that he doesn’t even seem to mind the content of the words I’d taught her last night while they were off playing hide the cucumber.

I eye the bird and the delight on Ellis’s face and then glance over at Tavish, who is watching him closely. “I have a good name for her.”

Jackson pats my arm like he’s getting prepared to apologize about something. “Honey, I love your names. I really do. But… I think that maybe… they’re not?—”

I stare at my one true love. “Husband… how dare you? How… husband. Husband, you dare do this to me?”

“I’m sorry,” Jackson says. “Please, enlighten us with your name while I try not to think about your shotgun named Gun-a-Fuk-Ya-Up.”

“Get it? Because it’s a gun?”

No one seems to get it besides Ellis, who laughs because he’s just delightful.

“Alright, are you guys ready for this phenomenal name?”

“I am,” Ellis says.

“Jolene. Because she’s gonna steal Tavish’s man,” I say, quite proud of myself.

Everyone is silent for a long moment, no doubt relishing how phenomenal my name choice is.

“That is so cute,” Ellis says, reminding me how much more agreeable this man is than Tavish. “I love it. Do you like Jolene?”

She dances a bit, clearly pleased with this and even more pleased when Ellis scratches her head.

I give them a wave, proud of my job well done. “Alright, see ya, bitches.”

“I’m coming,” Jackson says as he tries stuffing Blow-Up Randy onto Tavish’s lap. When Tavish smacks him off, he gives him to Ellis, who seems confused as he cradles the blow-up man like an infant.

I grab Jackson’s hand, and he must think I’m planning on pulling him in for a soft kiss until I carefully swipe his leg out from under him and gently lay him on the ground. “Hug Randy and be good.”

Cayenne leaps onto him, thrilled he’s on her level. “Good job, Cayenne. Keep him pinned down,” I shout as I hurry out the door to the car. I have to be quick, but the fucking garage door is taking a year and a half to open. It’s slowly whirling up but I know Jackson can’t be far behind, so I start backing out before it’s fully up. But even that’s not fast enough to contain my man as he comes running after me.

I lock the door. “YOU’RE NOT GOING.”

“I’m going, dammit,” he growls as he hangs on to the door handle while giving me a look. “You let me in this car right this minute or that damn fence is going to be gone.”

I gasp. “You wouldn’t!”

“I’d burn it to the ground.”

“Jackson, no!”

“I have a woodchipper on speed dial.”

“Jackson, you wouldn’t. I need you here.”

“What for?”

“What if Waylon comes home and he’s lonely?”

“Waylon’s not coming home until tonight.”

“But he could be lonely.”

Jackson smashes his face against the window. “I’m not letting you go alone. Do you understand?”

“Not fully.”

“What do you think is going to happen? I know Everly. I was tied up by him. We’re close friends,” he says.

I glower at him. “You’re proving my point.”

“Isn’t that how you made friends with Henry?”

“Maybe… but it’s different!”

“But haven’t you two already been over this stuff? Come on. Let me in the car.”

“Yeah, but then you have to be faced with how horrible of a person I am. And you have to see the nice person I was going to kill to save myself.”

“Leland, love. We’ve gone over this. And I really wish you’d realize that I’m right. Do you not believe me? Do… do you think I’m not worthy of listening to?”

I rub my head while wondering when my lovely husband had taken to using my tactics to get his way! “No, I listen to you, but I want you to stay here.”

“And I want to go.”

I set my head against the steering wheel and close my eyes. “Fuck.”

“Would it make you feel better… if I took my shirt off?”

“Maybe a little bit,” I mutter.

I glance over as Jackson pulls his shirt off and presses his chest against the window, nipples smashed against it. It thrills me to no end.

“How do you know how to sucker me into things?” I ask as I roll the window down just a smidge to watch it squee across his bare belly because it amuses me. Then with much hesitation, I unlock the door and he slides in.

He gives me a warm smile. “Thank you.”

“Hmmm. Thank you for going with me.”

Jackson reaches over and takes my hand, which he squeezes tightly. “You never have to go anywhere alone ever again.”

“You’d go anywhere with me?”

He hesitates. “I mean… most anywhere.”

I raise an eyebrow and he grins at me. “You said in your vows you’d climb the highest fence for me.”

“I… don’t remember that, but I would climb the highest fence for you. I’d probably embarrass myself horribly. But as long as you enjoyed it, that’s all that matters.”

“Thanks,” I say as I turn out onto the road. “I want to take Waylon somewhere he’ll love.”

“You do realize you don’t have to pamper him to get him to love you, right? He’s quite happy just loving you.”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid he’s going to be like ‘Nope, don’t like you.’ He’s quite stubborn… I just… don’t want him to make any stupid mistakes like I did. I don’t want him to ever think he needs to go anywhere else or that he ever needs anyone else. I’ve already set aside a college fund for him. I want him to get a good education. He’s so smart, Jackson.”

“Then you need to believe that he’s smart enough to know exactly what to do.”

“He could fuck up.”

“Everyone could fuck up. He could have been born with a silver spoon and still fuck up. Kids that have everything fuck up all the time. And he probably will fuck up at some point, but all that matters is that we’ll be here to help him.”

“Fine, fine… fine. What else can I fret about?”

“I didn’t know you were a fretter.”

“I wasn’t until I met you! I was just like ‘I’ll fuck up everything. I’ll do anything like the badass motherfucker I am.’ And then I met you, and I’m like how do I keep this man safe? How do I protect him? How do I show him how much I love him? Emotions suck. There’s just too much to fret about.”

“I don’t know. I think worrying is just part of having people you care about and love.”

“Yeah. How the hell did I go from having absolutely no one to being covered in people? It’s weird and icky.”

“It’s neither of those things.”

“Disgusting. And now I have to throw Ellis into the mix.”

“Did you see that he couldn’t even look at you this morning?”

“What? ME? Why? What did I do?”

“You embarrassed him.”

“HOW? How could I possibly embarrass him? I could have called it the fornication flat.”

“That poor man. I mean… we really did throw him off the deep end with no life jacket or anything. He definitely isn’t used to this side of the world.”

“It’s fine because we jumped right in with him,” I say as I drive.

I’m definitely not an overly anxious man, but I do feel a spark of it as I get closer to the prison. When I reach the location, I grudgingly leave my babies behind before I get out and look over at Everly’s vehicle. He’s a little early and is leaning against the rear door of his SUV.

Everly’s eyes catch mine the moment I’m out of the car.

I groan. “He’s looking at me. Jackson, I’d rather be locked in a closet with Ava.”

“Wow. I didn’t know it was that bad,” Jackson says.

“It’s that bad.”

“But how long are you in that closet? I mean… are you talking thirty seconds in a closet with Ava during a middle school spin-the-bottle event or like an hour? Or what about a day ? Could you handle a day?”

“Oh god, now I’m thinking about kissing your mother. JACKSON. Why would you do this to me?”

“Would you rather smooch my mother or go deal with Everly?”

“EVERLY!” I shout as I hurry over, giving Jackson an answer that makes him laugh.

Everly slowly turns toward me, arms folded over his chest. “Never fathomed I’d get a text from you,” he says.

“Yeah… well… uh… I sent you a text a few weeks ago.”

“It was a picture of your dog.”

“Yeah, well she looked cute. Did you see how cute she looked?”

“I saw it, alright,” he replies as he watches me closely. “I… guess she looked a little cute. But then I remembered who sent the text.”

I bite my lip. I am not good at this worrying shit. “Fuck.”

“Fuck is right,” he says.

“You still working at the prison?”

“Sure am.”

“Still dealing with Lucas?”

“Sure am.”

“I’ll give you a million dollars to off him,” I say.

Everly seems to consider it for a moment. “I would rather not go to prison myself.”

“Understandable,” I say, feeling a bit awkward. “Uhhhh… been… uh… up to anything?”

“Just living.”

Fucking hell…

I feel like I’m grasping at straws. “You uh… want to come over and meet my fence sometime?”

He raises an eyebrow. “I thought we were here for something important?”

I sigh. “So I want to talk to this Sally about Jasmine, the lady she killed. Or allegedly killed.”

“Allegedly?”

“Jasmine’s father is sending money to her…”

“Interesting. You’re thinking that she’s taking the fall for it?” Everly asks.

“That’s what I’d love to know.”

Everly looks thoughtful. “She was always a very nice woman from what I remember. I didn’t work here overly long before I switched over to the men’s prison. She always seemed quite… I don’t know if I want to say… fine with it? But she’d also been here a while when I arrived. How the hell did you get a meeting with her so quickly?”

“Magic called Cassel,” I say.

“Ah. Makes sense. Let’s see what we can accomplish. Tell me what you know as we walk.”

So as we walk up to the facility, Jackson and I go over everything we know. Once inside and through security, we are escorted into an open room where people are meeting with loved ones. We’re seated at a table where we wait a few minutes before a woman is escorted out. She seems confused to have new guests but smiles at Everly.

“What have I done to get the honor of meeting with you?” Sally asks.

Everly gives her a nod. “We were hoping you could answer a few questions. How are you doing?”

“I’m doing quite well. You?”

“Very well.”

“Such a shame you don’t work here anymore. The ladies loved seeing you. You were the talk of the town when you strolled in.”

Everly just shakes his head.

“They all might be jealous that you’re coming to visit little ol’ me,” she says with a grin.

“I’m actually hoping to speak a little about Jasmine.”

She hesitates before smiling. “Oh?”

“Can you tell me what happened there?” I ask.

“It was a stupid mistake. I… wasn’t paying good enough attention and I hit her with my car. I shouldn’t have run. I… I thought I could hide it. I thought I could make it all disappear and I tried to for months. The guilt ate at me… It was so awful.”

“None of us are with the police. I’m not recording what you’re saying. That’s not why I’m asking,” I say. “I’m aware that Arthur is paying you. Why did he want you to take the fall for his daughter’s death?”

There’s a flicker of something on her face before she shakes her head. “I don’t know what you’re even talking about. You think her father is… paying me? I ruined his life?—”

“We’re not going to tell anyone or take your money or give a shit,” I assure her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Everly watches her closely for a moment. “Sally… someone’s life is in danger because Arthur is threatening him. We know Arthur isn’t a good guy.”

Jackson says, “The guy he’s trying to hunt down—the guy he’s assaulting—is just a regular guy. He has nothing to do with any of this. He’s terrified for his family. But Arthur is prepared to use him and his family to get what he wants.”

Sally looks at us for a few seconds before giving us a tightlipped smile. “I just really don’t even know the man. Besides the court day, I never even met?—”

“Then what’s the money for?” Everly interrupts. “I mean, you can claim that you really have nothing to do with him, so that’s fine. Why’s he paying you?”

She adamantly shakes her head. “He’s not.”

“If he’s not, you’re not going to care if we get rid of that money, right? What’s in there right now, Leland?”

“About six hundred thousand has been transferred. Not all into an account, no, but the money has been spread across multiple things. Some is tied into a house that you inherited from an uncle who weirdly never existed before this. Some more money that your kind uncle bestowed upon you. And then the allowance that sweet uncle is handing to you each month. If it’s not yours, we can make it disappear.”

Sally pales considerably. “That’s my uncle doing it, not Arthur. You can’t take that money from me.”

“So you took the fall. You get out this year, right? You took twelve years for a million dollars? Is that it?” I ask.

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Everly leans forward, drawing her attention to him. “Sally, I know what it means to hit rock bottom. I know what it means to have fucking nothing left,” he says. “Leland here does too. I… I fucking… I was a teenager walking the streets with nothing. I sold myself to any man who’d offer me a roof or a meal for the night. I would purposefully put myself in the shittiest situations just to feel something. I’m not quite sure Leland’s life was much better.”

He glances at me, and I realize he’s expecting me to say something. But… I’m not good at saying things. I’m good at pretending the shittiest parts of my life don’t exist. Yet, I can’t hide behind those lies forever.

“No… I had nothing. I was kicked out young and was manipulated by a man who knew my weaknesses. A man who knew how to control me because I wanted someone to care about… or something to care about,” I say.

Everly thankfully takes over. “What I’m saying is when I was walking up and down those fucking streets looking for something to eat or just something to convince me to keep moving… I would have taken twelve years in a place with a roof, food, a bed… while knowing that when I got out, I’d never want for anything,” he says. “So many times I would have fucking taken it. I’d have taken anything to get out of that loop. That… fucking loop of bullshit.”

She’s just staring at her hands. Just absolutely fixated on them.

“Would you have taken it, Leland? To get out of what you got wrapped up in?”

I think about it honestly. At times, I thought Lucas was my savior. At times, I thought he was my monster. But if I could take back the people I hurt? The ones who didn’t deserve it like Everly? I would. If I could take back the fear of that first hit I went out on, the man who took me home to kill me and nearly did, I would. Twelve years is a long time, but if there was absolutely no hope before then… would it have mattered?

“I think I would have… I was young. I was naive. To me, any way out would have been a good way out. The path I picked was a pretty shit way,” I say.

She’s wringing her fingers now, anxiety written across her face. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I just want to know if you really killed her because it’ll help us figure out why Arthur wants Ellis. And what involvement his father Zachary has in it. No one will ever know besides us what we say here today.”

“Oh? And what happens if they do? Say if I did take such a deal, if you told someone, he’d take it all away from me. I would have done all of this for nothing,” she retorts.

“You don’t have to say any more. That’s answer enough for me,” I realize. “He’ll never know that we even came here. He’ll never know we bothered you about it. What’s yours is yours, we’ll make sure of it. Before we leave, though, can you tell me how you knew Jasmine?”

“She…” Sally looks down in shame. “She sold me drugs. I was… I was doing really fucking bad. I’d destroyed all of my relationships. I was turning out just like my mother, who dragged me from house to house of different men she was fucking. She’d take me with her and leave me in the corner as she shot up. She overdosed and died when I was fourteen. I walked in and found her dead, and instead of vowing to never be like her, I became just like her. By the time I was eighteen, I was running right down the same path. And then… I got pregnant. I knew if I had that baby, one day that little girl would walk right into what I had, and the cycle would never break.

“I wanted to get better. I wanted to so fucking badly, and I tried. I really tried. After I used up the last of the drugs I’d gotten from Jasmine, I tried for a few months for that baby but in the end, I couldn’t do it. I went back for more. It’d been a while since I’d seen her, so I had no idea that Jasmine had been killed in a hit-and-run. Her father told me if I took the fall for it, he’d make sure I’d get out in under ten years, and he’d pay me. And… and even though it ended up twelve years that I’d serve, I just knew my baby girl had a better chance away from me. My aunt took her. I was forced into an environment where it became significantly harder to get my hands on drugs, and it was the push I needed to get clean.

“My aunt brought my baby girl to see me, and I got to see her grow up. Something my mother never got to see because she was so fucking… fucked up. But not me. I got clean. And when I get out, I have a house set up if she ever wants to visit me or live with me. I’ll have a college fund set up for her. And she might never want to live with me, but I’ll be there for her. So please. Please, I’m begging you with every part of my body. Please don’t take that away from me.”

“We won’t,” I promise.

She wipes at her tears with shaking fingers. “I honestly don’t know more. I’m pretty sure I was just in the right place at the wrong time and that’s why Arthur offered it to me. I never asked questions. I’d gone seeking her out; I didn’t know she was dead. But I came begging for drugs and found him instead. And found a way out of this vicious cycle that I couldn’t get out of alone.”

“Thank you for talking to us. You’re out soon?” I ask.

“Two weeks… two weeks and I can hug my baby girl anytime I want.”

“Good,” I say. “Thank you.”

We’re quiet as we leave the facility, having gotten pretty much the answers I’d been expecting.

“So Arthur really did want someone to take the fall for it,” Everly states.

“Is he trying to protect the one who killed her?” Jackson asks.

“Possibly,” I say as we head out to our cars. “I want to look into this drug thing. I don’t think Arthur’s wound up in any drug trade… I don’t know… was he trying to protect his daughter’s image? Because nothing we came up with said anything about drugs.”

We reach Everly’s car where I turn to him. “I really, really appreciate this. I’m sure it… took a lot to be willing to help me.”

“Hmm… I don’t know why I did it… not sure it was to help you.”

“That’s fine.”

Everly presses his hand against the side of his SUV. “This… fence of yours… I suppose… I could come see it.”

“Yeah?” I ask, thrilled.

“If I can burn it down.”

“NO! You can’t burn it down! It’s okay. Once you see how phenomenal it is, you’ll realize how much you’d love to worship it.”

He seems skeptical as he pulls his vehicle’s door open. “I’m dubious… but I guess I have to meet it first.” Then he gets in and closes the door.

He leaves before I even make it back to our car.

“You okay?” Jackson asks.

I nod as he wraps me up in his arms. “Jackson… Jackson… this isn’t helping. This is making me feel things. And it’s hard to feel things.”

“You sure?” he asks as I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him as tightly as I can. It’s like all of the anxieties that have been eating through me just… dissipate.

“He’s going to come see The Fence,” I mutter.

“You better not scare him off.”

“I’ll try not to. I bet he’d love Blow-Up Randy, too.”

“Uhh… maybe we’ll save that for the second meeting.”

I nod as I give Jackson another squeeze. Then I smack his ass and force myself back into the car.