“Because I’m the one person allowed in that room with him. I can be the one person to go in, find something to unplug, work those crocodile tears, and cry for help a second too late. I was a nurse. I know a lot of ways to make things look like an accident.”
I searched her eyes wildly, seeking out a trick, a gameplay, a lie, or something that would convince me all this was an act, but all I saw staring back were the hurt eyes of a mother, the tiredness of a long-suffering wife, and a woman who wanted to start her life again.
“I kill Jon. You set me free. I leave Texas for as long as you need me to. I’ll go find my daughters and enjoy life on the road. I hate this place anyway. You don’t have to worry about Jon ever again. I won’t be a dirty mark on your record. I’ll never tell anyone what happened here. Why would I when I was a part of it all?”
I’d never been so focused on someone before. I couldn’t look away. “My record is dirty for life. There are ways to get around things. One less murder or crime doesn’t affect me enough, sweetheart. I let you live. I let you kill your husband. I let you walk away. Everything I had going in my favor is gone. Jon won’t have suffered enough. I want him to feel the pain, not get away with the sting of it. I’m going to need more than that.”
“Which is why I’m willing to sit down with you and Ayda, and I’ll give you as much information as I have on every man who came into my unit while I nursed at Huntsville. And do you know what else I’ll give you?”
I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
“I’ll give you every secret Jon Bastard Taylor ever whispered in my ear while lying beside me in bed at night, too drunk on bourbon and ego to understand that loose lips like his can sink a whole lot of ships, Drew.” She paused and let her eyes meet Ayda’s again before she brought them back to me. “I think we all know how men of power are at their most vulnerable while lying beside the woman they claim to love. That’s when all their dirty secrets pour out.”
And then Helen set her soul free, spilling secrets she clearly thought she’d never have to spill, and putting her husband and his associates directly into my line of fire.
Oh, the things she said.
The thoughts I had.
The need for more revenge grew within me as words tumbled from Helen’s lips, implicating the mayor of our town, the law enforcement around us, as well as people we’d never really heard of.
Helen talked, and she talked, and she talked, and we soaked every word of it up, not knowing where this was going to take the club, or how the hell we’d suddenly ended up at the very center of it all.
Chapter Twenty-One
AYDA
It felt good to be out of the safe house. The tension had been building, and Helen had given us some food for thought, but the decision to move forward and work with her was ultimately Drew’s. I would have bet my left kidney he needed some time to think about it all.
I had my arms wrapped tightly around him, my cheek between his shoulder blades as he rode toward town. It was only when he neared the exit to Rusty’s that I realized I wasn’t ready to go home and deal with all the teen drama there yet. I patted Drew’s leg and pointed to the faded sign and waitress of Rusty’s in front of us.
He knew what I wanted, and with a gentle lean, he navigated the bike from the freeway onto the feeder before turning into the parking lot. Since all the shit had gone down at the engagement party, it still felt strange to look at this building and to see that bullet hitting Jacob in slow motion several times before I blinked it away. When I saw Sutton’s cruiser out front, I reconsidered the decision to go in, not because of Howard himself, more because of the woman who seemed to have attached herself to him when she could get away with it. I wasn’t sure I was ready for another run in with Winnie.
I kept that opinion to myself for now, keeping my mouth shut as Drew backed into the spot he usually occupied and killed the engine. I twisted a little and tried to find Sutton through the large plate glass window, seeing him with Sloane in a booth at the back. I released a breath. That was one bullet dodged.
“Hungry?” I asked Drew, reaching for my helmet and tugging at the straps.
He glanced over his shoulder, not quite making eye contact. “Rusty’s should serve alcohol. All I need right now is two shots of whiskey and a beer chaser.”
I dropped the helmet I’d just pulled from my head into my lap and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. “I can get it to go. Give me five?”
“No, let’s eat. Let’s just pause for a second somewhere away from Helen, Eric, or home.” I could tell he hadn’t quite wrapped his head around everything Helen had told him, but he was eerily calm as he spoke.
I had so many questions, but there was a large part of me that knew he would come to me when he was ready to talk. I wanted nothing more than to give him what he wanted, no matter what that may be.
I waited as he pulled his gloves from his hands and removed his helmet patiently, and, feeling oddly abashed, I held my hand out to him.
“Dinner’s on me.”
“About fucking time,” he muttered with a sly smirk, somehow managing to make getting off a motorcycle look smooth and sexy.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Says the man who’s taken his fiancée on one date.”
He squeezed my hand and paused, his brows rising as he stared at me. “One? Really?”
“Oneofficialdate.” I paused, regretting the comment as I thought about how that one date had ended. “I prefer your unofficial ones, anyway.”
“Remind me why you’re marrying me again.”