She shrugs. The panic is building in her eyes. I reach over, grabbing her hand.
“I’m going to go talk to Jensen. And then we’ll get the boys. It’s not too hot out here right now, okay? I just don’t understand what he’s doing here. Why are we all the way in fucking Oklahoma?”
She shakes her head, tears starting to fall. “I don’t get it either. What’s his plan? Is he kidnapping them?”
I look at the digital clock on the dashboard.
“In twenty minutes, his time is up, and he’s supposed to be meeting up with you, so, yeah, I’d say that he thinks he is.”
She sucks in a sob.
“I’ll do whatever you want here. Just tell me what you—” My words are cut off when Matt exits the gas station, a grocery bag in his hand.
“Stay in the truck,” I tell her, stepping out.
I button my shirt as I’m walking toward him. Jensen sees me, eyes widening. I shake my head when he starts opening his door. My fists are clenched by my sides as I attempt to rein in the anger rising like a tidal wave.
The things he did to Dallas are enough for me to justify killing him right now, even if I do go to prison for it.
I make it to the truck a few seconds after he does.
“You going somewhere, Hayes?”
Matt stops in his tracks, his shoulders going rigid. He slowly turns toward me, his face blanching when he meets my eyes. He quickly searches the area around me, wondering if I’m alone.
“Hey, man. What’s up?” He shifts his feet.
“I asked you a question. Where are you going?”
He feigns confusion, frowning. “I’m headed to visit my family in Oklahoma. What are you doing here?”
“You taking the kids with you?”
I can see the boys behind him, pressing their faces to the window.
“Yeah, I am. And?”
“Dallas said she’s supposed to get them back today at noon. And it’s noon right now.”
He rolls his eyes. “Man, you’d better run as far as you can from that bitch while you still can. She’s a fucking lying slut. It’s my time for another two days.”
“You’re also not supposed to leave Kowata County. And you crossed a state line.”
He’s getting angrier now. The mask is slipping.
“According to who? Her? Are you sure about that? Seems like maybe she’s using those tits of hers to confuse and blind you too. Why would I be dumb enough to do that if I was court ordered not to, huh?”
I take a small step back, a sliver of doubt slicing through me.Dallas wouldn’t lie to me about this …
He sees the look on my face and presses further. “Man, I don’t even blame you for following me all this way. I was fooled by her too. She’s got a way … a way of digging her claws into you and confusing you, making you think you’re showing up as the hero or something. When, really, she’s pulling strings and playing a twisted game. A game just to see how far she can push you to do her bidding.”
I look at the boys in the window, wondering how longhe’s going to sit here and talk shit about his ex-wife and let them sit in the truck with the sun rising higher every minute.
“She’s a liar, man. And you want to believe her because she’s so good at playing the victim. She uses her pretty face and those crocodile tears to sell the story. She probably told you that I hit her and threw her around. The reality is, she abused me. She was always drinking way too much wine. She threw shit and yelled at me all the time while she was drunk. Used to scare the kids. I begged her not to leave me—not because I was still in love with her, but because I didn’t think she should be alone with them. They need a stable parent, you know?”
My stomach is tight. I don’t believe that she would do all those things. Dallas does drink wine, but she’s a good mother. I’ve never seen her drunk around her kids. She’d never hurt them.
But none of this makes sense when it comes to why Matt would drive all this way to go visit his family with the boys if it was Dallas’s time. Is he really just that stupid and reckless? Or is he fucking with me and trying to kidnap them?