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  “Blaming you for the drugs and the murder would clear the Parkers of any wrong doing. It would turn them into the victims of a crime rather than the family of a drugged-out loser who likes to force himself on girls. A rape scandal would be bad, bad news for Mitchell Parker right now.”

  “Oh God. I'm in real trouble, aren't I?” Gracie buried her face in her hands. “I'm going to be in prison forever.”

  “You're not going to prison, Gracie.” David gently pried her hands away from her face. “Cal's supposed to be here first thing in the morning to change out the brake pads on the Chevy. We're going to take that damned BMW apart one piece at a time until its nothing but sheet metal and screws. No one will ever find that car.”

  “Cal?” Raw panic burst to life in Gracie's heart when she thought about Cal seeing the horrible thing she had done. “No. Please, no. You can't get Cal involved in this. You can't tell Cal what I did. He'll go ballistic.”

  “I have to, Gracie. Getting rid of that car is going to be a two-man job.”

  “I can help you.” Gracie took a deep breath and tried to steel her nerves. It wasn't working. A fresh batch of tears escaped from her eyes. “We can handle it. Please. Don't tell Cal.”

  “I don't have a choice. You don't need to be involved. You've always been a shitty liar. The less you know about what we do, the better it’s going to be in the long run.”

  “I can do this. I promise.” Tears were running freely down her cheeks, but she made no effort to wipe them away.

  “You can't drive the wrecker. You can't lift 100 pounds of scrap metal. I don't trust you with a cutting torch.” David shook his head at her. “This isn't negotiable. I can get rid of your boy and his car, but I can't do it alone. I need Cal.”

  “Call Addison. Get Addy to help you.”

  “I'm not doing that to him,” David shook his head. “Addison is a cop, Gracie.”

  “He'd do it. He wouldn't turn me in.”

  “You're right. He wouldn't.” David held out his arms in a wide shrug. “What do you think would happen to Addison if something goes wrong and we get caught?”

  “I don't know,” Gracie admitted. She couldn't get past the thought of how angry Cal was going to be.

  “It wouldn't be pretty. Cops are held to a higher standard than the rest of mere mortals. Cops are expected to know the law. He wouldn't be able to play dumb the way I can. He'd go to prison for a long fucking time.” David scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You don't get a choice in this. Addison loves you. He'd go to prison for you if he thought it would save you. I know he would. I'd do the same. So would Cal, even though you don't want anything to do with him anymore. He still loves you, Gracie. He'll help us.”

  “He's going to hate me,” Gracie was bawling now. The sobs came so hard and fast that they made her chest ache. David pulled her into his arms and held her tightly against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck without thinking about it. She buried her face in his chest and let the sobs flow for the second time in less than two hours. “You don't understand. I miss Cal. I miss Cal so badly that sometimes I feel like I'm just going to die of a broken heart. I miss him so badly that it hurts to breathe. I'm failing all of my classes because I spend all my time staring out the windows hoping I'll see his Chevy pull up outside. I keep waiting for him to show up and save me from myself, but he never does. If he finds out what happened tonight, he never will. He's not going to want to marry a murderer. Cal's squeaky clean, David. He's a goody-goody. He's not going to love me if he knows I shot a guy in the chest.”

  “Cal's my best friend.” David spoke calmly and slowly. “Cal is not half as pure as you think he is. He's going to be pissed off, but he is not going to hate you. I know him better than that.”

  “You promise?” Gracie blinked up at him through her tears.

  “Everything's going to be okay.” He almost smiled at her as he used his thumb to wipe the tears off of her cheek and pushed several strands of long blonde hair away from her eyes. “I promise.”

  He was still holding her against his chest when the front door of the trailer crashed open and Cal came stumbling into the room.

  Chapter 19

  “Damn it’s hot in here.” Cal kicked an empty whiskey bottle and Addison's uniform boots out of the doorway. He grabbed onto the cracked wooden door frame to keep from falling as he made his way into the dimly lit living room of David's trailer. The pain in the knee he'd broken playing high school football had gone from throbbing to burning during the last mile or so of his unplanned early morning hike.

  The combination of pain and alcohol consumption had slowed his perceptions enough that it took him a minute to process that David was standing in the middle of the burning hot living room with his arms wrapped tightly around the waist of a more or less naked girl with long sexy legs. David's jaw was hanging open, and the expression in his eyes made him look like a deer caught in the headlights of a freightliner.

  “Oh shit, man. I'm sorry.” Cal struggled to comprehend the sight in front of him. “I didn't know you had anyone here.”

  David released his grip on the girl and jumped away from her so quickly she stumbled backwards. Her shin hit the coffee table and she spun around. She would have fallen if Cal hadn't caught her arm and pulled her upright.

  Which brought him eye-to-eye with a pair of very familiar turquoise-colored irises. His heart damn near stopped beating in his chest. Cal wondered if he was hallucinating. He had to be hallucinating. He must have passed out drunk in his truck on the side of the road, and now he was imagining being at David's.

  He released his steadying grip on Gracie's arms. Her eyes were huge as she blinked at him through wet, dark eyelashes. She wasn't wearing a shirt. Her bra was black, lacy and see-through with red ribbon trim. The Confederate rose tattoo on her hip was exposed by her low riding skirt. Damn near all of her creamy, soft skin was bare. Her cheeks were flushed.

  God it was hot in here.

  “Cal, it's not what you think.” David's voice cut through his intoxicated denials like a knife.

  Cal was sober in an instant. Gracie was damn near naked in the middle of David's living room. He'd just walked in on the only girl he'd ever really loved and his best friend. Neither of them had on half the clothes they should have.

  The heat in the trailer made him feel like he was suffocating.

  Gracie reached for his arm. He felt the tips of her fingers brush against his skin.

  “We need to talk.”

  He watched her mouth move but he didn't hear most of what she was saying. His brain was filling in the blanks on its own. Not that there were very many options for explaining why your best friend and your ex-girlfriend were playing two man strip poker in the middle of the night.

  David might as well have sucker punched him in the stomach. It would have hurt less.

  Gracie was holding onto his arm. He brushed her off with a rough shrug. “There's nothing to talk about,” he said flatly as he turned to walk back out of the trailer before he completely lost control. The blood was rushing so fast in his head he could literally feel it boiling in his veins.

  David took two steps and caught him by the shoulder. “Cal, I'm serious. This isn't what you-.”

  Cal didn't give him time to finish the sentence. He snatched hold of David by the throat and threw him through the open doorway of the trailer and out onto the porch. The ancient wooden railing buckled when his weight hit it. David went crashing down into the yard and landed on his back in the middle of a pile of rotting wood.

  He was on his feet before Cal made it to the bottom of the stairs.

  “Don't be stupid.” David stepped directly into Cal's path.

  Cal reacted without thinking. His anger and frustration mixed with the liquor and boiled over. He swung his fist directly into David's face. He heard his best friend's nose break with a loud, sickening crunch. Blood spurted out of David's nose as he kicked Cal's legs out from under him and they both toppled to the
ground, punches flying.

  Even as the anger took over, Cal could dimly hear Gracie pleading with them to stop. He was aware of the coppery taste of blood in his mouth when David connected a solid hit on his jaw and rattled his teeth.

  He just didn't care.

  He grabbed David's shoulder and threw him to the ground again. This time he felt a surge of white hot pain shoot out of his bad knee as he overbalanced and landed with all his weight on the barely functional joint. The pain only served to feed his fury and hurt as he landed another punch directly into David's chest.

  David returned the favor by kicking him in the stomach with a size 13 work boot and they rolled across the yard again in a flurry of kicks, punches and swearing.

  Cal finally grabbed a hold of David by the throat. He slammed him backwards into the side of the wrecker and drew his fist back, preparing to land another blow when Gracie threw herself in between his fist and David's chest.

  Cal pulled his punch at the last second, slamming his fist into the steel side of the truck. A large dent blossomed in the metal.

  “Goddamn it, Gracie. Get out of the way.”

  “No.” She had tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she pressed her back against David's bare chest. “Please stop. Please. Don't be like this. You have to understand.”

  “I don't want to understand.” Cal spit blood into the dirt at his feet. He leveled a cold and glare in David's direction. It figured Gracie would protect him. It just fucking figured that he hadn't been good enough to keep her but that she'd come back from college for David.

  “Are you drunk?” David demanded with a snarl. He had gotten to his feet behind Gracie. Blood was running from his shattered nose like water from a broken faucet. He made an irritated attempt to wipe the blood away from his face, scowling in disgust as it smeared across his arm.

  “Not anymore. Seeing you with her sobered me up.” Cal jerked his head at Gracie. He yanked the polo shirt off of his own back and thrust it into her hands. “Put some clothes on, will you?”

  Gracie swallowed visibly as she took the shirt in trembling hands. It fit her like a dress when she pulled it over her slender frame. “Cal, I'm sorry.”

  “I don't want to hear it,” he glared at David.

  “If you'd just fucking listen to what I'm trying to tell you.” David ignored the blood that was now running most of the way down his chest and landing in fat drops in the dirt at his feet. His eyes flashed dangerously in the dim moonlight, daring Cal to swing on him again.

  Cal met his stare as they sized one another up for another round. Cal flexed his shoulders lightly and took a step towards David. He wanted him to swing again. “Don't test me right now, Breedlove. I'll kill you.”

  “It's not worth it.” David shook his head abruptly and took a step back. It was the first time Cal had ever seen him turn down a fight.

  “Should have thought about that a little sooner,” Cal snapped. He was trying in vain to keep the anger from being replaced with a bone deep weariness and hurt. He felt vaguely sick as he took in the blood that was running down David's face and chest. There was fear in Gracie's red rimmed eyes when she looked at him. He turned away from her abruptly. He doubted he'd ever be able to look at her the same way again.

  “Go inside,” David told Gracie. She opened her mouth and looked between him and Cal as if she had something to say. David shook his head at her. “Now. Just let me handle it.”

  Gracie's lips quivered for a moment and then she looked to Cal. He refused to meet her eyes. David made a shooing gesture at her. After one more agonizing minute she turned and began to walk back towards the trailer. Cal pretended he didn't hear her start to cry as she walked away.

  “I need you to listen to me,” David told him.

  “I'm not listening to a damn thing. I'm done with you.” Cal stepped backwards away from David before he gave into the urge to knock the shit out of him just one more time. The knee he'd shattered playing varsity football was on fire. He locked his jaw and squared his shoulders. He was determined not to cry as he began limping back down the driveway towards the road.

  He made it three steps before his knee buckled under him.

  “Where the fuck is your truck?” David demanded.

  “Broke down on the goddamned highway about two miles from here. Alternator again.” Cal spoke without turning around. “I figured I'd just crash on your couch tonight since we were going to fix the brakes in the morning. You can believe me when I say I would never have come here if I'd known she was with you. I would have walked all the goddamned way back to Possum Creek.”

  “It’s not what you think between me and her. You should stay and listen to what I'm trying to tell you. You ain't going to make it half a mile with the way you’re limping,” David said. His voice was thick with irritation.

  Cal ignored him and tentatively took another step. The pressure was bad but Cal was stubborn. He would make his bad leg carry him back to Possum Creek come hell or high water. His determination lasted two more steps before his knee buckled underneath him for a second time. He stopped himself from falling by grabbing a small pine tree on the side of the driveway.

  “I reckon that's my problem, ain't it?” He glared at David, gritting his teeth through the pain as he tried to get his leg to support his weight.

  “You are one dumb, stubborn son-of-a-bitch.” David walked over to his Toyota and snatched the keys out of the ignition. He threw them to Cal. Cal let them land on the ground at his feet instead of catching them. “Take my truck, if you won't stay here,” David told him. “Bring it back in the morning. I need your help with something.”

  Cal damn near laughed. Only David would tie up with him one minute and then have the audacity to demand that everything between them be fine less than five minutes later. He nudged the keys through the dirt with the toe of his boot.

  “Call Addison,” Cal practically spat the words at him.

  “No deal.” David shook his head and then cringed when more blood oozed out of his nose. “I was counting having you help me. Addison's not going to cut it.”

  “You should have thought about that before you and Gracie...” Cal trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud. He was too tired and too hurt to admit out loud that David had taken Gracie from him. Or that she'd chosen David over him. Whatever the hell had happened. Cal didn't really care because every scenario had the same results.

  “There's nothing between me and Gracie,” David snapped.

  “Yeah,” Cal choked out a bitter laugh. “Nothing. Not even clothes. Or a condom.”

  “Goddammit, Cal.” David was getting good and angry now. “Just take my truck already. Go home. Sober up. Come back tomorrow and be ready to listen to what I'm trying to fucking tell you.”

  “I'm not listening to a damn thing you have to say if it involves you and Gracie.”

  David blew a gust of air through his lips. “Fine then. Be that way. I still need you here in the morning.”

  “I can't. I'm going to be working on my truck.”

  “Forget about the fucking truck.” David wiped more blood off of his bare skin. “I'll fix the truck. Or you can keep mine. Whatever you want. I don't care. Title to the Toyota is in the top drawer of my desk at the shop. You want it? Go get it. You've got keys to my shop.”

  Cal opened his mouth and then closed it again. David liked his Toyota a hell of a lot. Even in the midst of his pain, Cal knew that something was seriously wrong if David was willing to give him the Toyota. Neither of them spoke. Cal glared at the keys to the Toyota. After a tense moment he bent down to pick them up. Some of the fury that had squared his shoulders was turning into a kind of grim acceptance. “Whatever. Sure. I'll take your truck and you take my girl. Sounds like your kind of trade.”

  It gave Cal a certain measure of satisfaction to watch David choke on his own spit as he walked back over to David's favorite little pickup truck and yanked the door open. He tried and failed to hide the flare of pain
that went through his leg as he climbed into the cab of the truck and turned the key. He stomped the clutch down to the floor with a lot more force than necessary and then jammed the standard transmission into reverse with so much force the little truck shuddered. Dirt sprayed in all directions as he dumped the clutch and slammed the transmission into first gear with enough force to send 20-foot rooster tails of dirt towards the front of the trailer as he flew out of the driveway and back into the night.

  Chapter 20

  “I hate him,” Gracie said as David finally staggered back into the trailer. She could hear the Toyota grinding gears as Cal pushed the truck to its limits as he hit the highway.

  “He's going to blow my goddamned truck up,” David muttered in disbelief as they listened to the engine scream and the gears jam. It was obvious that out of everything that had happened tonight, Cal's abuse of the Toyota was the only thing that had really shaken David.

  “He's such a stubborn asshole.” Gracie crossed her arms over her chest and flopped down hard onto the edge of the sofa. Angry tears were running down her cheeks. “Why doesn't he ever listen to anything I have to say?”

  David walked across the room to the sink and began washing the blood away. “I don't know.”

  “How can he even think you and I are together?” Gracie demanded. “He knows me. He knows you. Why would his first thought be that we're having sex?”

  “No idea,” David admitted. “I knew he would be mad when he found out that you'd shot someone and I had agreed to hide the body. I wasn't expecting him to blow up before he even found out about the body. I never thought he would think you and I were sleeping together.”

  “Calvin Walker thinks what he wants to think. You can't negotiate with him. It's like arguing with a rock.” Gracie ran her hands tiredly over her face. “What business of his is it who I sleep with anyways?”

  “He was drunk, Gracie. Really drunk.” David cringed as soap suds came into contact with the assortment of cuts and scrapes he'd gotten during the fight. He was covered in dirt and blood but his green eyes were vibrant and flashing with life. David hobbled into the kitchen and grabbed a dirty shirt out of the laundry heap next to the washer. He held it under the ice maker until it was almost full and then pressed the makeshift ice pack across the bridge of his nose. “You know how he gets when he's drunk. You can't negotiate with him and he ain't going to listen to a fucking thing anyone says.”