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“The hell, I do. What do you think will happen when they find out I was the last person to see her alive?” He shook his head. “String me up by my balls, is what they’ll do.”
“Not if you’re innocent,” she argued.
“I said no.”
“Then why did you tell me? What am I supposed to do with this, huh? Why are you even here?”
“Because”—he ran his hands down his face—“I had to tell someone. You’re all I got, Lex. The only person I can trust. You’ve got to help me.”
He was manipulating her, toying with her emotions and the small piece of residual love she felt for him. He’d done it too many times before for her to not recognize the signs. He had family. Parents. A brother. Any of them would help him if he asked. But he was also scared. She saw it in his eyes and wondered what it meant. Whether or not he had another shoe to drop this time. A reason for her to be afraid, especially when it came to whatever he saw—or suspected—with Nico. Kyle was a jealous man. He wouldn’t let something like that go.
“Help you how?” she hedged. “You know they’re going to find out eventually, right? And you’ll be in even more trouble when they do, because you didn’t come forward sooner.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what you expect me to do.”
Reaching to clasp her hand, he smiled, all nostalgic. “You know it didn’t mean anything, right? Me and her.”
Lexie tried not to physically recoil from his touch. He always did this. Tried to get close whenever she had a new man in her life. Made out like they were just lovers who’d lost touch instead of the severely damaged yet-to-be-divorced couple that they were. And if that didn’t work—which it never did—trouble soon followed.
“It wouldn’t matter if it did,” she said, snatching her hand back. “We’re not together anymore.”
“Jesus, Lex, when are you going to admit to yourself that you belong with me? Don’t you remember how good those times were?” He looked into her eyes, moving even closer, his energy changing. She could smell the whiskey on his breath as he licked his lips and whispered, “You remember, don’t you? The way I made you laugh. The way I made you moan. Sometimes, you’d come so hard—”
“Enough,” she said, pushing him away. “Don’t.”
His gaze turned hard. “You didn’t say no to him.”
Lexie matched his stare. “Get out of my house. Now. We can talk once you’ve sobered up.”
“Alright,” he said, backing off. “Here’s how this is going to go. You keep what I told you between us. You don’t tell a fucking soul—not Annie, not Wade, not your cop boyfriend, hear me?”
“Fine. Just get out,” she repeated, tears threatening to spill despite her best efforts to stop them.
“And you’re going to find out what he knows about that night. If there’s even the slightest hint of suspicion coming my way, I want to know before it’s too late to blow town. You do that, I promise I’ll back off.”
And there’s the other shoe.
“What?” she exclaimed before he’d even finished speaking. “No way.”
He thumped a hand on the wall behind her. “I’m not going to let them pin me as some crazed lunatic murderer!”
“Well, they’d have the crazed part right, wouldn’t they?” Lexie fumed. She waited a few seconds before calmly saying, “He doesn’t talk about that stuff with me. And even if he did, I wouldn’t tell you a damn thing.”
“You’re going to find out what he knows,” Kyle growled, bracing an arm above her head so he could lean right in and invade her space. “Or that accident you found him in won’t be his last. Don’t forget what happened to that other nice chap. What was his name? Dan? Dave?”
Images of a bloodied and bruised face flooded her mind. He’d never said goodbye, even after six weeks of dating. Just stared at her from a distance, got in his car and left town. She never saw him again.
Lexie swallowed. “Dalton.”
“Right, right. You want another Dalton on your conscience, hmm?”
No, she didn’t. But then again, Nico wasn’t an adorably charming, skinny computer programmer with glasses and chronic asthma. Nico was a cop. He was strong and brave and could—she was sure of it—handle whatever Kyle could dish out.
So, she tipped her chin up in pure defiance. “You’re tripping if you think—”
Kyle’s hand flew to her throat, tight enough to constrict her breathing. Knowing she’d made a mistake, arguing when she should have pretended to go along with what he wanted, Lexie let out a strangled gasp of his name.
“You’re fucking unbelievable, you know that? Expecting me to just sit back and watch while you spread your legs for that asshole. You think I won’t do it? You think I won’t hurt him bad? Because I swear, if you test me . . .”
Dark spots dotted Lexie’s vision. Her head throbbed and she felt herself getting lightheaded. Abruptly, he let go, and she dropped like a sack of potatoes. Somewhere in her remaining consciousness, she registered Kyle reaching down, trying to help her up. She didn’t care. All that mattered at that moment was the oxygen filling her lungs with each greedy breath she took.
