Damaged Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,26

“Yeah… I guess…”

Pete pushed at the folder. “I’ve thought of other things here, Winter. Maybe you did it to yourself. A guy breaks your heart and you want to end things. Meaning, your life.”

“I would never-”

“Or maybe someone did it on purpose,” Pete said. “Someone wanted to hurt you. Someone wanted to kill you. What do you think?”

He slowly walked around the desk.

“I…”

Pete snapped his fingers and touched his jaw.

He clicked his tongue. “That’s right. You don’t remember anything.”

Pete moved around the table and leaned against it. He folded his arms.

He stared at me.

“Right?”

“That’s why I’m here,” I said. “I wanted to see what was being said. Or found. Or…”

“The truth,” Pete said. “That’s what I want. But here’s the thing, Winter. I’ve gone through it all. I’ve looked at it from a lot of angles. Now I can start digging into personal lives. Knocking on doors. Following people. You know, everything I’m allowed to do with my badge. Understand?”

My blood began to run cold.

Follow?

“I understand,” I said.

“My conclusion is simple. It was your fault, Winter.”

“My fault?”

“Completely your fault.” Pete pushed from the table and stared down at me. “Right?”

“How do you figure?”

Winter, run. Turn and run. This guy…

“The evidence,” Pete said. “You were doing something wrong that night. And for me, I have to judge it. Is it worth me digging into? Do I really want to know? How far can I take this? And at the end of the day, you’re the one without your memory of it all.”

My mind went back to racing.

Trying to figure out what would happen right now if I told Pete the truth.

This wasn’t right.

Something was off.

Way off.

“Right,” I said. “I guess I just wanted to remember. That’s why I came here today. I wanted to see if I could see the pictures or talk to someone who was there.”

“I don’t think that will do any good,” Pete said. “Trust me, Winter, as much as I look for the truth, sometimes it hurts.”

“Not remembering hurts,” I said.

“Remembering might hurt more,” Pete said.

I stepped back and reached for the door. “Then I guess I’m done here.”

“Winter,” Pete said. “It was your fault. That’s probably not what you want to hear. You were messing around with your phone. Distracted. It’s the only thing that makes sense. My best guess is you dropped your phone into the back and you were trying to reach for it. You went off the road and then tried to climb into the back because you knew you were going to crash. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense here,” Pete said.

He moved to the door and put his hand flat against it.

He looked down at me again.

I was stuck in the room. No windows.

No escape.

“Yeah,” I said again.

“Anything else you wanted to talk to me about?” Pete asked.

“No,” I said.

“Good. This worked out. Now I don’t have to stop over to your mother’s beach house and bother her. You can just keep to yourself. Feel better. Heal up. And, hey, maybe your memory will come back.”

“Maybe,” I said.

Pete moved away from the door.

I opened it and walked out of there slowly.

I kept that slow and normal pace even as I got into Tank Two.

I drove away and only began to pick up speed when I was far enough away to feel safe.

Then again, was I ever going to feel safe?

Chapter 10

color of revenge

I curled up in my bed at my mother’s beach house and stared across the room for what felt like hours.

This thing was deeper than I thought.

At least it seemed that way.

That detective - Pete - he was creepy as hell.

The guy that went into the police station before me… maybe he was following me. Maybe he was a detective too. And he ran inside to tell Pete that I was there.

Or maybe they weren’t detectives at all.

Maybe they were part of…

Of…

“Of what?” I whispered to myself.

I had no idea.

And why did it matter about the accident? Why was Pete so invested in it?

Unless…

I buried my face into my pillow and screamed.

The only thing that really made sense was that Noah, Easton, and Xavier were behind this too. They somehow were involved with the police or the detectives to keep an eye on me. To make sure I didn’t remember a thing.

It sounded really crazy, but in this town, in BFH, it was all about money and power. Money bought power. Power bought everything else.

Those three families were ridiculously rich and would do anything to