armed.
“What are you doing, Cody?” She kept her voice neutral, calm.
“He needs the money, Hayley.”
She frowned. “Kyle,” she guessed.
Cody nodded, his hand trembling around the weapon. “He still needs another twenty thousand for his surgery that insurance won't cover.”
“You’ve been stealing and giving the money to your brother.”
“I have it all set aside to make an anonymous donation. He needs the money more than they do.”
The people he stole from.
“That doesn’t make it right, Cody. And you’re making things a whole lot worse by holding a gun on a police officer.”
“I’m sorry about what I did to your house. I was drinking and so mad. I didn’t mean… Kyle can’t die, Hayley. He can’t.” He started to lower the gun, then looked at something over her shoulder.
He backed up, tripping as he turned to flee. Hayley lunged forward, catching hold of Cody and dropping to the ground with him.
A second later the gun went off.
Jackson spotted Hayley’s truck on the street the moment he pulled into the driveway. Grinning, he jogged up the stairs to the front door, so damn relieved that she was here he couldn’t get the door open fast enough. She wasn’t outside, so she must have let herself in somehow.
But why had she locked it behind her?
Jackson checked the side door, then walked back to Hayley’s truck, wondering if he’d mistaken someone else’s vehicle for hers. Maybe he was getting his hopes up for no reason whatsoever.
Halfway to the parked vehicle, he heard voices and glanced around in search of them. He spotted two people in the middle of the yard next door. Hayley’s blonde hair and trademark legs made her easy to pick out even though she had her back to him.
He opened his mouth to call out, snapping his jaw shut when he saw the gun. His heart punched down into his stomach, adrenaline flooding his system.
He ran toward them, wanting to yell at Hayley to get out of the way, all the while knowing it might only make things worse.
The teenager holding the gun spotted him, and Jackson slowed, recognizing Cody. Why the hell did he have a gun? And what the fuck was he doing pointing it at Hayley?
Jackson had already spooked him, though, and Cody turned to run.
Hayley dove after him, and they hit the ground together. The sound of a gunshot turned Jackson’s insides to ice. He sprinted forward, dropping next to Hayley. She reached around him, tossing the gun out of Cody’s reach. He noticed the blood on her hand at the same time she did.
“You’ve been shot.”
She shook her head, but he was already pulling her shirt up in search of the wound. “It’s not my blood. Jackson,” she grabbed his hands, “I wasn’t shot.”
They both glanced at Cody.
The teen stared up at them, fear and tears shining in his eyes. “I think it’s mine. I scraped myself climbing the fence the first time.”
Hayley told him to turn over and checked his back. The scrape on his back was still oozing blood.
“Do. Not. Move.” The authority in Hayley’s voice left no room for negotiating, and Cody was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. She rocked back on her heels, drawing a shaky breath.
Jackson yanked her into his arms. “You scared the shit out of me. When the gun went off I thought…” He drew back enough to look her over. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
His entire body felt primed for a fight, his pulse thumping out of control.
“Don’t hit him.”
She hadn’t meant it as a joke, but some of the tension loosened inside him, and he hugged her again. His attention fell to her mouth and all he wanted to do was kiss her senseless for taking ten years off his life.
“Stay put.”
Cody gave up on moving to a sitting position as Hayley pulled free of Jackson’s arms and stood.
“Do you have your phone on you?”
Jackson dug it out of his pocket, listening as she called in to the police station, asking them to send a car and notify Cody’s parents that they needed to meet them at the police station.
“What happens to the money?”
Money? Christ, Cody was the thief Hayley had been looking for?
“It goes back to its rightful owners.” Hayley crouched down opposite him. “We’ll find another way to raise the money Kyle needs.”
Cody sniffed and wiped his sleeve across his eyes.
Jackson might have admired the teen’s determination to do anything to help his kid brother if he hadn’t gone about it in the most monumentally