Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,32

you doing here so late?”

“Forgot something,” I said. “I packed what I thought I needed and something slipped my mind. Kind of like everything else, right?”

Hank frowned. “Winter… I am so sorry about the accident. You know I was in an accident when I was your age. Broke my back.”

“Really?”

“That’s right. Doctors said I’d never walk again. I told them to stuff their medical degrees up their backsides. It took me a year but I did it. My military dreams were gone after that, but hey, I’m living life.”

“Thanks, Hank,” I said. “I mean it.”

“Sorry about the scare,” he said. “I should have known better. It’s hard to imagine you not remembering me.”

He frowned again.

I wanted to hug him.

Hank had been around for ten years.

He would share chocolates with me. He would tell me stories about his life.

In a way he was almost like a grandfather to me.

Now I had to walk by him like I didn’t know him.

But I had bigger things to take care of.

I needed cold, hard cash…

I swallowed hard at the stacks of money.

I wasn’t used to dealing with cash. My life had been about credit cards. Swipe, get, not think about it.

As I crouched before the secret safe in the den, I thought about how much money to take.

I wasn’t even sure how much was in each stack.

So I ended up grabbing two stacks and placing them into my bag.

It wasn’t like I wouldn’t be able to come back to the house anytime I wanted.

It was my house.

My castle.

I was the princess.

I shut the safe and stood up.

Yes, this was so cliché… the safe was hidden behind a bookshelf. Yes, the bookshelf pulled open like you’d see in a movie that would lead to a secret room or basement or something.

Dad was into that stuff and had the money to make it happen.

It meant nothing to me other than I had the cash I needed to get things moving with Talon.

This was going to work one way or another.

Noah’s back taillight was smashed by the metal bar, but that was nothing compared to what I wanted to do. What I needed to do.

Noah was probably pissed off right now.

He probably fired Mickey or said he would get Mickey fired. That’s why the money I gave Mickey was important. A couple hundred dollars for a Troc was a good payday.

Talon wanted his in the thousands.

He was smart.

Cunning.

And as much as I hated to say it, he was kind of sexy.

In a dark, terrible, horrible way.

A Bump and a Troc together would not happen.

So it wasn’t like that.

I got out of the castle without seeing Hank again.

I hurried to Tank Two and drove back to my mother’s place.

When I went inside, she stood at the kitchen counter with a glass of wine.

“So? How did it go?”

“I got things moving,” I said.

“What did you do?”

I licked my lips. “I’m not telling you. This isn’t your thing. This is my thing. And the less you know, the better.”

“Wow,” my mother said. “I’m impressed.”

“Well, I’m rich,” I said. “I have lawyers. I have power. I’ll do whatever I want.”

“You know those boys are richer than you, right?” she asked with a grin.

“There’s one big difference.”

“Which is?”

“I have nothing to lose here,” I said. “My trust is broken. My heart is confused. Everyone thinks I have no memory. I’m literally lying to almost everyone I know. It doesn’t matter what happens. I’m going to get hurt at the end of this.”

“Then why do it?” my mother teased.

“Because I need to do it,” I said. “Guys like those… I want to watch them cry. Suffer. I want to watch them get hurt before I collapse for good.”

I walked from the kitchen to the back stairs to go to my room.

“Hey, Winter?” my mother called out.

I looked back at my mother. “Yeah?”

“I love you,” she said.

I curled my lip. “Enjoy your wine. I’m assuming you’re alone because your boy toy isn’t allowed out past dark, right?”

“Evil bitch,” my mother said.

“Goodnight,” I said.

I walked up the stairs and with each step my heart raced faster and harder.

There was no turning back now.

At the top of the stairs I paused and told myself to take a minute to cry.

But no tears came.

There was no need for anymore tears.

Fuck that.

Instead of crying, I laughed.

Maybe the accident did mess with my head after all.

Chapter 12

tossing a pebble

I didn’t get much sleep, but that’s why there was coffee for me in the morning.

If there was one thing I