Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,60

to do? Go back on it? Then what? Just pretend you can’t remember anything for… what… how long?”

“Talon, stop talking,” I said. “Just stop talking.”

He actually listened for once.

I slowly nodded.

Then I pointed to the car and smiled. “Go blow that motherfucker up, Talon.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said.

He ran toward the car without an ounce of fear.

I had to give him credit for that.

Being able to run toward the danger without a care.

That was a Troc thing though. They had less to lose. More to gain.

Talon spent about ten seconds at the car and then turned and started to run toward me.

He had a smile on his face that made me smile.

It was such a happy smile.

Almost an innocent smile… but it wasn’t that at all.

I had to force myself to stop smiling at him.

Talon caught up to me and grabbed my arms and pulled me.

“We have to run,” he said. “Just to be safe…”

He was smiling because of the danger.

He grabbed my hand and started to pull me along.

I moved my feet and thought about what happened the last time I ran.

On the beach, after Gia…

But this was different.

Part of me wanted to see it happen.

I wanted to see the car explode.

Talon didn’t want me to get hurt.

Or himself to get hurt.

We ran in silence toward the road.

And then came the boom.

And that’s just what it sounded like.

A boom and a swoosh sound.

The ground didn’t shake. There’s wasn’t some gigantic mushroom flame cloud thing or whatever.

There was a small part of me that was let down… but… the job was done.

We kept running until we got to Tank Two.

I hurried inside and started it.

I started to drive before Talon could shut his door.

I peeled out to the paved road and tuned left and sped away.

It wasn’t until about ten seconds later did Talon laugh.

“What?” I snapped at him.

“It worked,” he said.

“It worked?” I asked. “You weren’t sure it was going to work?”

“You never know, darling,” he said. “But there you go. Something got blown up. Are you happy?”

“I’ll be happy when you’re out of here.”

“Almost,” Talon said. “Almost, Winter.”

“And gone for good,” I said. “How does that work? Are you going to keep my secret?”

“Are you going to keep paying me?”

“I have to pay you to keep my secret?” I yelled.

“Of course,” Talon said. “What did you think you were paying me for?”

“What…”

My arms started to shake.

I drove faster.

It was a very long ten minutes of driving before Talon told me to drop him off.

I slammed on the brakes like I was about to hit an animal in the road.

He put his hands to the dashboard again.

“You really are a shit driver, Winter,” Talon said.

“Get out,” I said.

“I don’t even get a thanks?”

I looked at him. “Get. Out.”

“You wanted to blow something up. So we did. I had a better plan. And my plan works. I’m sure this will too. But it’s riskier.”

“Talon…”

“Tell me, darling. When you saw Noah today, how was he acting?”

“Shut up.”

“Exactly,” Talon said. “But I’m sure you’ll have fun with Easton tomorrow. His prized ride is no more…”

“Prized?” I asked.

Talon laughed. “Goodnight, Winter.”

Talon got out of Tank Two.

He didn’t try to make any moves on me.

Which was good.

I guess.

He turned and walked the way we had come from.

He jogged across the road without looking.

Then he vanished into the night.

I was getting the revenge I needed to get.

It was supposed to make me feel better.

But it didn’t.

At least not yet.

I wanted to blow up and burn more.

Chapter 22

demons ain’t cheap

The next morning, my mother was waiting for me in the kitchen.

She pointed at me.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Why?”

“This is too much for you, Winter. What you’re doing.”

“What?”

“This whole thing. Just come clean with it all. I’ll help you. Whatever you think is going to go wrong, it won’t.”

“No,” I said. “It’s too late now.”

“Does Gia know?”

“No.”

“So you’re just lying to everyone?”

“I thought you were proud of me for that.”

“I was until Val called and told me that you almost died.”

I curled my lip. “I got overheated and overstressed.”

“Yeah,” my mother said. “Believe it or not, I would really hate to see something happen to you.”

“It already did!” I yelled.

“And I can help!” my mother yelled back.

“It’s too late,” I said. “I’m already handling things. I’m not stopping.”

“What did you do?”

“I’m not saying anything,” I said. “Just believe me… it’s working.”

I walked around the counter and my mother blocked my path. “Okay. If you’re going to keep doing this, then grow a fucking spine, Winter. You