Page 30 of Love Lies Bleeding

When the car crashed, I got arrested. Nicholas walked away without a scratch, even though he’d been the one driving. His father gave him an alibi and I’d been left to hang. Only Hank stepping in had saved me from the year in juvie that I’d been sentenced to for grand theft auto. We hadn’t killed the owner of the vehicle, not directly, but stealing his car had left him walking along the dark road that night where he’d been hit by another vehicle.

So many lives were ruined by one stupid act that I’d never forgive myself for. Three months had been hard enough to set me straight and I still had nightmares about juvie and the accident of the nameless, faceless victim to this day. Hank refused to tell me who the man was, or any details and begged me not to go looking. I knew he was protecting me and, out of respect for everything he did for me, I complied, but even now I thought about it, dreamed about it.

As if thinking about that time had summoned the demon, my cell rang. I glance at it, seeing an unknown number, a feeling of dread runs over my skin like a warning. Shaking it off, I press accept. “Yes?”

“Jake, my man. Long time no hear.”

Revulsion races through my body at the voice from my past, spewing into my present. My muscles brace as if ready for a fight because I’d never run from him. I wasn’t the weak boy he pushed around and manipulated before.

“Not long enough. What do you want, Nick?”

“Can’t a friend catch up with another friend without it being because he wants something?”

I huddle back against the building for shelter as snow falls harder, my shoulders hunching against the cold, but the cold was coming from the inside this time, not the temperatures outside.

“We aren’t friends. We never were.”

I have no time for this asshole, and want him off my phone as quickly as possible, but I also want to know what he wants and I know ignoring him will make it worse.

“I guess not.” His tone changes from cajoling to cold in a heartbeat.

“Well, why are you calling me?”

“You need to do something for me. A favor, if you will.”

“I don’t need or want to do a fucking thing for you.”

A dark laugh comes down the line and I want to reach through it and grab him by the throat and squeeze until he ceases to exist.

“You’ve changed, Jake.”

“Yeah, I’ve changed and you’re wasting my fucking time.”

I’m seconds away from ending the call when he speaks again. “Your girlfriend’s a pretty one, isn’t she? Feisty too. I bet she’s a handful in the sack.”

My hand tightens on the phone and my vision turns red at the insinuation he’s making. “You stay the fuck away from her or I’ll rip every limb from your body.”

“Don’t be so defensive, Jake. I just need one little favor and you’ll never see me again.”

I grit my teeth so hard, I swear I crack a molar, but I hold my silence, not daring to speak in case my temper gets the better of me.

“Good. Now I have your attention, I need you to get into the Dean’s office and steal the final exam for the Art of Gothic Architecture.”

“Fuck that. I’m not stealing shit for you.”

“That’s a shame. I’d hate for Cherry to find out about your past.”

“You really think holding that over my head is gonna work? Cherry knows me. That won’t matter to her.”

A laugh that causes the hair on my arms to shift falls down the line. I hate this man with a vengeance.

“No, she doesn’t and thanks to Daddy McKenzie coddling you, neither do you. Have you any idea who it was you killed that night, Jake?”

I swallow, my throat dry as my heart rate kicks up as if it knows something I don’t, my animal instinct sensing a trap. “I didn’t kill anyone. I never stole that car, you did. I was just your scapegoat.”

“Semantics. Just steal the paper and give it to my cousin, Brian, and you’ll never hear from me again.”

“Is that what this is? That piece of shit got his feelings hurt and now it’s time for payback?”

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