Page 101 of Burned & Bound

“I know what he did, West,” Jackson cut in gently. My gaze flicked in his direction. “My mom showed me the police report… pictures and all.”

Oh.I nodded slowly, my chest tightening painfully. I didn’t know she had that shit, and I sure as hell didn’t know that she’d shown him.

“I didn’t want to leave you,” I rasped. My voice broke slightly. “I just… he would’ve fucking killed me if I stayed.”

“I know.”

“And I didn’t know what else to fucking do,” I continued, rambling a little. The pressure in my chest built, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

“I know, West.” Jackson’s fingers laced through mine as he took my hand, squeezing for reassurance. “Where’d you go? After you left here?”

“South,” I answered. I was more than grateful to not talk about that shit. I wasn’t sure I could handle it. Harrison and everything he’d done still haunted me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be free of him. “Figured I’d put as much fucking distance between me and him as I could. Took a bus down to Texas and disappeared. For a while anyway, until the money ran out, and I didn’t have a place to go or anything to eat.”

“Is that why you robbed that place?”How much did Jackson know about why the fuck I ended up in jail?Considering our start, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he did a background check or some shit on me.

“It wasn’t loaded,” I admitted. I closed my eyes, feeling Jackson’s calm as it spread through me. “It wasn’t even a real gun. At least not the one I had.”

“You weren’t alone?” he asked.

“No. I was just the one who didn’t run. The other kid I was with shot the clerk,” I whispered. “I couldn’t just… I couldn’t let him die.”

I could still picture his face as he bled out on the floor, and when things were particularly rough, I could still feel the warmth of his blood on my hands.

“Did he…” Jackson’s voice trailed off.

“Yeah, he lived.” He’d been kind enough to speak in my favor at my hearing, which helped get me a lesser sentence. His kindness had been more than I deserved. Jackson’s silence was unnerving.What the hell did he fucking think of me now?Probably nothing good. “Do you regret asking?”

“No,” he replied. “If you weren’t there, he would’ve died.”

“You give me way more credit than I fucking deserve.”

“Why’d you follow my career?” Jackson asked again.Yeah, I hadn’t really answered that question, had I?

“It was the best I could do about being there,” I admitted. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best I could do.”

I didn’t admit that somewhere over the years I grew jealous of the life he had. Of the assuredness and happiness in his life. The direction. I wanted that.And I didn’t have a fucking clue how to find that.Instead, I just settled on watching his life.

“I always thought about showing up one day.” I kept talking, letting the random thoughts take me wherever. My body felt heavy—not entirely relaxed, but just heavy. Weirdly comfortably heavy. “At the rodeo.”

“I probably would’ve hit you,” he said. My lips tipped upward slightly.Yeah, that wouldn’t have surprised me.“Did you see my first ride?”

“I did,” I told him. The memory made me smile slightly. “I did some stupid shit to make sure I could see it, and then you went ahead and fucking disappointed everyone.”

I’d broken into someone’s house just so I could see Jackson’s first ride. It was stupid as fuck to do, but I’d gotten away with it. Probably not a thing to be proud of, but I just couldn’t imagine breaking that fucking promise.

“Hey!” He chuckled. “It ain’t my fault they gave me the toughest bull there.”

“Excuses, excuses,” I teased. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue what any of it meant when I watched it. All I knew was watchinghim get thrown had scared the shit out of me. But Jackson had bounced right back with that stupid cowboy grin on his handsome face.

“Do you feel better, West?” Jackson asked. He gave my hand a small squeeze. I let out a small sound. Maybe I nodded. Who knew? The exhaustion weighed heavy on my body. “Get some sleep, baby.”

CHAPTER 69

west

When I made breakfast,I expected Jackson to join. He’d told me he would, but he never showed up. It irritated me. I knew he was in his office dealing with sponsor shit, but he’d told me he’d be down.

Was I being unreasonable?I couldn’t tell. Maybe I was just grumpy after a rough night or maybe I had a right to be annoyed. Either way, I stomped up the stairs and right into his office.

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