Page 79 of Legacy of Lies
Chapter 19
As far as going over to the Taggarts’ ranch yesterday and, as Izzy delicately put it, grabbing Garrison by his balls and making him understand that Sara was much more than a stress reliever, that performance stunk.
Not only had she not accomplished her goal, but the plan had also backfired. God bless him, Garrison had laid out his feelings, kissed her until she couldn’t see straight, and then told her to go home and think about what she wanted. He didn’t seem mad. More like he was tired of indecision. Well, that made two of them.
Didn’t matter. After that kiss, Sara knew damn well what she wanted, and it lived underneath a work shirt and a pair of tight jeans.
What about her own future that she’d worked so hard to create? She had another two and a half years, and then her loans would be repaid. Sara would be free of debt.
Free of Copper River.
And what about the problems with Hank and the threats to the Taggart family? God, what about her job? If she pursued a future with Garrison, she had an excellent chance of losing her job from Hank’s sheer vindictiveness. If she pursued a future with Garrison, innocent people would be hurt.
By the time she made it to school, Sara had made her decision.
Now, if only she could get her sleep-deprived, aching body through a day filled with energetic second-graders.
At recess, she kept an eye on Zach.
When the Brand twins sidled up to him, her heart dropped to her feet.
Zach stumbled suddenly, and the twins stuffed hands in their pockets and looked everywhere but the kid sprawled on the snowy ground. Zach struggled to his feet and walked away a few steps, until he tripped over a booted foot and fell again.
Her heart ached when she spied his red face. He bit his quivering lower lip but got back to his feet again.
Get out of there, Zach.
A shove. She couldn’t stop herself from marching over there.
Dropping her hands onto the Brand kids’ shoulders, she kept her stance casual and friendly to the outside observer but squeezed the boys much harder than she should. She had to keep this discipline under the radar, or Butch would make good on his threat. These little Brand monsters were all but untouchable.
“Gentlemen?” she asked.
Zach fled to the far side of the yard.
One of the twins stuck his tongue out at her in a shocking display of disrespect. Figured, given the stellar character of their uncle Hank.
“Perhaps you should go play over on the monkey bars?”
“You can’t tell me what to do— Ow!”
The second snot-nosed kid smirked. “What are you gonna do, send us to the principal’s office?”
Touché, minijerk, touché.
“Uncle Hank says you’re a slut.”
She squeezed his shoulder until he yelped. Then she leaned down inches from the boy’s face.
“Maybe I won’t send you to the office, but you know what I can do?”
His eyes widened as she pulled the other boy close to listen.
“I will do evil things to evil boys.”
“What?” one boy whispered.
“I will put you in detention until the end of time.”
