Page 11 of Wait in the Truck
One day, I will make it up to you.
I’m gonna go to California to visit some friends, give you some space.
One of my rodeo buddies is gonna drop me off at the bus station but before I go, I’ve packed up some of your things I thought you might want while I’m gone.
I’ll swing by the ranch on my way out and leave them on the doorstep for you.
I will make this up to you, baby.
Not today, but someday.
I’ll get help, I promise.
Feeling nauseous at the level of love bombing being delivered, I finally decide I’ve done enough to make Sage believe Toby took off of his own accord. I switch off the cellphone before I slide it into my back pocket and return to the task at hand.
It takes me a few minutes to load Toby’s and Sage’s belongings onto the bench seat of the Chevy, and when I’m satisfied with everything, I head back inside and set about removing the trash.
I cover an area of the floor with a large sheet of tarp, then extract the knife from my belt sheath and release Toby from his binds. He’s been dead for a little over two hours now, so even though his limbs have stiffened somewhat, rigor mortis hasn’t set in fully, making him easier to move than I’d thought.
Taking hold of the remnants of the plastic bag, I peel Toby’s face from the hot iron with a squelch. “Oopsie. Looks like you lost half your face. Thanks a lot. Do you have any idea how much of a bitch that’s gonna be to clean up? Even dead you’re a pain in my ass.”
Once I have him upright in the chair, I grasp the back and tip it forward, dumping him onto the tarp. He lands with a satisfying thud. With the toe of my boot, I shove him to the middle.
Now that he’s situated, I rearrange his posture by tucking his arms into his sides. With his legs straightened out, I roll him up, then secure the bungee cords around the outer layer to keep everything in place. “Snug as a bug in a rug.” I pause, smiling to myself. “No. A pig in a blanket.”
Unwilling to leave a single scrap of evidence behind, Ihead toward the kitchenette in search of some cleaning supplies. Bleach in hand, it takes me a little over an hour to scrub the cabin clean of any trace of my presence… and that includes scraping the remnants of Johnson’s face off the stove top. When everything is back to pristine condition, I discard the cloth into the fire to burn, destroying any DNA. Finally, I pull Toby’s phone out of my pocket and set about removing the SIM card. Flicking it into the flames, I watch it melt and curl into something unrecognizable. I figure I’ll get rid of the phone with his body, so I tuck it back into my pocket before peeling off the disposable gloves and tossing them into the wood stove.
Satisfied with the job, I hoist Toby’s lifeless corpse up and over my shoulder and carry him to my truck. I’m less than gentle when I toss him into the Chevy’s bed with a thump. But who cares, the motherfucker doesn’t deserve gentleness after the way he touched Sage. Slamming the tailgate, I conceal Toby by hiding him with the canvas bed cover. “Time for your final road trip, Johnson.”
KADE
7
I’ve never understoodhow people say they drive places on autopilot because I tend to be very aware of my surroundings. Fucked if that isn’t exactly what’s happened, though. Pulling up the Lilac Meadows driveway without a single fucking recollection as to how I got here, a soundless chuckle huffs from me. The logistics of the disposal of Toby’s body occupies every thought in my mind. There are so many options.Do I bury him? Do I feed him to the pigs? Maybe I could put him in a slurry tank.“Do you think he’d decompose in there?” I nod. “I s’pose he would.”
Cutting the headlights so as to not attract unwanted attention, I put the truck in park, then pull on my work gloves before grabbing the box of Sage’s belongings.No fingerprints.I stare down at the things I’d collected and hope it makes sense that Toby would do this. The reality ofthe situation is that after sending the texts earlier, I have no other choice but to follow through. Has she seen the messages from her former boyfriend yet? I shake my head. I hope the fuck not. She needs her rest after the night she’s had. Will she think he’s really going to try to be a better man? Debatable. Somehow that asshat has managed to worm his way back into her heart more than once already. I chuckle low.It’ll be really hard to do that from where you’ll be buried, asshole.
But that’s what he gets for laying his hands on her.
After depositing the box on the porch, I stand there for only a moment, seeing a vision of Sage in my mind’s eye. I’m rapidly developing a sick, relentless, undeniable obsession… with her.
Five minutes later, after dragging myself away from Sage’s family home, I pull up to our house and park beside Rhett’s truck. He must have finished up with whatever issue that poor horse was having in birthing her foal. At the door leading directly into the kitchen, I take a deep breath. Gotta figure out how to handle this, how to make Rhett see that I’d come to the only logical solution to the Toby problem: killing that motherfucker. “He left me no choice.” Rhett and I might not always see eye to eye, but we always have each other’s backs. Now, I simply have to hope that extends to offing dickheads who abuse women.
I let myself in through the side door with hardly a sound to find Rhett still up. His ass is propped against thecounter in front of the kitchen sink, a mug of coffee in his hand. His brow twitches, and he appraises me with a careful eye. “Where ya been?”
With a casual shrug I reply with a clipped, “Out.”
“Oh yeah?” He shoots me a devilish grin. “Was that you I saw earlier dropping Sage at her house?” He only gets to wriggle his brows for a fraction of a second before I hold up a hand, shaking my head.
“No,” I growl. “That is… yes. But it’s not what you’re thinking.”
The tone of my voice forces the growing smirk from his face. “I think you’d better tell me what’s goin’ on.”
“You should sit down for this.” Exhaling heavily, I gesture to the table and pull out a chair for myself, dropping onto it.
“Fuck. More than what went on before I left the bar?” At my stiff nod, Rhett tips his head toward the full pot behind him. “Coffee?” I’m fucking exhausted, and there’s no way I’m sleeping anytime soon, so I nod. It’s all I’m capable of while I gather my thoughts. Rhett slides a mug in my direction and sits down with his own. I’m silent for almost a full minute, then finally take a sip of the steaming-hot brew before meeting my brother’s eyes. He knows it sometimes takes me a beat to get my shit together.
I exhale hard. “I stayed, like we agreed was necessary. Was going to walk Sage to her truck when her shift ended.”The muscle in my jaw twitches as I remember the terror that’d slid through my veins when she went missing.
