Page 60 of I Want Crazy (Loco, Texas 3)

Will. The blurry figure was Will. She tried to focus, and a white jug on the counter caught her eye.

“What are you doing?” Her voice was raspy with pain.

“Trying to find where you hide the money from the till.”

That gave her pause and slowly, everything started coming back. The DVD. Telling Red to leave. Finding Ray…

Panic jerked her out of her stupor, a wave of dizziness washing over her as she tried to lift her head. “Where’s Ray? Is he dead?”

He squatted in front of her, blocking out the overhead light. “I’m not really sure. I hit him quite a bit harder than you.”

Guilt churned in her gut. Ray had already been through so much, and now he was probably dying. All because he’d picked the wrong place to work.

Her vision finally cleared, and she saw that the left side of Will’s face was puffy, bruised, and his eye was swollen shut.

She would have smiled if she didn’t hurt so much. “Red really did a number on you.”

Will’s mouth tightened at the corners, a sure sign that she’d struck a nerve. “He caught me off guard.”

“You know he’s meeting me here, right? And when he finds out you didn’t leave town, Red’s going to kill you.”

There was no mistaking the rage that flashed across Will’s face. “Your steroid-sucking redneck boyfriend can go fuck himself. God knows he won’t be fucking you anymore.”

Jessie laughed hoarsely. “Is that supposed to scare me? I’m through being scared of you, Will. Worried about you finding me when you got out. No matter what you do to me, all the money I got from that settlement is gone. And the money from the till is safe and secure, and I’m not giving you shit, you crazy, punk-ass—”

She screamed when Will grabbed the back of her head and pulled on her hair. “You think you’re funny now? You’re fucking brave because you think your honey’s going to come back and save you?” He

shook her by the head, and the world spun again. “Where is the fucking till money? I know you haven’t gone to the bank, and I’m figuring there’s just enough to get me to Mexico. Maybe I’ll hook up with some hot little chicas over the border and take my films international.”

She gritted her teeth, pissed that she’d given him the satisfaction of knowing he’d hurt her. “Fuck you. You’re not getting out of Loco.”

He backhanded her so hard, lights exploded. She fell hard against the ground, trying to get her bearings again. Holding her face with one hand, she tried to crawl to her feet.

“Get up and open the safe.”

She remembered her father telling her to always give up her purse in a robbery, just chuck it and run, because most of the time, they only want the money. Somehow, she didn’t think she was walking out of this bar alive anyway, whether she gave him the money or not, and she really didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“Give me the combination.” Will picked up a box of matches, and slipped one of the red-tipped sticks from inside, waving it at her tauntingly. “Or I’m going to light this place up.”

She held on to the side of a barstool and snapped, “You think you’re going to get away? Red’s no doubt already told his buddies on the police force that you’re still in town. They’re probably looking for you.”

“I’ll be long gone by the time they come looking for me.” He picked up a bottle filled with liquid with a towel poking out of the top, and she knew. The chemical smell, the matches…

He was going to burn Ray and her alive in the bar. Despite all the things he had ever done, deep down she had never thought he would actually kill her.

He flicked the match in his hand, the bright flame burning as he held it to the towel. The minute the flame spread up the white cloth, he threw it against the wall. Yellow and orange exploded as the wood caught fire.

“If you kill me, you’ll never get your money.”

His eyes were hard, and all her hopes that he was bluffing flew out the window as real fear finally gripped her.

“But you’ll be dead. That’s good enough for me.”

She tried to move toward the door, but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. Wrapping his hands around her throat, he tightened until she couldn’t breathe. She kicked and clawed at his hands, but he didn’t relent.

Fake it, or you’re dead.

Rolling her eyes back in her head, she stopped fighting and went limp. He let her go, and she struggled not to gasp for air, hoping he’d think she was dead or at least out cold.

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