Page 8 of Coach's Pet

“Crimes?” My confusion gets worse as the seconds tick by.

“Yes. You’re a murderer and animal abuser.” He stands before me, paper in hand and glaring at me.

“Excuse me? Do what?” My voice is shrill. Surely, he knows I’d never kill anyone, most certainly not animals.

“Your farm.” He puts the words in air quotes and rolls his eyes at me. “It’s being raided right now. As soon as the evidence comes to light, you’ll be done.”

“I see.” I don’t see at all. He’s not going to find anything. At CDV Fashions, we don’t use animal products except wool taken from our sheep and alpacas once a year. It’s only humane to keep them groomed.

Still, I don’t say a word.

“And who have I killed?” He paces in front of me, and I wonder if he expected me to rebut his allegations. Why would I? He’s clearly not going to believe me.

“You know who. My family.” He spit at me, and my eyes open wide in shock.

What?

“Again, I have no idea who you think I am or what you are talking about. I’m a pacifist. No violence in anything I do.”

Five

My better judgment leaves me,and I slap the shit out of her. The sound of my palm finding its mark is loud. Her eyes close, and her head turns to the left. I watch her take a deep breath and right herself.

“Don’t lie to me.” The red handprint on her cheek makes me smile, but I tamp it down.We aren’t here for pleasure, I remind myself.

“Until you can be honest, you’ll receive no food or any kind of treatment except to be beaten,” I growl at her, unable to keep my voice even.

“If you don’t tell me what I’ve clearly done, then I can’t tell you the truth,” Crucinda spits right back at me. The bitch has some damn balls, I’ll give her that.

Instead of answering her, I leave the room. It’s too much to be in the same space as her. My promise to my father eats at me, and I huff as I make my way upstairs.

“Are you sure we are doing the right thing?” Joey asks me, and I turn around. I wasn’t expecting my brothers to be here. They should be looking through the evidence.

“Yes. What are you doing here?” I should explain more to my brothers, but I can’t. Not when the death of our father is fresh.

John stands at the window looking haunted. “There wasn’t shit on the farm. Every fucking person swore there wasn’t a single animal harmed. Hell, most of the employees said they’d work for no one else.” He turns around to me and looks irritated.

“They fucking play with the animals on their breaks, Jason. They have no kennels. There isn’t a single animal that looks harmed. She even has a veterinarian clinic for the sick ones. What are we doing with our step-aunt?”

My head aches as I try to figure out what’s going on. The letter from our father was explicit. Crucinda is the worst human ever to walk on the planet. But nothing is adding up.

“What about the workshop where they make the clothes?” I turn to Joey, and he shrugs.

“The only animal fur I saw there was wool. All humanely sheared from animals.” He takes a bite of an apple and raises an eyebrow at me. “Those lovely animals are in the fields right now, eating some of the best damn grass I’ve ever seen.”

Joey throws the apple core down into the trash can. “I even got to talk to the head dye mixer. They have a special pigment that makes the patterns that you swore were real animal fur, Jason.”

Fuck me. He pulls the dye cartridge from his pocket and throws it down on the counter. It’s ink. Not whale parts. Sighing, anger fills me. I’m wondering if the note was a lie, why? Thrumming my hands along the laminate, I close my eyes.

No.

There must be something deeper.

“Brothers, we need to go hunting. There’s no way Father is wrong about this woman. I know I haven’t told you everything, but trust that what I’m doing has a reason.”

With a heavy sigh, John shakes his head. “Y’all are going to have to do this without me. I have my own problem to fix, and I can’t let this get in my way.”

He leaves the house before we can say anything, and Joey smirks. “He never could stomach being on the bad end of a gun.”

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