Page 6 of Lawless

“Pfft, you can’t use the trick if you don’t know about it,” Sheila teases.

“I think I’ll be fine.”

“Whatever,” Sheila scoffs lightheartedly. “Seriously, though. Look after each other and come back safe.”

After promising her again that we will, she climbs out of the car, taking her heavy ass purse with her. I’ve no idea what she keeps in that thing, although something tells me that she’s probably packing.

No, scratch that. Sheila is a badass, her late husband taught her well, it’s why she’ll never leave Harrow Creek. She is definitely packing.

“Everything you asked for is either in the glove box or in the trunk,” she says before giving both of us a firm look in the eyes and slamming the door.

Nothing but the echo of the slam can be heard for a few seconds as we watch her close in on the motel until the very far door opens and a shadowed man steps out to greet her.

“Is she really having a booty call?” Alana asks, finally breaking the silence.

“I think…” I start, amusement beginning to bubble up. “I really think she is. Maybe the two of you aren’t all that different after all,” I muse, making Alana tense.

Sheila and Alana might appear to get on, but I’m not sure either really trusts the other. They’ve been brought together because of me. And while I’d love for them to fully get along, I’m happy that at least they can put their feelings aside and spend time together. And for Daisy. That girl needs all the people in her corner she can get.

“I think I might have underestimated her,” she mutters, deciding to ignore my comment.

“Shall we get out of here?”

“Yes,” she breathes. “Where are we going?”

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” I tease, reaching for the door so I can take Sheila’s place in the driver’s seat.

“It better be decent.”

“Babe, have I ever taken you anywhere that wasn’t?” I ask, dropping back inside the car and watching as she decides against the door in favor of climbing between the front seats.

“Remember that one time you took me camping?” she asks, turning to me with a raised brow.

“It wasn’t camping. It was glamping.”

“Mav.” She sighs, making me smile because I know what’s coming next. That weekend I’d planned not long after she finished high school was a fucking disaster. “There was nothing glamorous about it. We had to basically shit in buckets.”

Laughter bubbles up as I think back.

“Yeah, but admit it,” I say, starting the car and backing out of the space Sheila had pulled into. “Nowhere else you’ve been has been as memorable.”

“Our pod had cockroaches.”

“Exactly.” I laugh. “Memorable.”

Shaking her head, she reaches for the radio and finds a country station. However, it soon becomes clear that she doesn’t actually want to listen to it when she curls her legs beneath her and turns to me.

“What is happening here, Mav?”

My grip on the wheel tightens.

“I think Victor knows that we were at Reid’s,” I confess, the words turning my blood to ice.

All the air rushes out of Alana’s lungs, her arms tightening around her middle as if she’s holding herself together.

“The dishes,” she whispers. “I knew he—”

“The thing he picked up in the hallway… it was your hair tie.”

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