My cock erupted, spurting thick ropes of semen across my chest. Five more strokes and I’d milked myself dry. I wilted into the mattress, spent, but not the least bit sated. I’d need Shannon for that.

After a minute or so, I snatched a T-shirt off the floor and cleaned myself, then collapsed on the bed again. Damn it to hell. This palm-pilot shit wasn’t cutting it.

Montgomery’s cock-blocking face rose in my mind’s eye. Perfect fucking timing. It was like waving a red flag at a bull. Just the thought of the bastard’s paws on Shannon made me want to break something.

Twelve years in stir had forced me to suppress my emotions. Not all emotions. Hate and anger came easily enough, but tender feelings, like the ones I had for Shannon…well, I wasn’t sure how to handle those.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, stalked down the hallway to the bathroom and flipped the shower dial. Something had to give. Something had to change. This was enough to drive a man mad.

The water had run cold by the time I finally ripped the shower curtain open. I fastened a towel around my waist and padded back into the bedroom just as the phone rang.

“Dawson,” I said.

“Hi.”

My pulse tripped as I fumbled with the receiver. “Shannon?”

“Did I wake you?” Her voice was whisper soft.

“Naw. I was up.”

Seconds ticked by. “I wasn’t sure you wanted to talk to me, because…well, it’s been two days. I figured you needed some space, but….” She sighed. “Are you okay?”

“Uh-huh.” Hell, I figured she needed space. So I’d given it to her. I stared down at the puddle around my feet as static filled the awkward hush. “Um, Cholly called,” I offered. “They approved his liquor license—and he got an electrician to finish the wiring. He told me to tell you thanks.”

“He did?” Silence, then, “Wow.” There was a smile in her voice, but the light moment soon turned weightier. “Trace?”

“Yeah?”

I heard her swallow. “About the other night….”

“It scared you.”

“No,” she insisted.

I sank to the bed. “I’m listenin’.”

She sighed again, taking a moment, I guess to collect her thoughts. “I just need you to know I understand what happened, and I get why you lied. I really do. What you shared, it stays between us forever.” Static crackled when she paused. “And I don’t care who knows we’re friends. No more hoods.”

My shoulders sagged. Damn if she hadn’t knocked the wind out of me. That I’d killed a man, and she’d accepted it as easily as she’d drawn her last breath, humbled me.

“Are you there?”

I rubbed my bristled jaw. Man, was I there. “Uh-huh.”

“Promise me something.”

Anything. “What?”

“That you won’t lie to me again,” she said.

I propped a pillow against the headboard and eased back. Until now, I’d hidden my soul from all but God, yet I’d told Shannon my darkest secret, and I had the sense that confiding in her was the same as locking a diamond in a vault.

Staring up at the water stains on the ceiling, I caved. “Okay. You got it.”

“Promise to goodness?”

The memory made me smile. “Yeah. Promise to goodness.” I plowed the wet hair off my face. “Hey, I’m sorry too. Bev and Icky got me worked up. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I was an asshole.”

She fell silent.

“You hear me?”

“Yes,” she said. “You were an asshole.”

I smiled again. Profanity coming out of her sounded funny as hell. “You still up for seeing Mrs. Campbell on Wednesday?”

“Yes, but….” She quietly cleared her throat. “Why didn’t you say anything about knowing where she was? You called her?”

“Yeah, last week. That’s one of the things I was working on.” My smile faded. “Hadn’t spoken to her since the pool fight with Lilith. She wrote after Mama died, but I didn’t respond.”

“Why not?”

Took me a second to form the proper words. “I was mad. She knew the truth, but she skipped town before Gartner could get a subpoena.”

“How do you feel about her now?”

I rubbed circles over my chest. The damp hair soothed my itching palm. “I’d just like her to tell me why she ran off like that. She knew the truth, but she left me high and dry. Her testimony could’ve helped. Then she has the nerve to send me a letter in stir, like that’s gonna make up for it.”

“Can you do something for me?”

“Yep,” I yawned out, resting a foot on the mattress.

“Before we speak with Mrs. Campbell, I want you to tell me about the pool incident. I have to know what really happened.”

To say I’d rather shove a hot poker up my ass wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Silence dragged. “Okay,” I muttered with a sigh. “What do you wanna know?”

“Everything.”

TRACE

____________________________

The night before Lilith Bradford’s murder….

I was about to leave when I saw her. Still dressed in her Catholic school uniform and matching box coat, Shannon wore a pleated skirt, gray knee socks and patent leather shoes. It was a crisp fall day of sixty degrees. A temperature that, after the blazing day before, felt colder than an Antarctic winter.

Leaves danced mini funnels over the grass. The sun had just begun to set and a thin, golden arc crowned the autumn-colored treetops and hills.

Shannon sat on the gazebo’s whitewashed steps, tossing rocks at nothing in particular. Her quiet sniffles didn’t register until I’d gotten closer. The step creaked when I eased next to her.

“I’m about to head home.” I eyed her face. “Somethin’ wrong?”

She leaned over to pull one of her shoes off. The sock went next. A thin red line creased deep where the strap had been. The dainty little toenails on her exposed foot were painted bubble-gum pink. She wiggled them experimentally.

“Shoes too tight?”

She nodded and I noticed how still she kept her left arm. She’d used one hand to remove her shoe and sock. I moved around and squatted on the step in front of her, cupping her jaw to force her to look at me. Her eyes were puffy.

“What happened to your arm?”

She tucked it tighter against her body. “I fell.”

“You’re lying. Let me see it.”

Teary eyed, she gazed back at me in silence.

“Aw, jeez,” I said, my soul aching for her. “C’mere.”

She fell into my arms the second I opened them. When she finally finished crying, my shirt was drenched. I snatched a bandana from my pocket and mopped her face as best I could, then I examined her arm. She didn’t protest, just stared off, sniffling as I thrust the sleeve to her elbow. Hot, swollen skin had bloomed angry shades of purple, green, and red.

My gaze leapt to hers. “Who did this?”

Her eyes shuttered.

That’s when I knew she’d already dug the moat, bought the alligators, and yanked up the drawbridge. I’d get nothing out of her.

“You’re never gonna admit it, are you?”

Her lips tightened into a tiny pink button. Even now she refused to indict her mama. None of the staff had lifted a finger to help. Their silence, like my own, had been bought and paid for with Lilith Bradford’s money.

I reached behind my neck and unclasped a silver chain with a charm. Leaning over her, I fastened the catch around her neck. “My great-granddaddy on Mama’s side—Bisabuelo—sent me this for Christmas a long time ago. Spent some of my summers on his farm in Puerto Rico when I was a boy. It was the best time of my life. All I did was eat, feed the animals, laugh, and dance. Hell, everybody in the family danced. God, I miss that place.”

“You’re Puerto Rican?”

“Only a quarter—but it’s my favorite quarter.” I gazed at the sky and my lips slid into a sad smile. “The greatest lesson I learned from that old man was to do what’s right, no matter the cost.”