He shrugged, but his mask faltered just enough for me to catch a glimpse of his insecurity. “You didn’t seem so sure the other day.”
I scoffed, stunned. “You mean before I had all the facts? Kash.”
“Well, I mean, I don’t know.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I want to see you tomorrow. Same time, same place. If that works for you.”
He nodded. “Does it work for your dad?”
I grimaced. “It better. God, I can’t wait to get the hell out of here.”
He relaxed again and I realized—even though he’d heard Dad give me instructions himself, he had managed to convince himself that I was making excuses to get away from him. I didn’t say anything, just shook my head, smiling in spite of myself.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I went home with a handful of posies and butterflies in my heart. How he could still give me butterflies after all this time was beyond me, but he managed it.
The next day went much more smoothly. Dad and Uncle Charlie had gone off into the woods to hunt something—beer cans, most likely—which left my entire evening free to spend with Kash. Since Dad was off shooting things, we wandered in the other direction, toward the creek.
“Remember when you and Hunter decided you were going to pull a Tom Sawyer down here?” I asked, pointing at the river.
Kash laughed. “It would have been a lot better if we hadn’t tried it in November. I’m still cold.”
“I bet. I’ve never seen anything break apart as fast as that raft did.”
“I told Hunter we needed more rope but no, he wanted to get out on the water faster.”
“He sure got into it pretty fast.”
Our knuckles had been brushing against each other’s as we walked, and Kash finally grabbed my hand. His warm, calloused palm dwarfed mine and his long, dexterous fingers engulfed my hand. It was the safest feeling in the world, being wrapped up in him. In that moment, I was certain that he would never hurt anyone. He certainly wouldn’t kill his best friend. The certainty was as warm as the sun on my back, and twice as pleasant.
But then I looked up at him and realized that the reason I felt so safe with him was the same reason some people felt safe with their Rottweilers. and pit bulls—he was dangerous, but he was on my side. He was safe because I knew he was willing and able to protect me from any threat, no matter how scary it was. What if Hunter had become a threat somehow?
“What’s up, buttercup? You look worried.”
I glanced up at him. “Stop reading my mind. Can’t help it when you put it all over your face. You’re thinking too hard.”
I sighed. “Maybe? But maybe not.”
I knew him as well as I knew myself. At least I thought I did. At least—how well did I even know myself, anyway?
He squeezed my hand. “How bout you tell me what you’re thinking, and I’ll tell you if you’re overthinking it?”
I sighed. It wasn’t fair. He had always been the person I’d gone to when I couldn’t make up my mind about somebody. He was always the person I’d trusted to give me the perspective I needed to figure a problem out. But how could he do that for me when he was the person in question? I couldn’t talk to Lizzie about something like this. She’d have an opinion, sure, but then so would the rest of the town within a few hours.
“What really happened that night, Kash?”
He frowned. “I told you. Didn’t I?”
“Maybe I need a refresher.”
He nodded. “Okay. One of our customers asked us to meet his cousin downtown. Since it was a new person, we were supposed to go together. Can’t be too careful about that crap. We set it up with the guy, then agreed that Hunter and I would meet a block away ten minutes beforehand. Hunter never showed.”
“What were you supposed to do if that happened?”
Kash shrugged. “We never even talked about it. I trusted Hunter completely, just like he trusted me. It was never a question—until he didn’t show up.”
“So what did you do?”
“What could I do? We had a reputation to live up to, and this sale would put us over Hunter’s personal—inflated—minimum threshold to get us out of town. We needed it, so I went to finish it. But the customer was already spun when I got to him. Don’t know what he was on, but it was some janky shit. He took one look at the product and started swinging.”
“So you fought him?”
Kash shrugged. “I guess. I mean…sort of. Mostly just kept him from destroying me, though. Like I said, he was on some janky shit. By the time he tired himself out I was pissed off and bleeding and I just wanted to go to bed. So I did. Got a solid three hours of sleep before the cops busted my door down.”
My heart sank for him. “That must have been awful.”
“Could have been better. I refused to give them my alibi, that’s what screwed me. They saw my messed-up face and jumped to conclusions. And I guess they found the murder weapon in my shed.”
Startled, I glanced up at him. “I didn’t hear that part. What was it?”
He shook his head. “Just a wrench. A big, heavy wrench. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a bolt big enough for it. It sure as hell wasn’t mine, but it was on my property. As far as they were concerned, that sealed the deal.”
The thought of Hunter dying on the end of a wrench made my stomach churn. I looked out over the creek to settle my soul, watching the sunlight play over the rippling water. A wad of trash floated by, ruining the view. I sighed.
“You know what kills me? This town has so much potential. There’s all this beautiful nature around, all those historical buildings—but nobody cares enough to take care of it.” A
