“It will. I’ll make sure the video is destroyed and all suspicion will be erased.”
“Fine,” he huffs, “my office is off-limits. She can stay in the guest room on the second floor next to Marni’s room.”
My phone begins buzzing in my pocket. It’s Willa. I hold up a finger to Anderson and take the call. “Hey, almost done in here. You good?”
“Please hurry.”
“I’ll be out in a minute.” I end the call, but keep my phone out. Tapping on the screen, I log into the dummy cloud account where we stored the original video. We made this account last year for fun. Every incriminating video we’ve ever made is in here. There are about a dozen, but I zone out as I focus on one. Three months ago. The night with Willa. I knew what they were doing—what Zed was doing. Saw the phone recording, yet I did nothing. I stood by idly while they blasted the video of us to half of the town and gave an unknown girl a reputation as the bet.
Snapping out of it, I tap on the uncropped video of the night Josh died. I turn the phone around and hold it in front of me as it plays.
“He might have just got hit. They might be coming back.”
“Fuck!” Tommy shrieks.
“Oh my god. The car rolled right over Josh’s body like he wasn’t even there.”
“The driver’s getting out. Wait a minute. That’s Anderson Thorn, Marni’s dad.”
“Do you think he’s the one who killed him?” Talon asks Tommy.
“Nah. He looked scared shitless. No way. Someone else did this. Someone hit him and left his body out here.”
“Who would fucking do that?”
The video rolls silently for a minute. I watch as Anderson’s eyes all but jump out of their fucking sockets and I’m really second-guessing this decision.
Tommy’s voice comes through again. “Anderson did look scared. Like he thought he hit and killed him. Then he drove off out of fear.”
“We have a video of him running over Josh. What if we crop it and make him think he did kill Josh? We could get whatever we want.”
“What could he possibly have that we want?”
“His daughter,” Talon says with a mischievous tone.
Turning the phone back around, I hit pause then swipe out of the video.
“Is this some sort of sick joke?” Anderson scowls with a crimson-flushed face. “That’s not the video you assholes showed me. And what’s this talk about Marni.” He steps closer, then takes two steps back.
Holding up my hands, I plead with him. “Let me explain.”
“Yeah, you better fucking explain before I rip your goddamn head off, along with those imbecile friends of yours.”
Taking a few steps back, I try to move away from his reach. “Come on, man. You were a teenager once. You know how we don’t think clearly under pressure.”
His voice rises as he goes ballistic. “This isn’t a fucking football game you’re trying to win. This is someone’s fucking life. Have you all lost your damn minds?”
“I know, it was stupid. No one wanted Josh to die, but it’s not our fault. Not yours and not ours.”
He tips his chin up. “Who the hell did it? Huh? Was it Talon? Did he fucking kill him and try to pin it on me, while manipulating my daughter?”
“What? No. Talon didn’t kill him. None of us did. The truth is, we have no idea who killed Josh. We just convinced you that you did it for our own personal gain. Got rid of him and the car and made it look like he just went missing.” I try to reason with him, but it’s not looking good. “You’re missing the point here. You didn’t kill Josh and I have proof of it. You can’t be incriminated. You don’t have to live with the guilt.”
“Guilt?” He laughs and it’s sadistic and unnerving. “I didn’t feel guilt. The guy was obsessed with my daughter, you all told me so. If I had caught him out there that night, I’d have killed him with my bare hands. What rattles my fucking cage is that you all played me for the last three months. Turned my daughter against me, and for what? So that nitwit Talon could weasel his way into her heart.”
“Talon has his reasons for doing what he did, but I can tell you that he would never hurt Marni. He loves her. She’s safe with us.”
“I highly doubt that. And now you’re doing the same thing to the pastor’s daughter. Using her for your gain. You sick motherfuckers.”
“Willa isn’t part of this. Not exactly.” I’m not here because of the revenge pact. I’m here because for whatever reason she’s terrified of her stepdad. So much so, that she is willing to quit school and give up everything just to get far away from him.
The squeak of shoes across the hardwood has both of us shifting our attention to the room outside of his study. “Who the hell is that?” Anderson huffs, as he hurries over to the door.
Following behind him, I see Willa standing there. Her hands are at her sides and that fear that I saw earlier has returned. “Willa, how are you, hun?” Anderson asks, as she stands there observing me.
“You ok?” I ask her.
“I just got scared out there. You took too long.”
“Sorry about that. We were just finishing up.” I look at Anderson. “But, we’re done here, right? Willa can stay?”
After a beat of silence, he rubs the stubble on his chin and speaks. “I’ll have Ruby get the room ready. She’ll be on vacation for the next couple of weeks while I’m away. The house will be empty, but I’ll be sure to accommodate your requests. This room is off-limits and I’ll be leaving in about
