Page 1 of Reckless
Chapter One – Jaz
Oliver Fitzpatrick was good. He knew a lot of people in Midpark, all of the important people—and a lot of those people owed him for his help over the years. It was only because of Oliver Fitzpatrick that I walked out of that police station and didn’t spend the night in a jail cell waiting for my pre-trial, or wherever it was the bond was set.
The police would still investigate, but the time of death was when I was at home, where both my mom and Ollie were my alibis. And for anyone to question Oliver Fitzpatrick’s truthfulness, well…let’s just say I hadn’t met anyone with the balls, yet.
I was quiet as I sat in the back of Ollie’s car, my jaw tight as I stared out of the window. In the front seat, Ollie drove, while my mom kept turning around to toss looks at me.
“A murder investigation,” she was busy saying, her shoulders shaking as she shook her head, as if she could not believe her only daughter was caught up in something like that. “I mean, how in the world—why?” Mom tossed a worried glance my way, her blonde hair in a messy bun. She’d been knee-deep in scrubbing the floors when I’d called her, if the semi-wet stains on her knees were any indication. “The detective said you were getting into fights with that girl at school. Is that true?”
That detective was Detective Wilde, Bobbi’s dad, and that girl my mom mentioned was Brittany Pots, the girl whose body was currently missing.
The girl whose blood practically coated every single flat area in her bedroom.
I didn’t kill her, but someone had certainly gone to town.
All I could do was shrug. I didn’t feel like explaining everything to my mom, she’d only get upset that I’d kept things to myself this long, that I never told her just how bad things were for me in Midpark. She’d feel guilty, because she was the one who forced us to drop everything and come here, to leave our old lives in the dust and move to this rich, fancy town where the people living in it wiped their asses with their money.
That, or they paid someone else to do it for them.
When I continued to say nothing, my mom let out a sigh in the front seat. My mind was too busy wondering if it was Dante who’d hurt her, if he’d gone psycho at her for what she did at the dance. I thought I’d one-upped her quite well; killing her was too far, wasn’t it?
Oh, God. Look at me, wondering if a murder was going too far. Of course it was; it was murder. Duh, Jaz.
I knew Dante was off his rocker from day one, when he’d tried to kidnap me, but he wasn’t the only one with a penchant for violence, either. If Dante was a psychopath, Vaughn Scott was…dare I say it, a sociopath. One was wild and loud, while the latter was quiet and reserved. But what was it they always said? It was the quiet ones you had to watch out for, because you never really knew what they were thinking. And Vaughn? I would never dare to claim I knew what went on in his head.
Anyway, because of Ollie’s quick talking and connections, I wasn’t being full-out arrested. Not yet. I couldn’t leave town, not until the investigation was complete. Somehow my DNA wound up at the crime scene, but Ollie had worked his magic.
All I knew was I never stepped foot in that frilly, ridiculously pink room. Not once. Not ever. Why would I? Brittany was my enemy, the bitchiest bitch of all the bitches that walked the halls of Midpark High.
I knew one thing for sure: I needed to talk to my guys. All of them. Dante and Vaughn about their possible involvement, Jacob to see if he’d heard anything, and Archer…that asshole wasn’t mine, but, for whatever reason, I wanted to talk to him. By now, he’d undoubtedly heard what had happened to Brittany, and I wanted to explain myself to him, to try to convince him that I wasn’t the one that had made his life so miserable. I liked Archer, even if he’d lied to me, even if he fucked me over and put me on Brittany’s radar, even if…even if he hated me.
Ugh. My stupid hormones. If I could just not have them for a little while until things settled down, that would be great.
The tension in the car was palpable, and when Ollie pulled us through the gate at the edge of his estate, he said, “When we get inside, I’d like to discuss things with Jaz.”
I figured he was talking to both my mom and me, and I kept quiet, knowing I wouldn’t be able to keep everything to myself for much longer. Ollie, my mom…they were about to hear the truth from me, everything that had been going on these last few weeks.
Crazy how much life changed, huh? So fast, it was almost unbelievable.
We got out of the car. Ollie had pulled into the garage, the lights automatic above us. His other vehicles sat nearby, hardly ever seeing use. My mom’s van sat in the corner of the garage, all by its lonesome.
“You certainly do have a lot of explaining to do,” Mom told me. I filed into the house behind her, Ollie right behind me.
Ollie reached for his tie, adjusting it. His suit was a sleek dark blue, his undershirt a clean white. His tie matched the color of his suit jacket perfectly. “I’m afraid I meant with Jaz,” he said.
My mom blinked, her back suddenly rod straight. We were in the kitchen now, and she set her hands on the granite countertop, spreading her fingers apart. “What? No, I need answers. I’m her mother—”
“Yes,” Ollie spoke, his voice that of a placating, soothing man. “But I am a lawyer. Dealing with situations like this is what I do. Let me handle this. Take the rest of the day off, Piper.” As my mom scoffed at what he’d said, he headed to the stairwell.
I guess I should follow him? He was the guy saving my ass, after all—though it wasn’t like Mom and I could afford to hire him.
That was probably something we should talk about. Money. Money was the root of everything in Midpark, and I doubted Ollie would do this out of the kindness of his own heart. No one had hearts in Midpark, apparently.
Mom trailed after us, not one to just give up.
Ollie stopped before his office—the very same office I’d overheard him and Vaughn’s older brother talking in—and he turned to face my mom and me. He lifted an arm, gesturing for me to go inside. To my mom, he said, “Please, Piper. I will handle this.”
“But—” Mom’s green eyes flicked to me, but I could tell her expression was softening. Ollie had a way about him, it was hard to describe. Something about the middle-aged lawyer that made you relax and want to trust him.
