Page 120 of Ozzie

Durango is right. If I’d been the one to shoot John, possibly kill him, it would have left a wedge between us. But they’re from the same hometown, so what will this mean for Durango? I’ll have to ask him about that later.

I make my way around the couch and sit down next to her. “What do you want to play?” I ask. My goal is to take her mind off of everything that has happened tonight. So much could have gone wrong.

She turns to me, her eyes well with tears. “I can’t believe John pretended to have a bomb. Who does that?”

I wrap an arm around her and kiss the top of her head. Looks like she does want to talk it out.

“Someone who isn’t balanced. Or evil. I don’t know him well enough to say which might apply.”

She sniffles, and I reach forward to grab a tissue from a box on the coffee table and hand it to her.

“Thanks.” She wipes her nose. “I do, and I’ve finally come to the conclusion he’s evil. I really thought everyone could be redeemed, but I don’t think he can.”

“You really thought everyone was redeemable?”

She nods. “I used to.” She twists in my arms to face me. “You don’t?”

I blow out a breath. “No, I’m afraid I don’t. I’ve seen some pretty evil things, and some people are beyond saving.”

“Durango said something like that once.” She sighs. “What do you think will happen to John?”

“You mean if he lives?”

She winces. “He could be dead now, and we wouldn’t know.”

Her phone vibrates, and we both feel it. She checks it. “John’s mother is calling. Why would she call me?” Piper looks up at me as she answers her phone.

“What the hell happened? He said he was going to New York to bring you back, and then we got a call that he’s in the emergency room with a gunshot wound.” John’s mother is yelling, so I can hear every word. “Did you shoot our boy?”

“What? No! He had a bomb strapped to his chest with a timer, and he wouldn’t let me go.”

“If John dies, it’s all your fault!”

Piper lowers the phone from her ear and stares at it. “She ended the call.”

I take her phone and place it on the coffee table before I pull her onto my lap. “None of this is your fault. You understand that, right?”

She stares straight ahead, lost in her own thoughts.

“Piper, tell me you get that this isn’t your fault.”

She turns to me. “But I am partly to blame. After a few dates with John, I was going to call it off. But my mom said he came from a great family, and I should give him more of a chance. He did everything right. We always saw the movie I wanted to see, ate at places I loved, and he was really supportive of me writing music.”

“He might have grilled your sister for information.”

“Maybe. But looking back, I suspect my parents may have helped him. I should have questioned it more. It sounds like it should have been perfect, but something was missing.”

“What do you mean?”

She stares at her hands in her lap. “I don’t know how much you really want to hear.”

“Hey,” I place my finger under her chin and turn her to face me, “I want to hear it all if it concerns you.”

“Okay.” She licks her lips. “Considering he was doing everything right, I expected the sex to be better. And I don’t mean what was actually going on; I mean the chemistry. It wasn’t really there, but he was my first real relationship, so I thought maybe that’s how it is.”

“Oh.”

“But after being with you, I know now I was settling. It should have been a sign. Another sign was when he finally suggested we do things he was into. I gave them a try but really had no interest in four-wheeling and hunting.” She glances up at me. “I hope those aren’t deal breakers for you.”

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