Page 75 of Dark Roads
“Are you kidding me?” Emily dropped her arms, her pixie face twisting with anger. “Did you listen toanythingI said? I’ll never testify against Vaughn. He didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to do, and that moneyhelpedme. I’m not staying in this town forever.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry.”
Emily came around the counter, brushed past her, leaving behind the faint scent of orange musk, and walked to the door. She flipped theOPENsign.
“We’re closed.”
Beth stopped on the other side of the door. “If you change your mind…”
Fear had returned, pinching Emily’s mouth until there was a white line etched around her lips. “Don’t come back. I’ll call him next time.” She closed the door.
Beth heard the quiet snick of a lock. Somehow, she’d become the dangerous one.
CHAPTER 29
Hailey
Wolf leapt down from the back of my bike and loped ahead, taking shortcuts, then appearing suddenly, his tongue lolling. I pumped my legs. Sweat soaked through my shirt, the band of my baseball cap. I rubbed at my face with my arm, and tasted blood. I’d reopened the cut on my lip.
Jonny would be leaving for work soon. I rounded a corner, sailed over a jump, and landed on the lower part of the trail with a thud that pushed my breath out in a painful whoosh. My ribs still hurt. So did my pride. When I made it back to my dirt bike last night, I couldn’t loosen the clutch cable. On top of that, air had leaked out of my front tire. I’d missed the puncture when I checked it over the first time.
I slowed my pace, coasting down the bank behind Jonny’s property and weaving through the edge of the forest. The slam of metal. His truck door. Now his engine roared to life. I stopped by the fence and watched through the trees as his truck disappeared down his driveway. I tossed my bike to the ground and grimaced as my ribs compressed. I rubbed at the bindings. I’d have to wait. I was too sore to go anywhere else, and I needed him to buy a patch kit for me.
Wolf and I settled into the shade of a tree and tore into one of the bags of chips I found last night, shared a cold hot dog. Wolf rested his head across my legs. I dozed but jolted awake when Wolf lifted his head, ears flicking as he stared at the road.A vehicle. Jonny hadn’t been gone long, maybe thirty minutes at the most. I got to my knees, ready to run if it was Vaughn.
The noise was louder. Jonny’s truck flashed silver along the road. He was speeding. The pitch of his engine slowed to make the turn into his driveway, but he was still going fast. I glanced up the road. No one was following. Why was he driving so crazy? Jonny hit the brakes in front of his house, and the tires slid. Dust blew up in a soft cloud. He leapt out and disappeared into his shop. Wolf looked at me. I shook my head and gave him a signal to stay. Jonny was acting strange, and I wasn’t moving until I knew it was safe.
The workshop’s big doors opened. Jonny rolled his dirt bike out and started it up, heading straight for the trail at the back of his property, the small locked gate. He never looked up at the road. He wasn’t trying to outrun someone. He was going to search for me.
The dirt bike stopped. The metal clink of the gate lock. Then a minute later Jonny’s blue helmet came into view. He was standing on the bike pedals, arms flexing as he navigated the bike up the narrow trail. I motioned to Wolf and he trotted out of the shadows and sat in the middle of the trail where Jonny would see him. Jonny stopped the bike, got off, and removed his helmet.
“Wolf? What are you doing, buddy? Where is she?” He gave our whistle and looked around the woods. I stepped into the sunlight. His eyes widened. “What happened to your face?”
“I wiped out on my bike, then I stole a clutch lever and got caught.”
“That wasyou? That was really stupid, Hailey.”
“Telling Beth about the silver mine was stupid.”
“I told her a story about how youhelpedme. I had no idea that she’d try to find you. I’m upset too, okay? I’m supposedto go by the campground tonight so we can talk.” He did look worried, but I wasn’t sure if it was because she’d gone looking for me without telling him, or because he liked her.
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved with her.”
“That’s between me and her.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Dude, she’s not your type. She didn’t even know how to light a barbecue.”
“So what?” He narrowed his eyes. “Did you take her cell?”
“I didn’t want her to call the cops.”
“Give it back. She would have called the cops already if she was going to do that. It’s time you got off the mountain anyway. You promised.”
“I said after the summer.”
“You could have been seriously injured wiping out on your bike, and then this?” He pointed to my face. “Vaughn is going to figure it out—someoneis going to figure it out.”
“Not if your girlfriend backs off.”
