Page 39 of Better Run

Finally, Sage opens the sliding door and Harriet runs out. She shuts it again. She looks the same. She’s still tall, brunette, and slim.

I walk to the side of her house. Harriet greets me, sniffing at me and spinning in excited circles. I pat her head and get down to her level, grabbing her collar. I wait around the corner of the house, just out of sight. Harriet licks my hand repeatedly.

Sage waits a few minutes before I hear the door open again. “Harriet!”

She doesn’t come, because I don’t let her.

We wait. There’s a frustrated huff and she calls again. Harriet whines.

“For Christ’s sake dog.” I hear the door open a little more and Sage steps out.

I have my gun in her ribs before she can get two feet out the door. I grip the side of her neck and hiss, “Not a word.”

She stiffens.

“Thought you could hide from me?”

“Jayden,” she breathes. She starts to tremble.

“Say goodbye to Harriet.”

“Fuck you.” But she’s shaking and her voice cracks.

Her hatred doesn’t turn me on. It burns like acid in my stomach. I shake her hard. “Fucking walk.”

I yank her around and open the sliding door with my hand not holding the gun. Harriet darts inside, away from the cold. I use my other hand to pat Sage down quickly. She is in thin pajamas. No phone.

“You’re a psychopath Jayden. When I don’t show up to work they’ll call the police.”

I don’t honor her with an answer and push her back the way I came. She’s stiff and resistant. I dig my gun into the thin skin over her ribs. As we get through the neighbor’s yard and can see the church she starts looking all around. Her fists start clenching, and her breathing gets heavy. She’s going to run. Or scream.

I slam the butt of my gun into her head. She crumples.

Fuck. It’s a lot more suspicious to carry someone to a car than walk them there. This fucking bitch. I throw her over my shoulder and shoot a text.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Mary Jo

Cole and I sit in silence. The car is still running.

Cole’s phone dings. He crawls across me into the front seat and puts the car in drive.

I think about jumping out of the car, but it’s only a brief thought. Not with a gun in play. We drive into a neighborhood right by the church. There’s a shadow on the sidewalk. It gets close, and I see it’s Jayden. Carrying something over his shoulder.

A person.

I gasp.

Jayden wrenches the back passenger door open and tosses the person in. It’s a woman. She flops to the seat, head by my waist. There’s blood everywhere.

Holy shit. I can’t take my eyes off her. She appears unconscious. Or she’s dead. I’m torn away from looking at her by my door opening and a rush of cold air coming in. I scream.

Jayden jumps over me and sits between me and the girl. “Drive Cole.”

The truck lurches, and we go the normal speed down the road. Instead of thinking about anything important, I think about how Jayden must be getting blood on his jeans.

I’m sucking in deep breaths. The girl’s head moves with the car, and I see her face.