Page 67 of Craving Consequences

EVERLY

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Funny thing about committing a crime, it doesn’t make you feel better.

I don’t know if I expected to feel good about what we did, but I guess I’d hoped for some kind of closure. Maybe a sense of accomplishment for doing something good in the world.

But I feel nothing.

I sit on Dr. Hammell’s examination table with a vacuum in my gut syphoning everything out of me. I feel exhausted, worn, and oddly vacant, like the body waiting for the eighty-year-old medical professional to announce his verdict isn’t even mine.

Leaning against the wall, next to the open doorway, Lauren watches me. Watches the doctor. Her features give nothing of her thoughts, not a single flicker that we did something wrong. And maybe we didn’t.

“You’re lucky.” Dr. Hammell lifts his face, warm complexion a road map of age.

“Everything should heal nicely, including that hairline fracture. Nothing’s displaced.

I’m going to wrap it and get you a sling.

No lifting or added pressure. Let it rest for a few weeks.

If the pain persists, we’ll get you in at the hospital in Mayfield for a scan. Otherwise, it should heal on its own.”

I say nothing, though I know I should thank him. My jaw muscles have fused themselves together, creating a disconnect from my brain.

Thankfully, I’m saved by the hulking figure that stalks into the room like it’s perfectly fine to do so.

Sheriff Brewer glances from me to Dr. Hammell, settles a second on Lauren before moving back to me.

“You alright there, Everly?”

I nod.

It must not have looked convincing when he shifts his attention to Dr. Hammell for confirmation.

“A few bumps and bruises. A small hairline fracture in the humerus, but nothing that won’t heal itself.”

Brewer’s mouth thins under the bristles of his mustache. “Should have kept that son of a bitch locked up longer.”

“Should have shot him,” Lauren corrects.

Brewer doesn’t argue, but gives a low grunt and faces Dr. Hammell. “Can we get a minute, Doc?”

I know what’s coming.

I’ve watched enough crime dramas to deduce this is where he asks what happened.

Lauren and I rehearsed our story a million times on the drive back.

We know it by heart and still my stomach quivers with uncertainty.

I have to resist the urge to glance at her, not trusting myself to keep a blank expression if I do.

Dr. Hammell waddles out and closes the door softly behind him. It’s just the three of us in a weird triangle.

“Want to tell me what happened, honey?”

I start from the very beginning. I start from the lie.

The shady gray where I realized Bron was no good for me.

Where his treatment of me became a concern.

I skip over catching him with Lauren. That story isn’t mine to tell and Lauren isn’t ready to tell it.

I avoid everything that has to do with Van and Lachlan and move to the night he arrested Bron at my house.

“I think he knew I was going to break up with him,” I say softly. “He came to my house all crazy and kicking at the door. You heard him, Sheriff.”

Brewer nods slowly, expression a mixture of fury and kind insistence to continue. So, I tell him about Bron ambushing me at Holland’s. Everything he did in the clearing. Almost everything he said.

“He wanted me to lie and clear his name,” I murmur. “I said I would. I just wanted him to bring me back.”

Thunderclouds darken Brewer’s worn face, tightening his lips into a thin, white line, but he doesn’t interrupt.

“He attacked me. Said it was payment for everything I put him through. ”

“That’s when I found them,” Lauren pipes in when I fall silent. “He was on top of her. She was screaming, telling him to stop. I grabbed a branch and I hit him.”

Brewer turns his whole body to face her. “How did you see Everly getting grabbed?”

“I was on my way to meet her at Holland’s. I saw her get out of her car. Saw him grab her. She dropped her purse and keys. I tried to run after them, but he already had her in his truck. I grabbed her keys, got into her car and followed. She had her phone plugged in and I called you.”

Brewer’s wide chest expands with a deep inhale. “I was in my truck, following your directions until our signal got cut off.” He pivots to face me. “Do you remember at all where you were or what route he took?”

I shake my head. “He slammed my head into the door. I think I blacked out .”

He glances at Lauren who shakes her head. “I was too focused on getting Everly. Afterwards, I was trying to get her to the doctor. I didn’t really care about anything else.”

He rubs a hand over his face and along his jaw. “And Bron was alive when you left him?”

We both nod. A little too quickly. But he doesn’t seem to notice.

“I only hit him twice,” Lauren lies. “He was moving when I pulled Everly to her feet and helped her back to the car. ”

“Well, I have men driving around town and checking with the hospital up in Mayfield in case he decides to check himself in. Don’t worry. We will find him, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t do this to anyone else ever again.”

I think about how this is going to get back to Lachlan and my anxiety spikes for the first time.

“Has anyone talked to Lach ... Mr. Shaw?” I ask.

Brewer shakes his head. “I’m going to head over there now. Bron might return home, but I honestly doubt it. In my experience, men like him will try to run and hide. Eventually, they’ll get caught.”

This is not what I wanted.

Bron on the run, a hunted criminal, gives me deep and profound joy. The backlash of his actions on Lachlan has my stomach knotting. The town will know him as the father of a rapist. It will tank his business. Ruin his life in Jefferson.

“Sheriff, you’ve been so kind during this horrible ordeal, and I am truly grateful,” I begin, picking each word with all the care in the world. “I just have to ask, can we please keep what Bron tried to do to me off the record?”

I can see him trying to process my request. I see it when he gets it and rejects it.

“You’re asking me to bury an attempted assault, Everly.” His voice is low, not exactly angry, but tired and weighted with confusion .

I nod. “You know the town won’t believe it didn’t happen. There will be stories and speculations that will make my life harder. There’s also the matter of Mr. Shaw and his reputation. What Bron did will ruin his life.”

“What about when he tries to hurt the next girl he comes across?”

He won’t.

But I can’t say that. Not without dropping me and Lauren into the boiling pot.

“Mr. Shaw is innocent, and it wouldn’t just be him.

Mr. Weaver will get pulled into this mess as well, just for being close friends with Mr. Shaw.

It will bring Lauren into this mess. It will destroy so many lives.

I will pull my statement if I have to, but I’m not going to let them take the fall for this, Sheriff.

” I take a deep breath, reminding myself to stay calm.

Level headed. “You have enough to put him away for a long time. It’s just this one thing I’m asking you to keep to yourself. ”

“It’s a damn big thing, Everly,” he shoots back. “You’re asking me to overlook a crime, and I will not do that.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to remind him that he’s overlooked plenty of crimes in the past. His entire professional career is littered with deliberate ignorance. He’s refusing now because I wield no power in our negotiation, and I know I’ve lost this fight .

“He’s not coming back,” I tell him slowly. Carefully. “He’s gone.”

Brewer’s eyes narrow. “You don’t know that. Unless you’re not telling me something.”

I don’t have to look at Lauren to feel the weight of her eyes boring into me, warning me that I’m edging on thin ice.

“Bron isn’t stupid. He knows he’s in a world of trouble.

He’s not going to skip back into town and turn himself in.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not halfway back to British Columbia by now.

Or even hopping the border into the States.

He’s not coming back, Sheriff. I am telling you right now.

The only thing this will do is ruin the lives of the people I care about and I’m asking you to please not do that. ”

He doesn’t answer right away. The muscles in his jaw flex beneath day old stubble that twitch the corner of his mustache. His big hands hook into the front of his belt, and he turns his face away from me.

“I don’t think you understand the gravity of what you’re asking me to do, the legal threads—”

“I’m trying to keep peace,” I correct. “Jefferson is a place of unity and neighborly appreciation. We rely on each other to keep that wheel spinning. Lachlan, Van and Lauren have done nothing wrong. They have been pillars of our community. Why should they get punished for the wrongdoings of one man? ”

“Man.” Brewer grunts under his breath. He shakes his head. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Everly, because...” he trails off, head still rocking slowly from side to side. “If he shows his face again, my hands are tied. Do you understand me?”

Relieved, I nod quickly. “I understand. Thank you.”

His gaze flicks to mine, but he says nothing when turning on his heels and marching from the room, leaving me alone with Lauren.

Neither of us says a word. We return to our stillness. We slip back into all the things neither of us can say. Even when Dr. Hammell returns and wraps my arm in gauze and sets it in a sling, Lauren stays at the wall and I keep my gaze away from her.

“They will find him eventually,” she says only when we’re back in my car. “His truck has a GPS. Your phone has one, too. They’ll—”

“Finding an empty truck isn’t going to make any kind of difference,” I point out. “They need a body.”

I reach for the keys dangling from the ignition with my good hand, and freeze. Horror slams into me even as I kick open my door and scramble to the trunk.