Page 63 of Dark Roads

“Cool.” The girl took a sip of her beer. “First time at the pit?”

Beth nodded. “I didn’t know people rode like that.”

“They’re not all that good. Jonny’s the best.” She pointed to the bikes trailing after him. “No one can catch him.” She looked excited, her cheeks flushed. “He knows tricks that only riders in the professional circuit can do. He could go pro, but he keeps turning them down.”

“Why?”

Her proud expression turned sad. “Because of Hailey McBride. Jonny won’t leave until her body’s found.” Her eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I forgot your sister…”

“It’s okay. I know you weren’t being insensitive.” She watched Jonny for a moment. “It’s sad that he’s put his life on hold like that.”

“Jonny feels like it was his fault because she’d snuck out to meet him at the lake, but she was always kind of wild and did her own thing. Living with the Iceman must have been a nightmare for her.” She glanced at her. “Guess you’ve met Vaughn.”

“Unfortunately. Did you go to school with Hailey?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know her that well.” She shrugged. “She only hung out with Jonny.”

“That must have been hard when he had girlfriends.”

“He’s not the girlfriend type.”

What did that mean? Did he sleep around with different girls all the time? He hadn’t seemed like a player to her, but maybe her radar was off. She was blinded by their connection.

“I heard he was dating Shannon when she died.”

The girl’s friendly smile disappeared, and her eyes narrowed. She stepped back. “I don’t know anything about that.” She pushed her way through the crowd.

Beth’s eyes followed the girl’s pink tank top as she made her way down to the end of the track, where a cluster of guys stood around Jonny. She recognized Andy. Jonny had taken off his helmet and was wearing sunglasses, a black motorbike jacket, racing pants, and black boots. He was still astride his dirt bike, legs long on either side, one hand resting on the handlebar. She didn’t know anything about bikes, but his looked big and powerful.

The girl was talking. They all turned to look up at Beth. She lifted her beer in a greeting. Jonny started his bike and rode off, dust following in a cloud. Was he really going to ignore her likethat? Right to herface? He seemed to be heading behind the pit. Another road?

She got in her car and drove around, spotted Jonny loading his bike into his truck. He’d taken his coat off and was just wearing a T-shirt and his racing pants. As she got out of her car, he lifted a beer out of a cooler behind him, pulled the tab, and took a long swallow.

He sat on the tailgate. “Shouldn’t you be taking it easy?”

“I’m okay. I wanted to thank you for bringing my car.”

“You came all the way out here to say that?”

“No…” She looked around at the deserted road, the constant whine of dirt bikes still in the background. How was she going to phrase this? There wasn’t any easy way to ask someone if they were a liar. She met his eyes. Indigo blue in the sun, the rest of his face in shadow.

“I’m sorry about the texts last night.”

He met her eyes. “I didn’t answer the first one because I was working. When I got to my phone later, you’d fired off those others. It didn’t seem like a good time to talk.”

She looked down at her dusty toes in the flip-flops. “I was upset. Turns out painkillers and booze don’t mix. Who knew?” She cracked a smile, but he didn’t smile back.

“Why were you upset?”

“Vaughn showed up at the hospital. He said you dated Shannon Emerson.” She searched his face for his reaction.

He sighed, shook his head with disappointment. “We went out a couple of times, but she liked one of my friends better. They were together at the party.”

“You must have been angry.”

“Not at her, but I was pissed at my friend. We argued, I got drunk and passed out in the front seat of my truck.” He put a hand on his heart. “I’ve got witnesses.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”