Page 103 of Tied to You

He wants this conversation over with. “He overdosed himself.”

He sneers. “Good.”

“Not good,” I counter.

Travis’ eyes jump to mine.

“The kid died, and everyone else fucked off. It was only me and Henry left.”

“They left?”

“It’s amazing how people save themselves when the shit hits the fan.”

“What did you do?”

I sigh this time. “Made sure all the coke was gone and called an ambulance. We were too late, though.”

“Matthew didn’t deserve your help.” His temples are twitching.

“No. Maybe not. But the other kid did. Henry and I covered it all up.”

“Why?” he asks, his eyes closing.

“Because Matthew was working for my dad at the time. My dad would have ended his whole career before it had even started.”

He looks at me confused. “Why would that have been a bad thing?”

I try to smile, but feel defeated. “Because he threatened to tell everyone thatIhad something to do with the kid’s death. I knew he would have lied and said I took the coke willingly. My dad would have made me take a blood test, then he would have thrown me out. I would have embarrassed himwithout doing anything wrong.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted?” His words squeeze past his gritted teeth. He’s seething now.

I frown. “Me leaving had nothing to do with hurting my dad,” I fire at him. “It was about me. At the time, no one would have benefitted from telling the truth.”

“But he got away with it, Mol. That isn’t fucking right.”

I angle his head, forcing him to listen. “It’s done. History. I just moved on.”

“I don’t fucking like this.”

“I can tell.”

He watches a small smile break on my face then looks infuriated.

“I love you.”

“I should have killed him when I had the chance.”

The small smile I had, drops. “No. One day, he’ll get what’s coming to him.” I take a breath about to deliver my killer blow. “If you’re certain you have to deal with him, you’ll need me there next time.”

He goes to stand, but I latch on, refusing to let him go. “Mollie!” His hands go to my hips trying to push me off.

“You’ll need me there as a reminder to him of what he did. If he thinks he can win, he’ll try anything to do just that. He knows people higher than even Tim did.”

Travis slows in his attempts to leave and murder him right now.

I loosen my hold ever so slightly, trying to calm him. “One look at me, and he’ll back down. Eventually.”

“Eventually?”