Page 127 of Tripped By Love

Truck chuckled. “I’d like to see you try. Violet would cut off your nuts.”

“I know how to bury a body,” I said, teasing but also more serious than he knew.

“Do not, and I repeat, do not get arrested.” His tone was a reflection of mine, taunting but also serious.

“I’d have Dax bail me out, anyway. He has more money and more motivation. He’d never win another race without me.”

“Same old Dawson. No humility at all.”

“Humility doesn’t win you million-dollar purses,” I tossed back before thinking about it. Silence settled over the phone for so long I thought I might have lost him. “Truck?”

“Did you really win that much money?”

I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped at the shock in his voice. It was my fault that my brother didn’t know the full extent of my business with Dax. But there was just so much about the worlds I moved in that I couldn’t talk about that it was easier to say nothing.

“I didn’t pocket that much money. We have a company to run, people and bills to pay, you know? Most of it goes back into the business, but Dax and I do dish out bonuses to us and others on the team when we have a big win,” I said, leaning my head against the back of the seat, wishing I hadn’t brought it up.

It took my brother another long moment before he replied. “That’s it. Next time we go to dinner, you’re paying.”

I laughed again, the grin a much-needed relief.

“Give Nell and Jers hugs for me,” I told him.

“Stay out of jail,” he joked.

We hung up, and I stuffed the phone back in my pocket with the two others. I stared out the windshield at the water that was glistening and glimmering, calling to me much like the water in Tarifa had called to me mere hours before. I didn’t have a boat here to escape in. They were scattered around the globe with the new one on its way to New York on a Mori Enterprises cargo ship.

I started the car and headed up the hill to the B&B.

Memories hit me as I made the all-too-familiar turns. I’d first come to New London overwhelmed with misery. Guilt and anger had been tangled together. It had just started to subside by the time Violet and I had crashed off the cliff. I rubbed the scar that started at the knuckle on my index finger and curled down in between my thumb onto my palm. More regrets. What I’d almost lost.

Violet.

We’d only lived under the same roof for a matter of weeks. So short a period of time in either of our lives that it was a decimal place, and yet the impact had been meteoric. There were still secrets buried in holes in the ground from that time.

Chapter Seven - Dawson

BAPTIZED

“So, I close my eyes hoping you'll appear,

Cause it feels like grace every time you're near, yeah.”

Performed by Daughtry

Written by Blk / Johnson / Kelly / Daughtry / Mentore

I pulled in the driveway andhit the garage door button.Nothing happened. I hit it again. Still nothing. I got out of the car, and that was when I heard it. Loud bass booming from inside the garage. My body automatically filled with alertness, adrenaline crashing through my veins. I eased to the side door and found it unlocked.

When I entered, what I saw had me pulling out the Glock stuffed at my back in my waistband. I directed it toward the clear plastic hanging down from the ceiling. Beyond it, I could make out vague images of tables and equipment.

A lab.

Fuck.

Mandy and Leena were gone, and the powermonger must have set up a drug lab in their garage. I was going to kill all of them. Violet for dating the asshole. And Mandy and Leena for being so trusting.

The music was almost deafening. Watery Reflection, if I got my bands right. Violet had always had a thing for them.