Soulless (Lawless #2)(22)

Buck wasn’t angry.

He was hurt.

Suddenly, I felt bad, although what he was saying wasn’t entirely true. “We’d grown apart, Buck. It wasn’t like you were the best of friend to me either. Once my family started falling apart and the entire town started calling me Crazy Thia Andrews, it was like I didn’t exist to you anymore.”

“I might be the law, but you could have come to me.” Buck dropped the official stance, mirroring me and leaning up against the cruiser. “You have to have known you could have come to me, Thia.” Buck and I used to share everything, and me not going to him when my parents died was because of one very simple reason. I never thought to. I thought of Bear, getting to him, and nothing else.

“I’m here now,” I said. “And I promise, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

“Might be too late for that now,” Buck said, scratching his head and looking down at his feet.

“Just listen, and if you don’t want anything to do with me ever again, I’ll disappear and you won’t ever see me again.” I put my hand on his shoulder, a gesture I hoped would be reassuring. He looked up at me, his dark brown eyes searched mine. “I’ll disappear for good this time.”

“Get in,” Buck said, opening the driver’s side door. I rounded the cruiser, barely able to contain my excitement. I got into the passenger seat while he took off his hat and settled into the driver’s seat. I opened my mouth to start to tell him the truth, in hopes that he’d return the favor, when he held up his hand to stop me. “Something we got to get out of the way first,” he said with a straight face. My stomach sank. Every second that ticked by was another second too many.

“What?” I asked with as much calmness as I could muster.

“First, you have to pinkie swear,” Buck said, holding out his pinkie. I took it in my own and we both kissed the backs of our hands, like we had a thousand times before.

“I promise I will tell you the truth if you promise to keep an open mind,” I said.

“Deal,” Buck agreed, a small smile creeping onto his face. We dropped pinkies and I began to tell him everything, from my parents’ death—the real story—to Bear, to the club. The entire time, I clutched the ring I no longer hid under my shirt for support. I had to force the words from my mouth, but I kept my part of the deal while Buck kept his, listening to every word. After a few minutes it got less difficult and the words flowed smoother. The air around us grew lighter, reminding me of the once easy going friendship we used to have.

When I was done talking and the truth was out there, I sat back against the seat and waited for Buck to say something. “Do you love him?” he asked, surprising me. Of all the questions he could have asked about what I’d just said, that’s the first one that sprang to his mind?

“Yeah, I do,” I admitted. “Very much.”

Buck sighed and scratched the stubble on his chin. “Then where do we go from here?” he asked, meeting my gaze for the first time since I’d arrived.

“You’ll help me?” I asked, trying to combat the hope that was threatening to explode inside of me.

“I pinkie swore, didn’t I?” Buck asked, wagging his pinkie in the air.

“Thank you!” I squealed, launching myself at him and hugging him close.

“You’re strangling me,” Buck choked out. I released him from my sumo hold.

“Sorry,” I said, settling back into the seat.

“That’s okay,” Buck said, looking rather amused. “Now, I know you wouldn’t come here without some sort of plan. So spill it. What do you have going on in that pretty pink head of yours?” He had the same mischievous look on his face that he’d had when we were kids, right before we did something that resulted in neither of us being allowed to see one another again until whatever grounding period that had been bestowed upon us was over.

“Well,” I started, not knowing what his reaction would be to what I was about to suggest. “Are you still friends with Dr. Hurley?”

“Dr. Hurley…the coroner?” Buck asked, scrunching his face. I nodded. “Sure, I still play poker with him every Tuesday, but…where exactly are you going with this, Thia?”

“Where I’m going is anywhere and everywhere that can lead to Bear getting out of that jail cell as soon as possible. Stealing evidence. Botching the coroner’s reports. Maybe we can get Dr. Hurley to say that even though Bear confessed that there is no possible way he could have done it. I don’t know. I hadn’t thought through the specifics, but I just need to do something. ANYTHING.” I twisted my hands in my lap. “Before it’s too late.”

Buck looked at me with an eyebrow raised and his jaw resting thoughtfully on his hand. “I get it. I do. But…” He paused and looked out the front windshield as if there was something out there to see besides the dumpster and the back wall of the diner. “Why him? Why you think that this guy is your hero or something? I hate to say it Thia, but in a way, don’t you feel like you’re betraying your parents by being with this guy? Like maybe you’re only with him because you’re pissed that they’re dead and this is your way to get back at them.”

“Buck,” I started, as calmly as I possibly could, trying to ignore what he’d just said about Bear being some sort of post mortem rebellion. “You can ask me all this and I can answer you, but can we do that while we drive to Dr. Hurley’s office? Please. I’m begging you.”