Tank (Moonshine Task Force Book 2)(55)
We jump back in the car as I radio in our position and let dispatch know we’re responding. Seems like everyone else is also responding and as we come to a screeching halt at the access road, we all get out of our cars. The team can see the flames from where we stand, we’ll have to wait for the fire department to do their thing before we can move in.
“Alcohol vapor?” I question as we stand around in a circle.
Ace nods, rolling around a toothpick in his mouth. “Or it overheated. Either way, it’s enough to make it go boom. Highly concentrated, whatever it was.”
“Think we’ll find a body in there?” Renegade asks, as he wipes the sweat from his brow. This fire is hot as hell.
The roar from the fire trucks drown us out until they get set up. All of us stand a respectable distance away, letting them do what they need to.
“To answer your question,” Holden looks at Renegade. “I don’t think we’ll find a body. I think they’ve started to automate the process.”
“You figure that out, or did Leighton tell you that?” The words are out of my mouth before I can take them back. I’m not sure if everyone knows he took her home with him or not, and to be honest, it’s not my place either.
Luckily he doesn’t hand me my balls, but from the look on his face, I know not to push my luck again.
“To be honest,” Holden meets my gaze. “I think this is to send Leighton a message. They know she’s staying with me because they aren’t fuckin’ slick about snooping around my property. They’ve been watching me, and I’ve been watching them. I think they’re afraid Leighton will talk so they’re getting rid of evidence and moving operations.”
“Has Leighton said anything?” Renegade asks as we watch the fire department go to work.
There’s a stormy look on Holden’s face, one I’d never like to be on the receiving end of. “She doesn’t talk much about them, and I can’t say as I can blame her. If she talks about them and incriminates herself, she’s probably afraid I’ll take her in.”
“You have before,” I point out. “It’s a valid concern.”
“Yeah,” Renegade laughs softly. “Unless you’re married. Then you can invoke your right to silence, but who’d get married to someone they don’t love.”
“Somebody who’s scared to death,” I answer for them. “I saw her that day, she was scared to death. Hell, I’m scared thinking what may have happened to her had her path not crossed with Blaze. None of us truly know what she’s been living with in her family.”
Holden’s eyes darken and his face becomes a mask. I think for the first time, maybe he does know some of the things she went through, maybe Leighton’s confided in him. But my gut tells me if she has confided, she’s not told him everything. I don’t think she trusts anyone that much. “He’s right, she is scared to death of them, and this is definitely something they would do.”
“Probably because the trial is in a couple days,” I remind him. “Are you all going to be there?”
“Damn right we’re all going to be there. We have a couple of guys from Birmingham coming in to cover shifts while we’re all at the court house. We want to see Brooks get what’s coming to him. He deserves that and more after what he did to you,” Holden and Renegade both agree.
“You know it’s not in our hands. It’s in the hands of the judge and jury, so we’ll have to respect whatever happens.”
It’s hard to have that mindset about the trial, though. I want badly to know exactly what the fuck’s going to happen to the kid who tried to ruin my life and the bitch of it is, I have no say in the matter. Other people do, and they have the option to either make him pay or let him walk free. Neither option feels great to me, because I think above all, he should learn a lesson.
I just hope like the hell the judge does the right damn thing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Tank
I tug at the collar of my dress shirt as I stand outside the courthouse, surrounded by friends, family, and coworkers. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be here, but there’s also another part of me that knows I need to be here. I have to see justice be served. More than anything, I deserve to see justice served.
“You doing alright?” Blaze asks as she stands next to me, her hand on my arm.
Glancing down at her, I take in the dress she’s wearing. Conservative, not her normal wear, and she has her hair pulled back in a pile of curls on her head. She looks nothing, if not sophisticated. Beside her my family stands, and then the guys from the Moonshine Task Force.
“I’m good,” I clear my throat. “Want this over with so we can truly move forward.”
“It does feel like there’s a dark cloud hanging over us in the form of Brooks, doesn’t it?” she puts her arm around me, leaning into my chest.
“Yeah,” I answer truthfully. “It’s the unknown. I don’t want to ruin the kid’s life, but he also deserves to pay for what he did to me. I could have died, at the same time, I’m almost thankful because it brought us back together. I’m conflicted as hell. He’s lucky he didn’t kill someone.”
She nods her agreement as I see Holden ascending the stairs with Leighton on his arm. She looks pale, but that’s nothing unusual; her dark hair gives her the look of a modern-day Snow White every time I see her. “Thanks for coming,” I put my hand out for Holden to shake it, and then give Leighton a quick hug.