Everly presses his hand against the side of his SUV. “This… fence of yours… I suppose… I could come see it.”
“Yeah?” I ask, thrilled.
“If I can burn it down.”
“NO! You can’t burn it down! It’s okay. Once you see how phenomenal it is, you’ll realize how much you’d love to worship it.”
He seems skeptical as he pulls his vehicle’s door open. “I’m dubious… but I guess I have to meet it first.” Then he gets in and closes the door.
He leaves before I even make it back to our car.
“You okay?” Jackson asks.
I nod as he wraps me up in his arms. “Jackson… Jackson… this isn’t helping. This is making me feel things. And it’s hard to feel things.”
“You sure?” he asks as I wrap my arms around him and squeeze him as tightly as I can. It’s like all of the anxieties that have been eating through me just… dissipate.
“He’s going to come see The Fence,” I mutter.
“You better not scare him off.”
“I’ll try not to. I bet he’d love Blow-Up Randy, too.”
“Uhh… maybe we’ll save that for the second meeting.”
I nod as I give Jackson another squeeze. Then I smack his ass and force myself back into the car.
TWENTY-NINE
TAVISH
I set the phone down before looking over at Ellis. Leland has just filled us in on everything he’d found out at the prison, which just leaves us with more questions. “Well… that’s interesting.”
“You think he killed his own daughter?” Ellis asks, looking absolutely horrified. “No, he couldn’t do that, right?”
I shrug. “People do awful shit all the time. Am I positive he did? No. Honestly, I have no damn idea what he did. Can you try to get ahold of your mom?”
Ellis shrugs as he pets “Jolene”—who is definitely not stealing him from me. “I can try. Which phone should I use?”
“The one Leland gave you. It’s untraceable, so they won’t be able to figure out where you are, if they even care enough to do so.”
“Okay,” he says as he calls this Ward woman’s number before putting it on speaker so I can hear.
“This is Ward.”
“This is Ellis. Can I please speak with my mother?”
“Ellis, where are you?” she asks. “Your mother and sister are sick with worry about you.”
“I told you to tell them I was fine and safe,” he says, looking upset over the idea that they’re worried about him.
“Claiming you’re safe and being safe are two completely different things. Please, Ellis, let us deal with it.” She sounds quite convincing, but I think Ellis is beginning to realize that she might not have the answers he’s searching for. If she did, why wouldn’t anyone have dealt with it years ago? This is the closest he’s ever come to finding answers and it was with no help from them.
“Can I speak with my mother, please?”
“Okay. I’ll have her call you. What’s your number?”
“I can write her number down and call her,” Ellis says.
