Just as I lunge for her, her mouth rounds into that perfect little O and she circles around me, bending over my desk on her own. I stare at her round ass for a moment, stunned. It’s not the way I envisioned it in my head, but fuck it. This workstoo.
I crowd in behind her, laying a hand on her hip just as she grabs one of the flyers Frankie left and spins around to face me. I’m a little confused and a lot disappointed when she shoves the paper in my face and shakesit.
“Rugged Maniac Obstacle Race? There’s an Iron Man cancer race on Saturday? Why didn’t you tellme?”
I shrug. “It’s not an Iron Man. It’s just a 5k mud run with climbing and tunnels and shit. Besides, why would I tellyou?”
She places a hand on my arm. When I just stare at it, she removes it and clears her throat. “Because I want to be there. You brought this race here forEllie?”
“You, belly crawling in an underground mud tunnel?” I snort, ignoring her question. “Yeah,right.”
“But it’s for Ellie, isn’tit?”
“Shiloh, I’ve been hosting this race in Ellie’s name for five years. Ever since I got out of…” It’s pointless to have this conversation right now, so I gather the rest of the flyers and drop them in a bin by the window. “Anyway, it’s not anything anyone who cared about her doesn’t already knowabout.”
“You think I don’tcare.”
Keeping my back to her, I let out a long breath and lock my fingers around the back of my neck. “Look, my mom and dad are going to be there. Even local TV and radio stations cover the event. Maybe you mean well, but I need the focus to be on Ellie, and if you show up,then…”
“Then I’ll turn it into a media spectacle and make everything about me,” she finishessoftly.
“You can’t help you are who you are.” Dropping my hands, I glance at her over my shoulder. “You’re famous. You’re the ‘it’girl.”
I expect a smartass Shiloh comeback, but instead I get a sad smile. “That’s not it and you know it. Maybe someday you’ll forgive me for what I did to you, Cary, but you’ll never be able to forgive me for what I did to Ellie. I knew the leukemia had come back, but there was no way for me to know she’d get pneumonia. You saw her the day before graduation, and what I did made sure it was the last time.” Her eyes glaze over as she backs away from my desk. “Don’t worry, I won’t ruin the race for yourfamily.”
Crumpling the flyer in her hand, she runs out of my office. My first instinct is to run after her, but I stop myself. Everything she said is right. Maybe I could learn to forgive her for taking my life away, but not for denying me the last moments ofEllie’s.
I may be weakening when it comes to Shiloh, but I stillremember.
As I hear the obnoxious Taylor Swift song ring in the background, memories of my mother’s tears rolling down her face as she places her hand against the partition flashes through mymind.
“She’s gone,Carrick.”
“What do you mean, she’sgone?”
“Last night. There’s nothing they coulddo.”
I pound the glass with my fist as the guards drag me away. “No! No, no, no, no,no!”
“No! no, no, no, no, no!” The words in my memory come out of my mouth with a rage I can’t control. As the fog finally clears, I open my hand and notice my cracked phone laying in my palm. I blow out a hard breath, realizing I’ve been slamming it against my desk after every word. The damn thing is a mess. The corners are chipped, the glass is shattered, and distorted lines are now running horizontally across thescreen.
But even with all that destruction, one text still shinesclear.
TARYN:Time’s up. The Castaway Sands was such a landmark. Such ashame.
“Fuckingbitch!”
Taryn has me by the balls. Without putting a dent in mine and my parents’ debts, we’ll loseeverything.
Unless…
Jerking my middle drawer open, I pull out Shiloh’s checkbook and toss it on my desk. Opening the leather covering, I run my finger over the crisp white check on top. My stomach is in knots as I grab a pen and start towrite.
I know what I’m doing, and I know the repercussions. Being in prison taught me shit I didn’t care to know. One of the inmates liked to brag about how he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company by transferring nine thousand dollar increments out of their account over time. Apparently, anything over ten grand flags alerts and all kinds of bells and whistles gooff.
Nine thousand is a pair of shoes to her. It’s survival to myfamily.
The logistics of doing this isn’t difficult; it’s the ethics that’s the problem. Shiloh West was my best subject in high school. Hell, I graduated with honors in Shilohology. I can probably write her signature better than shecan.
