Things Made Right (14 page)

Ross took a deep breath. “Then I lit a match and tossed it in through the open window. After it went up, I walked around to the back and shoved the car hard enough to knock it forward off the jack.”

Ross made a sailing motion with his hand, a graceful arc followed by a sudden plunge. “I knew from the angle that it would miss the guardrail.”

“What about skid marks?”

“There weren’t any. Dirt road.”

“They didn’t suffer enough,” Sully said.

Ross picked up his iced tea and took a sip. “At least one of them suffered. I heard him screaming as the car went over.”

“You didn’t hang around?”

“Just long enough to make sure they hit bottom and watch the
boom
. Then I grabbed the jack, used a branch to smooth out where the rear tires hit the ground, and my footprints, and boogied. I knew the emergency vehicles would roll over any other tracks. Recovered the bike and headed back into town. I’d left my car parked near Loren’s building, just in case. Right across the street. It sat there all night. That way, anyone who thought about questioning me, I figured at least one person besides Loren could be found who might remember seeing my car sitting there all night. I wore gloves for everything, left the bike unchained in front of a liquor store, and it was gone when I went by the next morning. I tossed the jack into some brush on my way back, a couple of miles from the accident site.”

“Damn.” Sully held up his glass in a toast. “You, my friend, should have been a cop.”

Ross clinked iced tea glasses with him. “What’s saddest, I think?” Ross noted. “Those assholes trusted me just because I had money. They had talent and potential and the best education money could buy, and they didn’t give a shit because all they wanted to do was figure out how to get whatever they wanted and flaunt screwing the system in the process. They had no souls. I slept better that night than I think I had in my life. And I’ve never lost a minute’s sleep over it.”

Sully nodded. “Believe me, I’ve never lost a minute’s sleep over my situation, either.”

“So, my friend. My honest question is, do you still respect me?”

“Ross, I think I respect you more than ever. I’m damn proud to call you my friend. Why the need to unburden yourself now, though? After so many years.”

Ross pondered it for a moment. “Partly because I wanted to make sure you and I were okay. And partly because I wanted to know if I’m a sociopathic asshole who should turn myself in for what I did.”

“Sociopaths don’t usually question the validity of their actions, so I’d say you’re safe there. To answer the first part, yes. We’re okay.”

“I guess I also needed to vent a little. I’m not a religious man, and a therapist might have felt compelled to report what I did.”

“Sounds to me like all you did was make something right. Sometimes, that’s all we can do, no matter how badly we want to fix something for the people we love.”

“Amen,” Ross agreed and they clinked their iced tea glasses in another toast. “A-freaking-men.”

THE END

WWW.TYMBERDALTON.COM

Tymber Dalton lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC winner is also the bestselling author of over seventy-five books, including
The Reluctant Dom
,
The Denim Dom
,
Cardinal’s Rule
, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.

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