Jed Had to Die Page 5

  “Fine, so I didn’t recognize him when I saw him in the hospital, but can you blame me? The guy went from looking like Anthony Michael Hall in The Breakfast Club to Chris Hemsworth, all Thor-like and…pretty,” I complain, annoyed all over again that he knew I thought he was hot and didn’t hesitate to keep rubbing it in my face.

  “Listen, as far as the whole Emma Jo thing goes, all you can do is what you’re doing right now, which is be there for her, and you know that,” Bettie tells me softly. “You don’t need my help with that situation. And regarding Sheriff Hudson? Might I suggest apologizing for not recognizing him and then laughing in his face when you found out who he was? It might stop him from arresting you for being a menace to society and use those handcuffs of his for good instead of evil.”

  She continues talking about Leo and his weapons but I don’t hear a word she says. All I can picture is myself naked and chained to Leo’s headboard with a pair of his cuffs, while he looms over me with that stupid smirk on his face and his bare, muscular chest rubbing against mine.

  “Alright, that’s enough,” I scold Bettie, stopping her mid-I wonder if he carries rope in his trunk for S&M dates. “I need to get back downstairs to Emma Jo now that he left.”

  The last time Emma Jo checked on me, she told me she filled out the restraining order and that Leo left to go back to the station to file it and notify Jed. I’m sure she’s down there freaking out that he’s going to freak out and come back to finish the job he did on her.

  “Remember, next time you see Hot Guy, say you’re sorry. You’re much cuter when you’re being all apologetic instead of standing there with a stick up your ass,” Bettie reminds me.

  “You always say the sweetest things,” I reply sarcastically. “Don’t run my business to the ground. And if Benjamin comes in, make up something about me joining Habitat for Humanity or something. Maybe he’ll get the hint if he thinks I left the country.”

  I’ve already ignored three voicemails from him since my plane landed. I know I need to have yet another conversation with him about how we are not getting married and things are over between us, but there’s only so many serious conversations a woman can handle at one time.

  “He already stopped in right at closing tonight looking for you. I sent a text to my Uncle Stewart to see how hard it would be to hide a body in the city dump, but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet. In the meantime, I told Benjamin you reconnected with the love of your life from childhood and flew back home to marry him. Who knew I was psychic?!”

  “Tell me you didn’t…”

  “Soooooooo, I guess we’ll talk soon,” Bettie says quickly. “Make nice with the sheriff and maybe he’ll let you touch his weapon. Too-da-loo!”

  Bettie disconnects the call before I can scream at her. I stare at the screen of my phone for a few seconds and then toss it back on top of the bed. I can hear Emma Jo moving around downstairs and I know I can’t keep hiding up here in her spare bedroom forever.

  Hopefully there’s still enough wine left in this house for me to forget about Leo for the time being and not do something stupid like accuse my best friend of sleeping with him. I mean, who cares if that’s true anyway? It’s not like I want the guy.

  * * *

  “Are you sleeping with Leo? I mean, it’s totally fine if you are. It’s not like I care or anything. You two make a cute couple. He’s all tall and hot and cocky, and you’re all short and cute and quiet. Opposites attract and all that. I won’t tell anyone if you’ve been cheating on Jed and you’ve been planning to leave him, if that’s what you’re worried about. I mean, after what that asshole has been doing to you all these years, it’s completely justified. Your secret is safe with me!” I ramble, grabbing a newly opened bottle of wine from the kitchen counter.

  Emma Jo stares at me with wide, shocked eyes while I drink from the bottle like some sort of animal. You know, if that animal felt like an idiot and had diarrhea of the mouth.

  “It’s none of my business what you do with your personal life, as long as it makes you happy. But as your oldest friend, I’ve got to say, I don’t know if Leo Hudson is the best boyfriend material. I mean, secret lover – sure! But as a boyfriend, he kind of sucks. He obviously knew about what Jed was doing to you, otherwise he wouldn’t have shown up at the hospital, and he definitely didn’t look shocked when he saw your face tonight. Pissed off, yes, but not shocked. What kind of a boyfriend wouldn’t kick Jed’s ass or throw him in jail for that shit years ago?”

  I finally stop talking and take a breath. And then chug some more wine from the bottle just so I’m not tempted to open my mouth again and spew more crazy at Emma Jo. Bettie is right, I totally sound jealous. I hate when Bettie’s right. She never lets me forget it.

  “Okay, first of all, I think you’ve had enough wine,” Emma Jo informs me, taking the bottle out of my hand and setting it on the counter next to us with a clunk. “Secondly, I am not, nor have I ever, slept with Leo Hudson. I wouldn’t know the first thing about having an affair and even if I did, Leo wouldn’t be my first choice. I already told you he’s like a brother to me.”

  I cross my arms over my chest and lean my hip against the counter, pretending like I’m not completely thrilled by this information, because that would make me a hypocrite and Bettie would be right about yet another thing.

  “So, Leo just showed up at the hospital because you two are friends?” I ask.

  “Yes, he showed up at the hospital because we’re friends. And you’re right, he had some suspicions about Jed and the abuse, but he never had any proof because I always covered for him,” she explains quietly, picking at the label on the wine bottle nervously. “Leo was nice enough to never come right out and ask me about it because he didn’t want to embarrass me, but he’d always ask me if everything was okay. I knew that he knew, but just like I’ve been doing with everyone else, I lied and I pretended, and I covered it up because I was embarrassed.”

  Reaching up between us, I grab a clean wine glass out of the cabinet above our heads, not wanting to stop Emma Jo from talking just to go into the living room and grab the one she was using earlier. I pour her a full glass and hand it to her.

  “So, how did he know you were in the hospital? Did you call him?”

  I do my best to keep more jealousy out of my voice when I ask this question. It was kind of nice knowing I was the only person in the world Emma Jo trusted with this situation, and all of that will be for nothing if I find out she trusts Leo just as much. Maybe even more since he’s been here, living in Bald Knob with her, and she can go to him with her problems so much easier than she could with me.

  Emma Jo shakes her head when she grabs the wine glass from my hand and takes a sip.

  “He told me he has a friend who’s a nurse and was working in the Baptist Health emergency room when I came in. I guess she works as a temp nurse and travels all around Kentucky. She recognized my name from when I went to a different hospital she was working at about six months ago and I put down Bald Knob as my hometown instead of making up a different one like I usually do.”

  Tears fill my eyes when she tells me this and I grab the wine bottle from the counter and take another big gulp to try and stop myself from dwelling on the fact that Emma Jo has been bouncing around to different hospitals all over the state for years, lying about where she’s from so no one would find out what was going on.

  “The nurse remembered me and knew I was from Bald Knob, even though I wrote down Louisville. I was so out of it when I went in there and I don’t remember what I said to her, but it was enough for her to call Leo since she knew he was the sheriff,” Emma Jo finishes.

  “That was kind of awesome of her. I mean, she could have lost her job by doing that without your permission.”

  Emma Jo nods. “I know. I told Leo to make sure she knew I wasn’t mad or anything. If it wasn’t for her, and you coming out here for me, and Leo promising me that he would do everything he could to keep this quiet for as long as he can, I d
on’t think I would have been strong enough to file that restraining order tonight, Payton. I would have left the hospital, hid away here at home until I healed, and then went back to pretending like everything was fine. I owe you and Leo so much.”

  Well, the jury is still out on how much she owes Leo. I mean, he had his suspicions for years but he never did anything about it? What kind of friend does something like that? What kind of sheriff does something like that? Maybe Leo forgot about how much of a dick Jed Jackson was to him in high school, and now he’s under the same Jed-spell everyone else in this town has been under. Just because he’s nice to look at doesn’t mean everything on the inside is nice. Jed is a prime example of that.

  Not wanting to make Emma Jo feel worse by bringing up this point, I quietly give her a smile and rub my hand up and down her arm soothingly.

  “I know I already said this once, but I promise everything will be okay. I talked to my manager and the shop is fine without me right now. I’m here for as long as you need me,” I reassure her.

  Emma Jo gives me a small smile and takes a deep breath before sipping some more of her wine. I quickly decide to continue doing whatever I can to keep her happy and calm like this by suggesting we watch a few mindless chick flicks. Emma Jo agrees and heads down the hall to the office to grab a few DVDs from the shelf where she keeps them stored. My feeling of contentment as I head into the living room to turn the TV on is short-lived when I hear a loud pounding on the front door as soon as I walk by. I pause in the entryway and a chill races over my skin when the pounding is replaced by someone trying to turn the handle from the outside.

  “EMMA JO! WHY IN THE HELL DOESN’T MY KEY WORK?”

  I look back over my shoulder, wondering if Emma Jo can hear the shout from the other side of the door. This house is pretty big and the office is clear on the other side, facing the backyard. I don’t see her come around the corner and she doesn’t say anything, which means she thankfully isn’t hearing what I am right now – an angry man trying to get into his home and wondering why he can’t, making him more pissed-off by the second.

  A fist pounds against the front door again, so hard that it rattles the doorframe, making my heart beat wildly in my chest wondering what the hell I’ll do if he kicks the damn thing down and storms in here.

  “Open up the fucking door, Emma Jo! I don’t know what kind of shit you’re trying to pull here, but enough is enough. I cut this business trip short a day early so we could spend some quiet, alone-time together. I left my meeting with a potential campaign investor early for you, and this is how you thank me? Do you have any idea how much money I could lose out on now?”

  Jed’s voice through the door and the shit he’s spilling from his mouth immediately put an end to my fear and replace it with anger. I made a promise to my friend that everything would be okay, and there’s no way I’m going to stand here like a coward and not do anything about it. Jed Jackson might have been able to push his wife around all these years, and he might have been able to cast his spell over all of Bald Knob, but that shit doesn’t fly with me. If I can handle a bunch of hipster college kids making a mockery of coffee, I can handle a pencil dick asshole who makes himself feel powerful by picking on someone smaller and weaker than him. I am neither small, nor weak, and Jed Jackson just pissed off the wrong woman.

  Before he continues yelling and Emma Jo hears him, I move quickly to the front door and unlock the deadbolt. With the resting bitch face I’ve perfected over the years firmly planted on my face, I fling open the door so hard that it bangs against the opposite wall.

  With his black hair, sweet-looking baby face, slim build, and the few inches of height he has on me, throw a football jersey and a pompous smile on his face and Jed Jackson would look just as he did in high school. Even with his slicked-back hair and three-piece suit, he still looks like he hasn’t aged a day, which I’m sure helps him charm the brains out of everyone in this town.

  He quickly takes a few surprised steps back when I come stomping out of the front door, clearly confused that I’m the one who answered the door instead of his wife. I take full advantage of his momentary lapse of shouting and cursing to charge right up to him and jab my finger into his chest.

  “I don’t know what kind of shit you’re trying to pull here, Jed, but Emma Jo doesn’t answer to you anymore. You put your hands on her for the last time, asshole. Do yourself a favor and get off this porch before I rip off your balls, shove them down your throat, and choke you with them,” I seethe through clenched teeth.

  His eyes narrow as he looks down at me, and then he has the nerve to smile and let out a small, mocking laugh to go along with his stupid smile.

  “It’s nice you can laugh about this situation. You won’t be laughing when you get a copy of the restraining order Emma Jo filed on your ass tonight, or when your worthless self is locked up behind bars,” I inform him, my whole body shaking with rage while he continues to stare down at me like I’m nothing more than a nuisance. “Pretty sure you should have checked your voicemails before you cut that important business trip short. You’ll find one from the sheriff explaining how far away you’re supposed to be from Emma Jo, and I do believe you’re in violation of the restraining order just by pulling into the driveway, you piece of shit.”

  The smile on Jed’s face falls and he moves so quickly that I don’t have any time to duck or run back into the house. He advances on me like a hunter stalking his prey, his hand coming up and wrapping around my neck tightly as he shoves me backward. My feet move automatically to keep up with him so I don’t trip until I slam into the side of the house next to the open front door with a gasp when pain radiates up my spine.

  “Payton Lambert, still just as much of a trouble-maker as you were in high school,” Jed speaks lowly, moving his face down until his nose is almost touching mine.

  He squeezes my neck harder until I see spots at the edge of my vision. My heart is back to beating double-time as I struggle to take in air and bring my hands up between us to claw at the back of his hand.

  “It’s been so nice and peaceful without you here the last twelve years. Too bad you weren’t smart enough to stay gone. You have no idea what kind of trouble you just brought on yourself by sticking your nose in something that doesn’t concern you,” he threatens with a sick and twisted smile, tightening his hold on my neck to yank me forward.

  I’m too busy trying not to pass out from lack of oxygen that my body moves like a ragdoll, flopping bonelessly when he pulls me toward him, and again when he shoves me back. My head slams against the vinyl siding with a thump that jars my teeth and brings tears to my eyes.

  I definitely underestimated Jed. My overconfidence and anger about what he’s done to my friend made me act without thinking. I should have known better than to come charging out here. I’ve seen what he did to Emma Jo, and she never mouthed off to him or fought back. God only knows what he’ll do to someone who tried to stand up to him.

  I can’t scream for help because he’s clutching my neck so tightly that I’m pretty sure he’s two seconds away from collapsing my vocal chords. Or killing me. And if I could scream, would any of the people in this town come help? Starla Godfrey, who was older than dirt when I lived here, is within shouting distance, but she probably heard me curse at her damn dog earlier and wouldn’t help me if she wasn’t a thousand years old. Mr. and Mrs. Pickerson still live on the other side of Emma Jo’s house, but Mrs. Pickerson once caught me squatting in her backyard after drinking seven wine coolers and not being able to hold it until I got home. I’m sure she’s still pissed at me and would pull down her shades if she heard me screaming. And then there’s Frank and Teresa Jefferson who live across the street. I used to babysit for their son when he was around three-years-old, but I let him watch Mean Girls with me when it first came out and he took to yelling at his mother, “Boo, you whore!” after that, so I’m pretty sure they would turn their backs on me as well.

  “Now, we’re going to go inside M
Y house, you’re going to pack your things, and you’re going to get the fuck away from my wife. Are we clear?”

  My sweaty palms slip up and down Jed’s wrists as I continue to struggle and try to pull his hand off of my neck, but it’s no use. I do the only thing I can and nod my head jerkily.

  Jed gives me a satisfied smile and finally loosens his hold on me. His arm drops down to his side and he slides both of his hands casually into the front pocket of his suit pants, like we’re standing here on the front porch discussing the weather and not like he didn’t just threaten me and try to kill me. My eyes water as I immediately bend at the waist and start gasping and coughing, drawing in as much air as I can while wrapping both of my hands gently around the aching skin of my neck.

  Instead of doing what he ordered, instead of trying to find my voice so I can scream at the top of my lungs, I once again act with my heart instead of my head. While Jed is distracted watching me clutch at my neck, bent over and hacking up a lung, I make my move. Flying back upright, I grab onto his shoulders for leverage and bring my knee up as hard as I can between his legs.

  “YOU BITCH!” Jed shouts, his voice thundering around the yard and the quiet street as his hands fly out of his pockets to cover his crotch and give his junk the same loving care I tried to give my tender neck.

  This time, I’m ready for him and see him coming. I don’t have time or any room to move around him and get the hell away, but at least I have time to wrap my arms around my head and protect myself from his fist when he pulls it back.

  “You lay your hands on her one more time, and I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your skull.”

  When I hear a familiar, and for the first time since I got here, welcome voice, followed by the click and slide of a gun being cocked, I slowly lower my arms to see Jed still standing in front of me with his fist raised, but not moving a muscle, aside from the one ticking in his jaw as he clenches his teeth.