Read Online Vision of Darkness by Tonya Burrows - Free Book Online Page B

the presumptuous ass, made her head hurt. She shoved him out of her mind and glanced in the rear-view again.
    Wade, hunkered in the backseat, lifted his miserable gaze to meet hers in the mirror. “I’m in trouble.”     
    “Uh, yeah,” she said. “Why did you attack Alex?”
    “The Green Lady told me to.”
    She nearly swerved off the road in a knee-jerk reaction. “What?” She straightened the car and shook her head. “Wade. Tell me the truth.”
    “I’m sorry! I didn’t know he was your friend,” he said, his eyes widening and filling with tears. He had a streak of mud down the side of his face that smeared when he wiped away the tears with his sleeve. “I thought he was trespassing. She said he was trespassing and Dad doesn’t like trespassers!”
    Technically, Alex had been trespassing, but that was beside the point.
    “Okay, it’s all right,” she said. “But do you remember the last time you went after someone?”
    He stared down at his lap. “I got put in jail ‘cause I hit Rhett with a chair at Buzzy’s. He needed to get hit, but they put me in jail anyway. I didn’t like it.”
    “Right.” Pru used the turn signal for Alex’s benefit, since the turn off could be hard to see, and steered the Jeep into her driveway. She wondered if Alex’s city car would make it up the steep hill in this rain or if she’d end up pulling him out of the ditch. She checked the rear-view. He seemed to be doing all right, so she turned her attention back to the conversation.
    “You can’t go after people like that, Wade. No matter who tells you to. You could hurt someone bad and then you’ll go back to jail for a long time.”
    His lower lip trembled. “Do you have to tell J.J.?”
    “Yes.” He looked so miserable that she added, “In the morning. We’ll just let everyone get some sleep tonight.” And it’d give her time to talk Alex out of pressing charges. Maybe. Hopefully. She’d just explain Wade’s situation and if Alex was as reasonable as she thought, they could brush the whole matter under the carpet and forget about it. Of course, John Jr. wasn’t going to want Wade living in the carriage house anymore, but one mistake shouldn’t condemn him. He enjoyed the freedom of having his own place, liked having Triton to play with and lots of room to wander. It’d be a shame to take that joy away from him. If she could convince John that Alex wasn’t upset about it, maybe—  
    “Hey, look!” Wade said and pointed from the backseat as the Jeep chugged up the last incline, cleared the trees, and the lighthouse rose into view. The beacon flashed its intense white light over the yard at twenty-second intervals as expected, but every light in the house also blazed as if in welcome. The front door hung wide open, banging into the side of the house in the wind. Triton paced the porch with his head hung low and his tail tucked between his legs.
    “Triton’s scared,” Wade said.
    “Aw, poor pup.” Pru tried to smile for Wade’s sake. “The storm probably frightened him.” But that didn’t explain why he wasn’t in the house. Or why the lights were on and the door open when she’d left it dark and locked.
    She parked the Jeep and turned in her seat. The carriage house loomed on the right side of the property, dark and silent. At least that seemed untouched. “I want you to go home, get cleaned up, and go to bed. No wandering around tonight, got it?”
    Wade nodded.
    “And you need to apologize to Alex.”
    He stuck out his lower lip in protest, but then nodded again.
    She watched from her seat as he trudged toward the Lexus. Alex stiffened behind the wheel for an instant, then his door opened. He climbed out. Wade said something. He replied and held out a hand. They shook.
    Pru let out the breath caught in her throat and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel as relief washed through her. Maybe Alex wouldn’t press charges after all. Small miracle.
    A knuckle tapped on her