"The world … would love to know that the great Quinn Anders is nothing but a whore." The voice that cut the guy off was even more deranged than it had been inside. She stood not too far from them, her perfect hair now tangled and sweat matted. Her dress was torn and stained … with blood. Her eyes glazed with some form of mania. "Oh, don't bother wondering what my dear hubby will think of his slut now. I left him in the woods. You'll find him when the vultures start to circle."
Drew held completely still, forcing himself not to react. That was what she was looking for. A reaction. He divorced himself from the man he'd fallen in love with. He had no choice. Quinn, however, lunged for her.
She laughed loudly, her voice unnaturally high-pitched. She fired a bullet into the ground in front of Quinn before he took a second step.
"I find it interesting, ya know. I mean a year or two ago, I forget when … I was watching this show on one of the music channels. I don't normally like music TV but Eddie does love his CMT. Not that they play much in the way of music. If you call that crap music. So much crap on that channel. But that's neither here nor there. It was summer and that big thing in Nashvegas was going on at the time. And this segment came on about country's first queer, and Eddie started to turn the channel but I was interested. I wanted to hear all about how he was tearing up the music charts with his first new CD since the big coming out. And crossing over onto the rock charts, not that rock is any more forgiving of that sort of thing. I didn't know country allowed fags … color me intrigued … "
She never took her eyes off Quinn as she spoke loudly, her voice carrying in the unnatural quiet. As if she were speaking to someone else.
"She's lying," he said quietly, hoping Quinn could hear him. Quinn nodded slightly, his whole body relaxing. He stood perfectly still, his hands out to his sides where she could see them, like a kid playing freeze tag … and the craziest person on the playground was IT.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" She'd heard Drew as well. Her smile widened and the sparkle in her eyes grew more crazed. "You'd be wrong. But anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. So much was said about how brave Quinn Anders was to come out. So, so brave. They made me sick. You could see the fake smiles on their faces. Nobody wanted to be the first to say how fucking wrong it was that he let men put their cocks into his asshole. Even Eddie was disgusted. We were both disgusted, and Eddie was going to change the channel when they showed this cozy little scene of the Queen of Country's little family. For the record, a kid should not be allowed to live in a house where two men fuck, but that's none of my business. I was done with this. Except they showed the Queen's boyfriend. My husband. Oh, he looked different. Older. Bigger. He'd lost the spark of youth, and you could see that life was treating him badly in his eyes. I hadn't seen him in more than a decade, but I would know that face in my sleep. Chiseled, proud, almost regal. I hated him for being alive. I heard he'd barely made it out of the service. I can't tell you how many nights I lay awake praying for Nathan Truman's head on a fucking silver platter."
She stopped screeching and cocked her head. Drew heard the barest crunch of gravel behind him.
"Is that why you came here?"
Quinn visibly wilted at the sound of Nathan's voice. Drew pretended he wasn't ready to follow Quinn's lead. He didn't dare turn around to make damned sure his ears weren't playing tricks. Nathan wasn't lying dead in the woods. That was all that mattered.
"I didn't believe it at first. There you were holding hands with a man. You had a kid on your shoulders … like a family. Pissed me off. You left me with nothing and you had everything. Love, family, money. I talked myself out of it. It wasn't you. It couldn't be you. I couldn't stop thinking about it, though." She stabbed one manicured finger into her temple like she was trying to kill her thoughts. Her smile faded and her mask changed again. The perfect southern belle aged before his eyes. Anger and bitterness oozing from every pore. "You were rich. Even when we were married. I looked you up. The Internet is a wonderful invention. I accidentally married a very rich man and got nothing but heartache from it. I'm entitled to half of everything you have!" she screamed at the air just behind Drew's left shoulder.
"Tori," Nathan said tiredly. He was so much closer now. Close enough that Drew could feel him.
"I deserve half," she said again. Her anger manifesting in her voice, her gaze flitted to Drew's right and she smiled again. Not the fake television smile she'd worn earlier.
This time her smile implied her intent.
"So I'm gonna take his half."