Cut Too Deep(59)

“What, you think that tattooed pretty boy would have got the better of me?”

She almost laughed at the idea of Ryker being a pretty boy, but his description made Jenna realize Garrett had at least seen Ryker.

Garrett held his hands out either side of his body. “By the fact I’m here and he isn’t, that clearly didn’t happen.”

“Why would you leave his body at the house for someone to find? You could have brought his body here to really upset me.”

Garrett frowned, his nose wrinkling. “Why do you care so much about this guy anyway? He used your credit card to buy himself stuff. Doesn’t that make you think perhaps he’s not the great guy he’s made out to be?” He shook his head in disgust. “That’s the trouble with you bitches. You think with your cunts first. Some guy shows you a bit of attention and there you are, swooning all over him, even when you know he’s using you.” He stopped, his hands on his hips and then gestured out toward her, motioning up and down her body. “I mean, seriously, Jenna, look at yourself. You’re even fatter than you were a year ago, and you were a fucking porker back then. You can’t actually believe the guy genuinely liked you. He stole off you, and probably figured you were just something warm and wet to stick his cock into.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, but her brain was whirring. Garrett thought Ryker and Mikey were the same person. Did that mean Garrett didn’t know about Mikey’s existence?

“Say what you like about him,” Jenna said. “I don’t believe for one second that you’ve done anything to him. You talk about me being fat, but you’re hardly some muscle-bound tough guy, are you? You’re a computer nerd, at the end of the day. A skinny, weak man who happens to be a bully and who likes picking on women. You don’t have the guts to take on someone like Ryker!”

She knew winding up Garrett might be dangerous, but she needed to get to Ryker. She needed to know. What if he was hurt and there was something she could do? If she didn’t get Garrett to show her Ryker’s body, then she would probably die here in this garage without ever really knowing what had happened to him. And then there was Mikey. What would happen when he got home and found his brother’s body? She couldn’t stand the idea of the kid being the one to find him. Mikey would still be at school for a couple of hours yet. If she could get Garrett to fetch Ryker’s body, she would save the boy the torment of that experience, though it broke her heart to think of Mikey trying to get by with no family in the world. She knew what it was like to be alone, and it hurt.

She watched the color drain from Garrett’s already pale face.

“You’re no woman,” he snarled, pointing his finger at her. “You’re a fat, fucking pig. And I already told you I took out your thieving boyfriend with one hit. Why do you think he hasn’t come after you? I found a fence post beside the house where I was hiding, and I listened to the conversation your boyfriend had with the dead guy over there, and watched the dead guy leave. And lo and behold, fifteen minutes later, there you are, blowing everything out of proportion like you normally do, yelling and making a scene on the guy’s front porch. I watched you then, too. I watched you storm off down the street. I already knew exactly where you planned on going from your argument, so I figured I’d catch up with you here at the garage. He came right after you, you know. Probably to beg you to come back for some stupid reason, but the second he stepped out of the front door, I swung the post and smacked him across the side of the head. Poor bastard didn’t even see it coming. He went down, crumpled like a bag of laundry, so I just dragged him into the hallway so none of the neighbors would notice his body and then drove straight here to wait for you. I knew you didn’t have a car, but hell, Jenna,” he shook his head in disgust, “you are seriously out of shape. I had plenty of time to kill the other guy, and then I just waited. At one point I wondered if I’d made a mistake, and that you’d changed your mind and gone back to him, but I know how fucking stubborn you can be. Once your mind is made up, you’re not changing it. And I was right. You showed up, and here we are.”

His story sounded horribly like the truth, but she forced herself to hold back tears. Any sign of emotion would show Garrett that she believed him, and then she’d lose all hope of Garrett bringing Ryker to her.

She forced a scornful laugh. “You could have just made that up. You’ve already told me that Ryker used my credit card to buy things, so why would I think he’d come after me? He could be sitting at home right now playing on whatever the hell it was he ordered with my money.”