“Don’t forget Winter.”
“Yeah, her too,” he admits.
“Do you have a point?”
Five minutes.
“My point, brother, is that you’re going to stop the car right now.”
“What?”
“You heard me. You’re going to pull over, get out of this car, and walk away before it’s too late.”
“Walk away?” I scoff. “Do you really think it’s that easy?”
“It is that easy. If you have the right people on your side.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I took care of it, Haze. You don’t owe them shit. No drug deliveries, no jobs, nothing. You’re free. You have a chance to be happy with Winter. Don’t waste it.”
Two minutes.
I hit the brakes and pull over on the side of the road.
Shock makes it hard to speak. “What did you do?”
No reply.
“Tanner, what did you promise them?”
“All you need to know is they will never bother you again. I made sure of it.”
“Why did you do that for me?”
“I’m not going to let my little brother ruin his life for a piece-of-shit murderer. There’s a train station ten minutes away. You’re going to get on a train, go home, and get your shit together, understood?”
“I’m not sure there’s even something to get back to…” I whisper.
“I don’t believe that for a second. You two will make it work. You always do. And you need to stop this crazy hunt for Marcus. Des wouldn’t want you to live like this. I promise your obsession with revenge will bring you nothing but pain.”
Images of Desiree invade my mind. Her toothless smile, her small body lying in a pool of her own blood…
“I… I don’t think I can.” I choke.
He sighs.
“Then, for what it’s worth, I looked deeper into it and I think you were on the right track at the motel.”
He doesn’t need to say more for me to know exactly what motel he’s referring to. I always had my doubts about the place but never went back to check.
“And just some brotherly advice…”
He’s not the same Tanner I left behind all those months ago. Even the way he talks is different.
“If you want to continue to hunt him, keep her out of it. She’s never going to be happy as long as you seek revenge. Let her go. She’s already been through hell and back. She should be enough, Haze. She deserves to be enough.”
His words hit me harder than I thought possible.