Southern Storm (Southern 3)

“Get these fucking cuffs off me, you pig,” he says. My body starts to shake, and it takes Beau putting his arms around me to feel safe. “You can’t pin this shit on me. I didn’t do anything.” We walk just a few steps, and he sees us.

“She was supposed to be mine!” he shouts. “She was always supposed to be fucking mine.”

I just watch him as he’s being led to the car, his hands cuffed behind his back. He wears all black, and his face is streaked with dirt.

“Oh my God,” Kallie says from beside me. “It’s Chase.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Beau

“Chase.” I hear her voice next to me, but my eyes are glaring at him. I take a step forward, but Jacob pushes me back.

“This is a crime scene.” I look at him. “If you touch anything, the whole case can be thrown out due to tampering.” I am shaking with rage. This man dated Savannah, he pretended he cared, and all along, he was the one who tried to hurt her.

Grady bends him down and puts him in the back of the car. “You guys don’t have nothing on me!” he shouts just as Grady closes the door and then walks over to us. Chase is still yelling in the car, but I don’t understand what he is saying.

“What do you have?” Jacob asks Grady who looks down.

“I was here picking up the stuff you forgot,” Grady says to me. “I saw this movement on the side, and then he tore through the house. I had to chase him all the way through the back fields.” He looks at his arms that are all scratched up. “I spotted his car while I had him on the ground. He fought like a banshee,” he says, and it’s only then I notice that his mouth is bleeding from the side. “I haven’t checked out his car yet.”

“I’ll do that,” Jacob says. “You get him down to the station and get him booked. Read him his rights.”

“Or not,” Casey says, and everyone looks at him. “You caught him on the premises, and he started a fire. You pretty much have a slam dunk case.”

“This goes by the book.” Jacob glares at Casey.

“Got it,” Grady says. Walking back to the car, he gets in and you can hear Chase yelling and screaming now.

“Okay, you three,” Jacob says to Kallie, Olivia, and Casey “You need to head back to the bar and make sure that no one knows what’s going on.” Then he turns to me. “You two.” He points at Savannah and me. “Are not going to listen to anything I have to say, so get in the truck, and we’ll go check out the car.”

Grabbing Savannah’s hand, we rush to the truck. “Are you okay?” I ask her quietly before Jacob gets in.

“No,” she answers. “If it wasn’t for my stupid dating to try to make you notice me, none of this would have happened.”

I brush away the tear on her face. “If I didn’t have my head so far up my ass, I would have told you I loved you a long time ago.” I smile at her when she smiles and then looks down. “So I am the one to blame.”

I put my arm around her shoulder and pull her to me, kissing her head. Jacob gets in the truck, and we head over to the truck. “There it is.” Savannah points at the silver truck. “That’s Chase’s truck.” Jacob pulls over and parks in front of it. I open the door and wait for Jacob to go ahead of us.

“Don’t touch anything,” he says, putting on a pair of gloves. He opens the driver’s door, and it looks normal. There is no mess anywhere. It’s a clean truck. Jacob leans in and presses the button of the trunk, and we walk around. When he lifts the lid, we all gasp.

“Holy shit.” I look down and see that there are gasolines cans, sticks of dynamite, and binoculars.

I’m about to lean in and move things when Jacob’s phone rings. “Yeah,” he says and then looks over at us. “Okay, we can be there in ten.” He closes the phone. “Chase wants to talk, but he will only do it with Savannah there.”

“Fuck, no!” I roar out when she says, “Let’s go.”

“You are not going in there,” I say, and it’s her now who puts her hand on my cheek.

“He has the answers to all of our questions,” she says quietly. “I need to know why.”

“She is not going in there without me.” I look over at Jacob who just nods.

We get to the station, and I walk in holding Savannah’s hand. Grady is there waiting for us. “He is waiting for you guys. He has quite a story for you.” I follow Jacob into the room where Chase sits behind a brown table with his hands cuffed in front of him.