I tell him everything. About finding Paul talking to Sienna the day she was murdered. About his lie to the police, and me following his lead. About him taking off with a backpack stuffed with food and a nylon hammock to find Jax, all the ways I’ve covered for him since. About Jax pressing his face to the window just last night.

Chet swings his feet to the floor and sits up, frowning. “Jax was here? What for?”

“I’m not entirely sure. At first, I thought it was to tell me something happened to Paul, which is why I opened the door. He knew about the woman drowning—even knew her name—and then he told me to watch my back.”

“Dude. That’s...that’s crazy. Weren’t you scared?”

“The weird thing is, it didn’t feel like a threat. He wasn’t aggressive, like, at all. I think he was trying to warn me.” I think back to his words about Paul and the body count, his expression when he looked through the woods to Micah’s, the way he shifted from foot to foot. “He seemed more spooked by me than I was of him.”

“He’s at the receiving end of a manhunt. Of course he’s spooked.” Chet leans back into the recliner, watching me from across the room. Particles of dust dance in the air between us, glittering in a beam of sunlight. “But I guess the bigger question is, are you?”

“Am I what, spooked?”

Chet nods, and I don’t have to think on my answer for long. Micah and Sam might say Jax is dangerous, but I’m less sure. If he’d wanted to hurt me last night, he could have, and in a thousand different ways. He didn’t seem like a killer, just a lost and tortured soul.

“I’m not afraid of Jax.”

Chet gives me a meaningful look. “I’m not talking about Jax.”

My gaze falls on our wedding picture at the edge of Paul’s desk, happy faces in a shiny silver frame. My head is tilted up to his, leaning in for the kiss that sealed the deal. “Hello, wifey,” he whispered against my lips, and I thought my heart would burst with joy.

Unlike Sam and the rest of my friends, Chet never asked me if I was sure. He never tried to talk me out of it or told me I was insane for marrying a man who everybody says got away with murder. He never accused me of choosing money over sense.

But that doesn’t mean he never thought it.