BooksBarbecue
Back The Heathens
Chapters (33)
  1. ALSO BY ACE ATKINS
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  33. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Tibbehah County, Mississippi,” TJ said. “You never heard of it?”

“Nope,” Chastity said. “Sounds like the ass crack of the Mid-South.”

TJ felt the blood rush into her face, the smug little rich girl calling her a liar, then a killer, then flirting with her boyfriend, and now calling her home a real shithole.

“It’s beautiful country,” she said. “Runs alongside the Natchez Trace and a big national forest. We got all kinds of wildlife. Big lake where we fish in the summertime.”

“Well,” she said. “That’s nice. Are y’all in or are y’all out?”

“To kill your stepmomma?” Ladarius asked.

“Yeah,” Chastity said. “I would really appreciate it.”

TJ just shook her head some more and stood up, walking over to a rock wall, setting her elbows on the ledge while watching a hawk circle and circle far out on the water. A small boat passed the mansion and a choppy wake rolled wave after wave toward the shore, the floating docks rising and falling.

“I’m sorry,” Chastity said. “I believe you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Chastity nodded. “But you do realize that you’re gonna have to get other folks to believe you, too.”

TJ nodded, wind cutting off the lake and blowing her hair off her face. She reached back and pulled it into a ponytail, wishing she had a hair tie.

“Wow.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re kinda pretty without all that shit covering up your face,” Chastity said. “You ever wear any makeup?”

“Sometimes.”

“You got a real look to you, TJ,” she said. “Those blue eyes. Wow. Those are something fierce. You must be out on social media? Right? You’re keeping your people posted on this wild-ass road trip?”

“Posted on what?”

“On your run from the law,” Chastity said. “You and Ladarius being innocent?”

TJ had no idea what the girl was saying. Chastity tilted her head and studied her face, like the way a contractor might before taking on a big job. “Yeah,” Chastity said. “Won’t be easy. But I can do it.”

“Do what?” TJ said. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“TJ Byrd,” Chastity said. “Wrongfully Accused Hero. Teenage Superstar. You know. Fucking damn well all of it, girl.”

FIFTEEN

Johnny Stagg watched with great amusement as his boy Bishop walked Chester Pratt into the back office at the Rebel and slammed his head down onto his glass-topped desk. Stagg appreciated the theatrics of the situation, even though it knocked over some fresh prune juice one of his girls had just brought him.

Pratt didn’t even try to fight it. His cheek flush to the desk, staring right at Stagg as Stagg wiped off the spilled purple juice near his telephone line. The boy’s face was redder than a damn beet, bug-eyed, and swallowing air as Stagg leaned back in his padded leather chair and placed a bony finger to his lips. What to do? What to do?