“Please, TJ,” Holly said. “Just quit. Just stop what you’re doing. You can’t run and run till there’s no more road. That was just a fantasy we were telling ourselves.”

TJ took a long breath. She looked to John Wesley playing on the long branch of the tree, so damn heavy and fat that it touched the ground. “Erase this number,” TJ said. “When I call you again, it’ll be from a new phone.”

“What do I tell the sheriff?”

“Tell him you never heard from me.”

*   *   *

Chastity and Graham got back from the parties at close to five in the morning, the sound of the brass band at that corner bar pounding in her ears, the pills and cocaine in her blood making her feel like her heart might explode. The night just couldn’t move fast enough, everything jumping from place to place, thought to thought. Time to time. Maybe if she hadn’t called Daddy at the dealership, she could’ve kept this party going on forever. If Graham could get some more cash, maybe sell his car, they could keep this up for a while. Maybe until Jazz Fest. The only thing that she needed to get rid of was TJ Byrd. That girl had been nothing but a goddamn anchor since she rescued those hicks back at the lake. TJ got what she needed and Chastity got a wild little ride. But that shit needed to end and that girl and her creepy little brother needed to go. When she got back to Graham’s house, she’d make it plain they couldn’t stay there anymore. Who was TJ to pass judgment on her life or on Graham’s friends? She wasn’t the one who was a goddamn killer.

Graham nearly rammed into the side of his house while he squealed into the short driveway, parking sideways and leaving on the headlights as he stumbled up the front steps. Chastity followed, knowing he’d want her to meet him back in the bedroom. She’d already took care of him in the nasty bathroom stall and he’d felt up under her skirt while they were at the bar, enjoying her keeping eye contact with the bartender while he reached up into her panties. That’s when they’d decided it was time to go, feeling like they just might start doing it there right in front of the whole brass band going to “Little Liza Jane.” Everything so hazy and wild.

She closed the front door and tiptoed around some new dude sleeping on the couch, before she nearly walked into a wall. Graham was waiting for her. His shirt already off, gripping her shoulders and pushing her down to her knees. She didn’t want to go to her knees but did anyway.

Everything was spinning. Her mind racing so damn fast. “Oh, yeah,” Graham said. “Come on. Go. Do it.”