The Ugly Truth (23 page)

Movement pulled my gaze from the Bigfoot, and I saw someone standing beside them. Brandon.

I couldn’t help it; I gasped and almost lost my footing. Instinctually, I grabbed the foliage to keep from falling on my butt. The noise I made was unmistakable in the quiet forest area.

Butch looked at me and grinned. “Well, well, well, look who’s here. Come on and join the party.”

“Help get,” the furry kid whispered and vanished without a sound into the trees.

I walked toward Butch, my hands held up so he could see them. “Butch, what are you doing out here?”

He cut his eyes toward the Bigfoot. “I’m trying to talk this coward into taking responsibility for what he did.”

“I have told you many times. I did not cause the fire.”

“The fire at the gym?” I guessed.

“Yeah, the one I took the blame for,” Butch said.

“I thought the fire was ruled an accident,” I said.

Butch snorted. “Officially, but everybody in town believes I started it. I’m tired of being the black sheep of Ugly Creek.”

I could relate to that. “Let’s all go back to town and sit down and talk about this.”

“Hell no!” Butch waved the gun so fiercely I was afraid it would accidentally go off. “I ain’t going to talk to nobody until this varmint here is ready to admit what he did.”

“You don’t need Buffy, why don’t you let her go?”

I looked at my brother with surprise. His gaze was locked on Butch, but I caught a glimpse of fear on his face. I wasn’t clear on what this was all about, but it was more than just an attempt to clear Butch’s name. Whatever was going on, my baby brother was in way over his head.

Butch grinned toward me. “Buffy and me got some things to talk about.”

“Nope,” I told him. “We most definitely don’t.”

“Let her go, Butch. We can make the Sasquatch talk.”

Butch shoved the gun into the creature’s side. “If I could have got Nootau’s kid he’d have admitted what he did by now. But I managed to hook up with incompetent help.” He leveled a look of sheer hatred toward my brother.

Brandon took a step toward Butch, and I must have had one of those psychic visions or something, because I knew the kid was about to put himself in danger. “Let my sister go, Johnson.”

“Maybe Bigfoot…Nootau…is telling the truth,” I said.

Butch snorted. “He ain’t. I know he snuck around back behind the gym and smoked sometimes. Me and the other boys gave him cigarettes. I know damn well I put out my light. When I left he was still standing there.”

“I did not smoke that night. I did not cause the fire,” Nootau said.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brandon edge toward Butch. Butch must have seen him too, because he turned toward my brother and growled.

“Let Brandon go,” I said.

“He’s helping me,” Butch said. “Aren’t you, boy?”

“I will, if you let my sister go.”

Butch rolled his eyes. “Well, aren’t we the sweet little family?”

“Put the gun down, Johnson.”

The familiar voice came from the trees on the left. Jake stepped into the clearing, and I swallowed back tears of relief. Near where Jake stood, I caught a glimpse of the small creature barely visible in the foliage.

Butch snorted. “And just why would I want to do that?”

“Because the police are on their way.”

“Good, because somebody wants to make a confession.” Butch poked the Bigfoot with the gun.

“I did not start the fire.”

“Well, if you don’t care about yourself, maybe you care about somebody else.”

Before I knew what was happening, Butch grabbed me and pulled me against him, my back to his chest, his arm around my waist, the gun pressed to the side of my head. “How about you admit what you did so she stays alive?”

“Don’t hurt my sister!” Brandon rushed over. “Please!”

Butch grinned. “I didn’t think you cared about
Buffy
here.”

I hated the way he made my name sound like a cuss word. Through gritted teeth I said, “Ms. Stephanova to you, jerk!”

“Let her go, Butch,” Jake said, edging closer.

“I should have known you’d come running to save her. She didn’t want me. Just like all the others. Didn’t want anything to do with me but ran to you. Even though you and her ‘best friend’ apparently want to kill each other.” With his chin he indicated the Bigfoot. “Courtesy of the fire he started.”

“All right,” Bigfoot said. “I will admit responsibility for the fire. Now please let the woman go.”

“As soon as you admit what you did to the authorities.” Butch leaned over my shoulder and licked my cheek. I was barely able to fight back the gag reflex. “Then you and me can talk,” he whispered.

When hell froze over, I thought, but didn’t think saying it would get me anywhere. My mind swirled and swam in an attempt to figure a way out of the situation.

“I’m sorry, Buffy.”

I looked into Brandon’s eyes and saw love.

“I’m going to get you out of this,” Jake’s voice came from behind me.

The foliage rustled, and I saw Maddie, Liza, and Steve standing close, apparently waiting for a chance to save me. And there was love in Maddie’s eyes. In spite of everything that had gone so utterly wrong, she was willing to put her life in danger for me.

This place was quickly becoming Grand Central Ugly Creek. If Butch lost it, there could be a lot of carnage.

You and those you love
, Aunt Octavia had said.
Betrayal and peril
. Something about my choice and the outcome. Dang, I need to write this vision stuff down.

“I’ll bet Washington would be an interesting place to live,” Butch said.

“It’s great,” I said. “Lots of parties and stuff. And everybody is rich.” I told you I was a pretty decent liar.

“We could go there together,” he said. “You could show me around.” He fondled my hair, and I wanted badly to fondle him with my fist.

“I could be rich.” He was staring off into his bright future, but I was listening to something a little closer to home. I knew that sound all too well, and my gaze moved to a pile of rocks about five feet to the side of dumbass and me. Great, just what we needed to make this party complete.

Brandon took a step toward us, and I shook my head. “Don’t do it, kid.” He frowned and was about to ignore me. I had to do something quick. “Do you remember that summer we played in the Qualls’ shed? The one with all the tires?”

His eyes widened, and I knew he remembered. I used my chin to gesture toward the rock pile. His face abruptly paled and he backed away.

Butch laughed. “Good little boy. Always does what his sister tells him to.”

“Only when she’s right,” Brandon said.

I realized Bigfoot…um…Nootau was slowly edging toward the rocks. I managed to catch his gaze and shake my head. To my surprise, he smiled and winked. Something told me he knew what was lurking under there. What in the world was he up to?

“Stop moving around,” Butch told Bigfoot.

The movement stopped, and Butch turned his attention back to me. “Tell me some more about how great it is in Washington.”

“Lots of money to be made,” I lied. “You’re a smart guy. There are buckets of opportunities for somebody like you.”

I looked over my shoulder at him and used up about ninety percent of the energy I had left to smile into his revolting face.

I could almost see visions of assets swirling in his brain, while behind him, Big Hairy Guy edged toward the rocks. Cold sweat popped out on my forehead. If he was going to do anything at all like I suspected he might, things were about to go from bad to put-your-head-between-your-legs-and-pray mode.

Just as Nootau reached the rocks, there was a loud rattle. I felt Butch stiffen just before I saw Nootau reach toward the rocks. I held my breath while I hoped to hell he wasn’t doing what I thought he was.

He was.

The snake was almost as long as Bigfoot was tall, Nootau held it with both hands, one behind the head and one down the body. At the end of the tail, the sound of rattling came from the mass of scales that gave the rattlesnake its name.

Raising it over his head, Nootau made as if to toss the animal toward Butch—and me.

Butch squealed like a pig, threw me aside, and hurled himself away from the Bigfoot and the snake. I saw Jake grab for me, but he was too far back. For a swine, Butch shoved hard. I bounced off a tree trunk on my way down, and for a moment, everything went black.

When my eyes opened, I saw Jake’s handsome face looking down at me. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

I almost passed out again, from the sheer wonder of him being there, holding me, saying
sweetheart
. Oh my. “I’m okay,” I managed.

The sound of scuffling caught my attention, and I turned to see Brandon punching the daylights out of Butch. Steve and Liza were working to stop him, but not with much enthusiasm.

Finally, Steve grabbed Brandon around the waist and set him on his feet out of reach of the cowering Butch. Brandon struggled for a moment longer, then went limp.

His gaze moved toward me and the shadow of agony darkened his face. “Buffy,” he groaned, and shook off Steve’s grip.

When he dropped beside me, I looked up into the faces of the two people I loved most in the world. For one, totally blissful moment, the world was bright and sweet and birds sang in the trees.

I moved to sit up, only to be pressed back toward the ground. “Lie still.”

“I’m okay,” I told Jake.

“No, you aren’t,” Brandon said.

“I was so scared,” Jake whispered, and I heard tears in his voice. “I was afraid I was going to lose you.”

“Me too.” I looked at my little brother, and tears were forming in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Buff…Stephie.”

My heart shattered into dust. “I shouldn’t have left you with that monster,” I said, surprised a tongue as dry as mine could even work.

“You went away to college; you couldn’t take me.” There was still a touch of bitterness in his voice, but I saw honesty in his eyes.

“We need to get you to a doctor,” Jake said.

“I’m fine,” I told him, and tried again to sit up.

Again, a firm hand held me down. “Lay still, sweetheart. You’re hurt.” And there it was, that look, the one I’d dreamed about, the expression of sheer, pure, amazing love. I was in heaven.

“How bad is she hurt?” Maddie’s face appeared, next to Jake’s.

And the world came crashing down on me.

I shoved at him. “No,” it was all I could manage.

“No? What are you talking about?”

“It can’t work between us.” My heartbeat stuttered, my heart cried out in agony, then curled up in a ball and lay weeping.

“I know there are things we have to work out.” Jake’s eyes glistened with welling tears. His voice shook as he continued. “I know your life is in D.C. I’d never ask you to give that up. I’ll go to D.C. with you. I’ll go to Mars with you. Just please don’t leave me.”

I couldn’t do this. I was a good person and all, but giving up the man I loved—and hurting him in the process—was just more than any human woman could endure. I loved Maddie, and I wanted the best for her, but the ugly truth was I wasn’t strong enough to do what I needed to do. I opened my big mouth to tell this awesome man just what kind of feelings he’d provoked inside me.

Then I caught a glimpse of Maddie behind him. “I can’t,” I said, and the words cut through me like long, sharp icicles. “You love Maddie and she loves you.”

“What are you talking about?”

I looked into the eyes of the man I loved more than life itself and knew he’d eventually resent—or even hate—me if I let this happen. It just might kill me to give him up, but I really had no choice.

So I handed him to my best friend. “The two of you belong together. You’ll work it out. Just be happy.” I glanced toward Maddie. “Both of you.”

The sound of a groan caught my attention and I looked to see Liza standing over Butch with a big stick held up like a softball bat. “Don’t even think about it, big boy,” she told him. Even with a cast on one arm, she was an imposing sight.

His eyes widened to saucer size, and he lay back down.

The sound of Maddie’s laughter confused me more than my aching head could tolerate. I looked her way, wondering what in the world she could possibly think was amusing.

“You think Jake and I are…?” Maddie doubled over with hard, explosive laughter, then straightened up and wiped at her eyes. “Do you hear that Jake? She thinks we’re a couple.”

“A
what
?” he looked totally, completely, utterly, discombobulated.

“You love each other,” I managed, utterly amazed I could talk with my heart shredding into pieces and swirling away with the wind.

“Do you love Brandon?” Maddie asked.

I stared at her. What did that have to do with the price of pot roast in Outer Mongolia? “Of course I do.”

“And I love Jake.” she punched him on the arm.

“Ouch!” He put his hand over where she’d nailed him.

“I love him like a brother.” I saw her swallow. “And I couldn’t stand to watch my brother suffer so soon after Dad—” She looked at the ground.

“That’s why you left while I was still in the hospital?” Jake asked. His face had the haggard expression of one who had experienced deep, all-encompassing agony.

She looked at him, and tears began to slide down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. Mom was so broken up. You just lay there and moaned in pain, and they weren’t sure you were going to make it and I just couldn’t take it. I couldn’t stand to watch my family suffer. I’m a coward, I know. I just couldn’t stand to be in Ugly Creek any longer.”

Jake stood and pulled her into his arms. “I should have realized that. I’m an idiot.”

“Well, I knew that a long time ago,” Maddie said, and then dissolved into loud, messy sobs. Yeah, I admit it; it was good to know the always-together Madison Clark could cry messy. On the other hand, it hurt to realize she was that upset. My poor best friend. She’d been hurt more than any of us had realized.

I used the distraction to sit up off the hard dirt. Maybe Maddie wasn’t the only coward in the bunch. I looked toward my handsome, six-foot-something-or-other, little brother. “I love you, Brandon. Let’s please talk things out.”