Senior Year Box Set

“To cover his tracks, Bill pulled Tiny over into the driver’s seat and then bailed. Tracy, scared and confused, left Tiny to take the blame for the wreck. Tiny ended up making a deal to enter the military instead of doing jail time.

“Tracy wasn’t aware that a deal was in the works and felt responsible for her part in leaving him to face the police alone. She could have helped exonerate Tiny, but for some reason, she decided to try to forget it ever happened. I mean, honestly, Tiny should have been in jail, but not for that.

“Anyway, Bill used her guilt to blackmail Tracy. I won’t go into detail, but I will say that he repeatedly raped her over the summer,” I explained.

“That’s awful,” Cassidy said.

“Tell them how you got in the middle of all this,” Tami prodded.

“Tracy and I hit it off. Unbeknownst to me, she used me to help free herself from Bill,” I said and stopped.

“Bill and David had a history,” Tami said, taking over the story. “Back in middle school, they got to know each other because of David’s drug use.”

“Since then, I’ve steered clear of drugs,” I said.

“Except for when you took ecstasy,” Paul shared.

Now I was pissed at Paul. I glared at him while I tried to refocus my anger on where it needed to be now, on Bill. Still, something had to be said.

“Dude, you work for Fritz, and he works for me. You seriously need to control your mouth, or there’ll be consequences. You also seem to forget I was dosed without my knowledge.”

Paul looked like a kicked puppy.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Kicked puppy or no, I needed to refocus.

“Back to the story. Bill and I have gone at it three times. The first was at the local swimming pool, where my dad had asked me to help him out. I asked Bill and his friends to leave when they decided to harass people. None of the other staff was willing to say anything, so I stepped up and tried to reason with him. His response was to punch me in the stomach. Thankfully, he decided to leave after that.

“The first I learned of his interest in Tracy was after football practice one day. I’d injured my neck and could barely walk. Bill drove up in his vintage Corvette to lay claim to Tracy. Since I wasn’t able to fight, I cheated: I kicked Bill in the balls. Lucky for me, the football team showed up and made it clear they wouldn’t tolerate Bill pounding on me,” I said.

“Good for you,” Cassidy said. “It’s too bad you don’t have that killer instinct still.”

I ignored her shot that I didn’t always finish a fight like she wanted me to.

“The last time we got into it, Bill was in the process of strangling Tracy. We faced off in a brutal fight, the results of which sent us both to the hospital and Bill back to juvie, where I’d hoped he would remain. Obviously, he’s been released. I’m worried about what he’ll do to Tracy if he finds her. He is capable of finishing what he started.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“We’ll use the GoFindMe app to get close to where Tracy is and launch the drones so we can see what we’re facing. Then I’ll go get her,” Paul said.

“Hopefully, the police will be there soon and scare them off,” Cassidy added.

Tami began to crawl over the front seat.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I need to check the medical supplies so I know what’s on hand.”

Tami climbed into the back and opened the medical bag she’d given me. When I gave up my Dodge Charger, I’d moved the kit to this car. When she’d given it to me, I’d guessed that most EMTs didn’t carry that much gear. Tami had her own little trauma center packed in there.

“I found some empty condom boxes; apparently, you used them all,” Tami commented.

“Better than the alternative,” I shot back.

Cassidy snorted.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“She just sees the humor in you lecturing us about unprotected sex,” Tami said.

I flipped them both off. That was a guy’s go-to move when he didn’t have a good comeback.

Paul had pulled onto the road that fronted the lake house. Cassidy had the app up, showing Tracy north of the house. I tried to recall that area. Duke and I had taken a nature walk through that part of the woods, and I remembered it actually being an excellent place to hide. The trees and underbrush were dense enough that if you got off the trail only a few feet, you would easily find a good hiding spot.

We pulled to a stop next to the woods where we thought Tracy was. We didn’t want to pull into the driveway and alert Bill that we’d arrived. From the house, you couldn’t see the road. I knew because the first time I’d been here, I’d missed the driveway.

Cassidy released the drones, sending them first to the house and then working them back to where Tracy was hiding. Parked out front were a Jeep and Bill’s Corvette. The drone spotted one of the men and instantly identified him as a hostile. He had a Glock in his right hand as he scanned the woods. This had just become deadly serious. Bill had graduated from being a bully to a full-on criminal.