Sick Remedies (Pretty Lies, Ugly Truths Duet Book 2) Read online

  How did he know where I was?

  No. That was presumptuous, he could’ve come for Nika. Even more reason for me to get out of here. I hurried to my Camaro, carefully placing the bag of glass on the passenger side floor.

  Keeping an eye on Rhett’s car through the rearview. I didn’t make it out of the driveway before he pulled away from the curb, coasting to the middle of the street. That stopped me from being able to go back the way I’d come.

  Whatever, I knew another route.

  I reversed, shoving the Camaro into drive and hitting the gas as soon as I had enough space to go forward.

  I got up to twenty miles per hour, jumping to thirty within seconds. I stopped focusing on my mirrors and gave my full attention to the road in front of me. I didn’t need to wonder if Rhett was following me when I could hear his car right on my ass.

  A buzzing sound erupted from my bag. Thinking it was Emery, I reached for it on the seat beside me, digging blindly until I had my cell safely within my grasp. I took my eyes off the road for a second to check the ID, seeing Rhett’s name instead of Ems. I answered, placing it on speaker so I had both hands to drive with.

  “What do you want?”

  “Pull over,” he replied, sounding as calm and collected as ever.

  “That’s not happening.”

  “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be Nova.”

  I swung around a curve at the last second, hoping to throw him off. It didn’t work, he stuck right with me.

  “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

  “Then why did you pick up the phone?”

  “I’m hanging up now.” I cut around another bend, the sharpness of the turn causing my cell to fly off my lap and land on the floor. “Damnit,” I cursed.

  The faint sound of male laughter came from beneath my seat. “You’re not going to outdrive me, little girl.”

  Clenching my jaw, I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, planning to do just that.

  “Pull over,” Rhett repeated.

  “Fuck. Off.” I pressed the pedal down, adjusting my grip as the Camaro ate up the ground before me. Annika’s neighborhood fell behind us, becoming a tiny dot in my peripheral.

  There was a turnabout not much further ahead, I just needed to get to it. I’d be fine after that. Coming up fast behind a tan Lincoln, I checked the other lane for traffic. Seeing it was clear, I swerved over onto the opposite side of the road and easily passed them, easing back into the correct lane once I put a fair amount of space between us. Rhett wasted no time in doing the same, his Hellcat keeping up with my Classic with no amount of trouble.

  Damn him. “I’m not going to say anything about what I found, so just leave me alone!”

  “I’m not sure what you’re referring to. As far as I know, you haven’t found anything.”

  So, that’s how he wanted to play it? I sucked my teeth, letting off the gas when I spotted the turnabout just a few more yards away. Rhett continued to talk, I blocked him out.

  Doing another quick check for any oncoming traffic, I took a deep breath and cut the wheel. My tires screamed at me as I maneuvered through the roundabout, practically drifting around the bend.

  I said a silent prayer, hoping that Rhett moved his ass out of my way. If he made me wreck my car all bets were off. I would string him up by his balls.

  Fortunately, his reaction time was on point. A sharp curse blasted through the speaker of my phone, drowned out by the roar of his engine. He had no choice but to swerve out of my way or risk a head on collision.

  I quickly got myself back onto the road, keeping my speed steady now. I peeked in my mirror, seeing Rhett’s Challenger growing smaller and smaller as I put space between us. For what felt like the first time in ages, I grinned. Couldn’t outdrive him my ass. I didn’t whip this car to be cute.

  I slowed about five minutes down the road so that I could retrieve my phone. When I was finally able to grab it, I was surprised to see the counter still going.

  “Why didn’t he hang up?” I wondered out loud.

  “Because I wanted to let you know you’re going to regret what you just did.”

  I jumped, not expecting him to respond. With a scoff, I placed my cell in the cup holder, making sure Emery hadn’t tried to get ahold of me yet.

  “Did I hurt your ego?” I couldn’t help but taunt. His responding laughter sent a chill skating down my spine.

  “It would take a lot more than that to bruise my confidence. You’ve no idea who I really am, baby-girl. But I know exactly who you are.”

  His words rang too close to the truth. I’d let him in more than I ever had anyone else, and on an intimate level.

  In the time we’d spent together, I had started to feel as if he knew me better than I knew myself, but I’d be damned if I was going to admit that.

  Especially now.

  “This conversation is over,” I replied, searching for the quickest route to the expressway. Regardless of who either of us were, I had to leave both him and Legacy Falls behind me.

  “You think you get to decide that? Not only do you have something that belongs to me, you’re not at liberty to walk away from this.”

  I wasn’t sure what the first part meant, but his never-ending ability to read my mind was unnerving. “Goodbye, Rhett.”

  “I know you’re running. Go ahead. I’m going to be nice and give you a head start. It doesn’t matter where you go or how far. I’m coming for you Nova.”

  The line beeped, signaling he’d disconnected the call before I could, leaving me to decipher if his parting words were a threat, or a warning.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  RHETT

  Dirt and tiny rocks clinked off the sides of my car, the force of the tires creating a small dust storm. Surprising me wasn’t an easy feat, but this fucking girl did it time and time again.

  If we would have collided, we’d both have gotten hurt. At the speed we were going, potentially even killed. She took the risk anyway. That equally pissed me off and amused me.

  A text notification appeared on my cells screen, the second from Callum within ten the past minutes. I’d sent him to Nova’s house while I came to Annika’s, to conduct a second search.

  I knew Nova would take off, and with her gone, there wasn’t any reason to tiptoe around. Unlike when I searched, he had the ability to look high and low. Leave the smallest pieces of furniture unturned.

  Low: Look what I found.

  I studied the picture he sent to go along with the message. So, it was her.

  I tapped the steering wheel, funneling this revelation through a thorough thought process. It confirmed everything I already knew. Behind the most innocent faces, always lurks something they want to keep hidden. However, I hadn’t been expecting her to be behind the murder of Martin. The way that man’s head was bashed in...

  I was in the middle of replying when a third text came in. This time telling me there was something else I needed to see—in person. I cleared Callum’s message box from the screen and saw Nova had yet to end our call.

  Over the purr my engine, I could hear her talking to herself.

  “Why didn’t he hang up?”

  “Because I wanted to let you know you’re going to regret what you just did.”

  Unless I was hearing things, she fucking scoffed at me.

  “Did I hurt your ego?”

  My ego? That was cute. I laughed softly, angling my car in the opposite direction. She hadn’t realized I was toying with her yet. If I really wanted her ass right now, I’d have her.

  “It would take a lot more than that to bruise my confidence. You’ve no idea who I am, baby-girl. But I know exactly who you are.”

  She sucked in a small breath, breathing back out, “This conversation is over.”

  “You think you get to decide that? Not only do you have something that belongs to me, you’re not at liberty to walk away from this.”

  “Goodbye, Rhett.”

  “I know you’r
e running. Go ahead. I’m going to be nice and give you a head start. It doesn’t matter where you go or how far. I’m coming for you Nova.”

  I ended the call, and pulled out onto the road, no doubt scaring the shit out of the man who was coming from the opposite direction. He laid on his horn as he blew past, giving me the finger. Lucky for him I had somewhere to be.

  I sent Tripp an update, and then returned Callum’s call. He answered in the middle of the first ring.

  “Did you get her?”

  “Not yet. I’m coming to you first. What did you find?”

  “You mean besides our missing murder weapon? A few things.”

  I checked the time, estimating how long it would take to get to Nova’s from where I was at.

  I’d been serious about giving her a head start. I knew both ways in and out of Legacy Falls, I wasn’t too concerned about her truly getting away from me. It’d never happen, not in a million fucking years. Her soul was a perfect mix of chaos and art. I wanted it all to myself. I’d been patient for two years; I was done waiting. I’d let her get far enough away that she felt safe beneath an illusion of freedom, and then I’d swoop in and finish what we started.

  I made it back across town in record timing, strolling into Nova’s house like it belonged to me. From the moment I entered I knew Callum had taken my advice.

  The place looked like a hurricane had torn through it. Couch cushions were tossed haphazardly across the room. The entertainment stand was no longer attached to the wall, plants were dumped from pots.

  I locked the door behind me, and then listened for any sound that would indicate where he was.

  “Yo?”

  “In the basement!” Callum answered.

  With a leisure pace, I made my way downstairs. A bare bulb barely emitting enough of a glow to see anything was all that lit the area, and it smelled of moss. I went through the door situated along the far wall.

  Callum was waiting for me on the other side, leaning against an old deep freezer, his gloved hands holding a gulf club that was slightly bent at one end.

  “You know things are about to get messy, right?” he asked as way of greeting.

  I ignored that. “What else did you need to show me?”

  “This.” He turned and lifted the lid of the freezer.

  I peered inside, scanning over a large mass wrapped in garbage bags. It was fucking obvious this was a body.

  “It hasn’t been in here long,” I noted. There wasn’t any sign of frost, and it still looked pretty flexible.

  “Should it be in here at all?” Callum asked sarcastically.

  “What else would she have done with it?” I reached into the cubicle and ran my hand over the corpse. As I thought, it wasn’t too old. She had to of done this recently. Very recently. But to go straight to Annika’s afterward, why?

  “Text my sister.”

  “And tell her what?” Callum asked, placing the golf club beneath his arm so he could dig out his cell.

  “Tell her or Evie to go by Annika’s.”

  “For?”

  “Because Nova was just there. Stop asking questions.”

  I found the head of the body, and then used my fingers to tear a decent slit in the garbage bags wrapped around it.

  “You recognize him?”

  Callum stepped closer to get a better look at our mystery cadaver. “Nah. But there was a blue sedan being towed from in front of the house when I got here. More than likely it was his. I sent the plate number to Tripp.”

  “Hm.” I pushed the lid of the freezer down and rested my palms on its worn surface. “I’ve never seen him in town before. He could’ve come here for the drive. If other people are getting involved then the bid has gone up, we need to move faster.”

  “Well, yeah. But shouldn’t we discuss the bodies your girl has on her now. Aren’t you a little bothered by the fact that she’s been running around killing people?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Why would I be bothered? Did you forget who we are?”

  “Me and you were raised to do this kind of thing. She’s supposed to be this towns innocent angel.”

  “You know better than to listen to other peoples’ judgements. I’ve always known Nova wasn’t the sweet, innocent thing she pretended to be. I knew it from the moment we met.”

  “So, it was toxicity at first sight?”

  “Put that club down and let’s go.”

  “What do we do about this guy?” he hitched a thumb over his shoulder.

  “Absolutely nothing. We’ll call in someone else to handle it. We don’t have time.” I left the back room and headed for the stairs, piecing together my next course of action.

  “Evie’s heading to Annika’s now.”

  “Good.” I went right at the top of the stairs, looking over the kitchen.

  It wasn’t as messy as the living room, but there were still drawers pulled out, and dishes in pieces on the floor. I could work with this.

  “She has to know about the flash-drive,” Callum said, still following behind me.

  I peered into the dining room. “Was it necessary to dump her parent’s ashes out?”

  “Aye, I didn’t do that. She did. Or maybe dude in the freezer. Either way, it wasn’t me. I respect the dead, for the most part. I wouldn’t mind pissing on her daddy’s remains.”

  “Me and you both,” I replied absentmindedly. I wasn’t sure how close Nova and her father were. We hadn’t gone that deep into our family histories. Half the time we spent together consisted of me being balls deep inside her pussy.

  The other half I was focused on figuring her out, learning just who Nova Markov was.

  I didn’t get the feeling she hated the him, even though she should of. I scanned over the table, grinning when I spotted her mistake.

  “Whoever that man is downstairs, he didn’t do this.”

  “How do you know?”

  “That.” I pointed to the near empty liquor bottle Nova had left behind. Truth relied on perspective, and I had plenty of that. “Now, tell me, why of all days would she decide to empty that urn?”

  It took him a second, but he eventually caught on to what I was getting at.

  “Well, fuck.”

  I shrugged. “We can handle this. She can’t. She won’t know how.

  “Yeah, that’s true,” he agreed.

  “Let’s go.” I walked back through the house.

  I needed to get to her before someone else did. Nova wasn’t a seasoned criminal. I was. I lived and breathed this world of mayhem, thrived in it.

  I had to give her some credit for making it as far as she had, but at the end of the day, this puzzle of hers wasn’t hard to piece together. And that was just one of many problems. She was way out of her depth, involved in something so much bigger than she could imagine.

  I felt like a first-class jackass for not realizing what the fuck was going on sooner. I’d made a colossal mistake where she was concerned. It wouldn’t happen a second time.

  CHAPTER NINE

  NOVA

  I pulled around to the back of the building, wondering how safe it was to leave my car here without supervision. The motel was one of those places that hosted seedy affairs, hookers, and other dirty deeds that went down in pay by the hour rooms.

  Weeds were growing through the cracks in the asphalt, and litter from fast food was strewn across it. I popped open my door, taking a cautious look around as I hit the lock button. There wasn’t a single soul in sight. Same with the cars. Only two sat in the back, parked closer to the shabby building than mine was.

  Out front there were three more, four if I counted Emery’s.

  My paranoia that Rhett would somehow materialize out of the thin air had me choosing this spot. The Camaro was too noticeable to sit where someone could see it from the main road.

  I snagged my purse from the passenger seat, deciding to leave the bags until I had better clarity on what was going on. I pocketed my keys, and reached skyward, hearing a s
mall pop in my back. Walking forward, I tugged my shorts down from where they’d risen.

  I had drove for so long my ass cheeks were numb, and my legs felt like jello. I could have stopped miles back at the first place I’d initially suggested, but I needed the drive.

  Turns out, that was for nothing. It did nothing to clear my mind. My emotions were just as jagged, if not more than they had been, my insides were tight.

  I’d made it out of Legacy Falls, but now I was faced with another question I didn’t have an answer to.

  What now?

  Things had snowballed together. Stress spread through me like ink spilled on paper. As I rounded the building, I paused and took a deep, ragged breath. Falling apart would do me no good.

  Emery had gotten a room on the first floor, thankfully. The second level was ten times worse, each depleted door looking as if it led to a different variation of hell. I found the correct room and knocked softly, steeling my nerves for what would come next.

  Not two seconds later, Emery was standing in front of me. With her golden, rose hued hair perfectly plaited, and her floral sundress without a wrinkle, she looked way too refreshed.

  I scowled at her. “Did you even check before opening the door?”

  “Yeah. I saw a pissed off fire breathing dragon and knew it was you.”

  She moved aside before I could shove her out of the way.

  “Ew.” I stared at dark green carpet that might have been blue once, and hideous pinstriped walls.

  “I know it’s not the Royal Penthouse, but it’s somewhere to get our bearings. I did a bed-bug check, by the way. We’re good.”

  “Excellent,” I deadpanned, moving towards a chair that had seen much better days. “Although, at this point in my life, bed-bugs would be the least of my problems.”

  She shut and locked the door before coming to join me. “Why? What happened with Nika?”

  I sat down and crossed my ankles. “What do you mean, what happened with Nika?”

  “She messaged me that you were coming to talk to her. So, what happened?”

  “She was fucking my dad. And you knew about it. How do you think that conversation went? She’s an unapologetic skank.”