I showed it to Skeeter. “Perfect.”

After I pressed send, he took the phone back and set it on the table. “We need to discuss how this will go down.”

I nodded, but then I heard something that made me freeze in place—my ringtone for Mason.

I sucked in a breath.

“It’s Deveraux,” Jed said, looking at the screen of my personal phone.

Skeeter pointed his finger in my face. “Do not answer that. He’s still at the damned sheriff station.”

“Skeeter! Jed said he was in the bathroom. No one will know!”

His jaw tightened. “Why is he calling? We told the fool you’d get in touch with him later.”

“Would you be content with that order?”

He waved his hand at Jed. “Give her the damned phone.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Text only. And do not tell him where you are or who you are with.”

“I’m not stupid.” I grabbed the phone from Jed.

Skeeter shot me a look, but I didn’t plan on fooling him. I declined the call and composed a text.

You can’t talk to me now. Someone on your end is watching. I’m safe. I promise.

Where are you?

“Do not answer that,” Skeeter said from behind me.

He’d been spying on the screen over my shoulder, but I wasn’t exactly mad. He was in this too. In a way, he had a right to know.

“I’m not,” I said, weariness suddenly washing over me.

I’ll tell you when I can. Do not go to your momma’s house. My vision’s coming true and you’re not safe. PLEASE be careful.

I pressed send and closed my eyes. “They’ll go after him next.”

“Not in the sheriff’s station,” Skeeter said. “They’ll wait. Probably until he gets home. If it were me, I’d attack in the dead of night. But I suspect they don’t just want to kill him—this plan is proof enough of that. They want him to suffer. They’ll probably hold him hostage for a bit and torture him before they off him.”

I spun around, light-headed with terror. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Fuck, no. But it’s the goddamned truth.”

Jed cleared his throat. “Skeeter.”

He shook his head. “This isn’t some spat at recess, Rose. This is deadly serious. And if you’re making deals with the devil, then you need to know all the facts, ugly or not. You can handle this.” He leaned closer. “You are not some hothouse rose, painstakingly nurtured and trimmed in a carefully controlled environment. You are a rose bush left out in the wild, scraping for survival. You have fought for everything you have, and you thrive on the struggle. You’re called to it. The harder things are, the better you get.”

I stared up at him in disbelief.

“So no more coddling. No more babying. I want nothing more than to protect you and tell you can’t take part in this game. But the truth is, half the time you’re the protector.” He glanced at Jed. “So she needs to know the facts—as ugly as they might be—and she needs to help us make informed decisions.”

Jed gave a quick nod, although he didn’t look happy about it.

I stood there in stunned silence, surprised by how empowered I felt. Before, I’d believed I had a chance of seeing this J.R. Simmons mission through, but now I was certain I could make it work.

“I need to protect Mason.” I lifted my chin. “It’s a deal-breaker. We have to take him somewhere safe.”

Skeeter glanced at Jed, who released a long sigh. “Do you have any idea how impossible that is? Where are we gonna take him? Like he’s even gonna go.”

My head swam with fear, but I was tired of living half of my life in fear and the other half in deceit. It was time to face the consequences of my decisions, no matter how much I stood to lose.

“Here.” I looked Skeeter in the eye. “We need to bring him here.”

Chapter 25

That went over like a lead balloon.

Both men started shouting, but after watching them bluster for several seconds, I shook my head. “Someone has to go pick him up. I’ll tell him to park behind the Sinclair station. Whoever gets him can blindfold him to keep from compromising your safe house.”

“No damn way,” Skeeter growled.

Jed eyed me like I’d lost my mind. “Mason’s never gonna agree to it.”

“He will,” I said. “If he thinks he’s coming to me.” I choked on the lump in my throat. “Who do you trust to get him?”

Skeeter looked stunned, but he gave me an answer nonetheless. “Merv.”

“Skeeter!” Jed protested.

“Look.” I put my hand on his good arm. “He’s smart, and he can help us. He wants the same thing we do.”

Skeeter gave me a sardonic grin. “I suspect we have very different ways of going about it.”

I dropped my hand and turned away, my impending loss sinking into my skin. “Not in this instance. We need to have someone around who knows the law if we have any hope of getting our charges dropped.” I took a deep breath and turned around to face them, feeling even surer of my decision. “We need him, don’t you see? We’re all in the thick of this together, like it or not.”

Neither one of them said anything for several heartbeats, and then Skeeter finally turned to look at me. “Think this through, Rose,” he said softly. “It’s all gonna fall apart if you do this.”