Page 30 of Rascal

She whispered, “Shane, perjury comes with a five-year prison sentence. I can’t do that! Hallie lost her phone, so she couldn’t prove otherwise!” Elise exclaimed, wringing her hands together.

“You lied on the stand! Why?” I yelled.

“For you. You were so adamant Hallie had flipped, and we all wanted to support you,” Elise cried.

“You were supposed to be Hallie’s best friend!”

“I was for years. But you didn’t do what you were meant to!” Elise bizarrely said.

“She speaking English?” I asked.

“Yeah. Seems the bitch had a crush on you. Liar, here, believed getting Hallie out of the way meant you’d seek comfort with her. Instead of falling into her arms, you fled after the trial. Jesus, what a fuckin’ mess,” Chance stated.

“Were you aware that Hallie was pregnant?” I demanded.

Elise’s eyes moved to the wall again.

“God, no. Don’t tell me you sent your pregnant best friend to prison.”

“She was meant to give birth, and we’d have raised it,” Elise explained as tears welled in her eyes.

“Did you pay those women to beat her so badly, she miscarried?” I dreaded the answer, but I needed to know.

“No! I don’t have a clue about that,” Elise exclaimed.

I closed my eyes. Fuck me. Everything was tumbling down around my ears. “You’re gonna go back and tell the truth. And then you’ll take whatever punishment you’re given. And if you end up in prison, that’s your issue. I can’t get my head around this shit. Get out!” I yelled.

Elise fled crying, and I held my head in my hands. “Did I send an innocent woman to prison? I’m fuckin’ doubting my own memories now.”

Chance and Bear exchanged glances and shook their heads. “Rascal, this is such a clusterfuck; we can’t even figure out the truth,” Chance said.

Jinx

There. I saw the movement again. The old friend of Rascal’s had driven out of here sobbing. Moments later, Rascal walked out of the building and took some deep breaths.

That’s when I noticed it a second time. Someone was lurking beyond the gates, and just out of Dollar’s sight.

As I watched, pretending to work on my bike, I saw her. She was staring at the clubhouse, and Rascal had brought her out of her hiding place. It was that woman. Hallie. I put my tools down and moved away. The moment Hallie lost sight of me, I changed directions and ran towards the gate, sticking close to the trees. Dollar saw me coming and kept his stance casual as he noticed I was using the trees for cover.

He picked up his phone and punched in someone’s number. I hoped he was calling for backup. I slipped through the gate and heard a car start up. Moments later, Hallie drove past me with a smirk on her face. She saluted me as Dollar joined me.

“Fuck, that bitch was watching us?” he demanded.

“Yeah. I saw her, but from the angle she was hiding at, you couldn’t have seen her. But something was wrong. She was different,” I replied.

“What do you mean?” Rascal asked, jogging over.

“I can’t put my finger on it; however, something seemed off. She didn’t seem as confident,” I mused.

“Bitch was flipping us the bird,” Dollar said.

“I could be mistaken, but my gut feeling says she wanted us to see her,” I retorted, staring out after the car. “Would she break her own injunctions?”

“Who the fuck knows anymore, Jinx? Everything I thought I knew is being turned upside down,” Rascal muttered. My brother looked wrecked. I wished I could help him, but I’d no idea where to start. Rascal was carrying a heavy load, and I knew he was blaming himself for the others being arrested and charged. The whole club prayed that our lawyer would get them off. But with the entire situation spiralling out of control, it didn’t look great for any of them.

Lio

“What did they say?” Phil demanded, meeting me in a coffee shop.