What was it about me that made people think I was for sale?
My mother thought I could be used as payment for her fucking habits. Owen and his family seemed to think that ten-thousand dollars could buy him a night of rape and attempted murder at my expense. Owen may have seen the shy Abby in the past—the one whose skin was always covered, who kept to herself out of self-protection. He had no fucking clue who he was dealing with now. I wasn’t going to curl into a corner. I was done feeling sorry for myself. This shit wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t something I’d asked for.
I was no fucking victim, and I refused to be bought.
Fuck. This. Shit!
I peeled down the shell road that led to the Fletchers’ compound. The Sheriff’s squad car was already parked in the driveway by the main house. Owen’s blue Chevy was on the side of the house by his private entrance.
A chill ran down my spine at the thought of them witnessing me making it clear that I wouldn’t be purchased, by them or anyone else. Ten-thousand dollars may have bought the Fletchers a lot of things, but it couldn’t buy me. I knew one thing for sure at that point: Owen was determined to treat me like the whore he thought I was by taking what he thought he was entitled to and then making sure he paid for it.
I didn’t take my foot off the gas when I tore into the Fletchers front yard. I started with a few 360s, making sure I used every bit of the thick heavy truck tires to destroy Bethany Fletcher’s award-winning roses, plant beds, retaining walls, and manicured lawn. I hit a few sprinkler heads and mini-geysers of water shot out of the ground and into the sky, raining a thick muddy fountain down onto the windshield. I turned on the windshield wipers, spreading the mud over the windows before clearing enough of it to see through the blurred coating of brown sludge.
I kept going even after there was no grass left. Each turn of my wheel kicked up more mud, caking it onto the sheriff’s car and the pristine white siding of the house. By the time I pulled back onto the road, the front yard looked like a good ol’-fashioned redneck muddin’ hole.
I threw the truck in park and grabbed the envelope, the matches and the bottle of lighter fluid from the passenger seat. The envelope felt hot, as if its evil intentions were burning a hole in my hand. I laughed.
It was about to get a whole lot fucking hotter.
My heart beat with a speed I’ve never known, like I’d taken a shot of pure adrenaline. I didn’t care if they came outside and saw me. In fact, I hoped to fucking God they did. I wanted them to know it was me who was telling them to go to hell.
I grabbed a freshly-rolled joint from my back pocket and held it in my mouth.
I picked up a rock from what had been the garden and dropped it into the envelope with the bills. I doused it inside and out with the lighter fluid, tossing the bottle to the floor when it was empty. I folded over the flap of the matches and lit the entire pack in one strike. Then I lit my joint, and I set the envelope on fire.
I let it burn, and when I couldn’t hold onto it any longer, I cocked my arm and launched their blood money through the front window of the Fletcher family home.
Fuck you, motherfuckers.
The window shattered. Bits of glass dangled from the broken aluminum window frame. I stood back and watched as the living room curtains caught fire, framing the window in flames and black smoke. This picture perfect house, the home of all the power in the town, was now going up in flames. Flames that I caused. Flames those bastards would eventually see again if they believed in any sort of hell.
I blew out my long-held drag, and then I heard the first high-pitched scream. It brought me a satisfaction that ten-thousand dollars certainly couldn’t. I didn’t run this time, and I didn’t look back. That would have suggested that I cared what happened next, and really, I didn’t care if their propane tank exploded and they were all blown to Kingdom Fucking Come.
These were the thoughts of someone with nothing left to lose.
Sheriff Fletcher was already standing next to the driver’s side door of Jake’s truck waiting for me. He stepped forward as I approached. I didn't see his right hook coming straight for my cheek. The fat fuck made contact with the side of my face, then managed to grab me by my shirt and shove me up against the hood so he could cuff my hands roughly behind my back. He snuffed out my joint. I didn’t see where it went, but it was a pretty safe bet he’d pocketed it.
He used his portly body weight, pressing himself up against my back to subdue me. He grunted. “You got some balls, Abby. I’ll give you that. What you don’t understand is that money was your final offer. From here on out, there will be no more money. No more chances. No more nothin’.” Then he started mumbling to himself. "If I had the chance again—between taking you home or digging a hole—let's just say I would have done things a little differently."