“Harry –”

“It’s okay, Bits, it’s all gonna be all right,” Harry cut her off. “I got it all figured out.”

“No you don’t, Harry. You don’t,” Bitsy told him urgently. “Listen to me…”

She trailed off when Harry moved to her side of the bed and sat on it. He twisted his torso to her, his hand coming up to cradle her face, he leaned in close.

“I did, honey, I listened to you. I listened,” he whispered.

“You didn’t. This is out of hand. This is wrong. Shauna? Nina? Why –?”

“He took away your legs,” Harry explained.

“Yes, he did. Curt did. But Nina’s Max’s and –” Bitsy started.

“He took away your legs,” Harry repeated. “He killed Anna. Your best friend. He fucked Shauna in your bed.” His thumb lovingly swept her cheek. “I listened, Bits, I listened to every word you said from that day I saw you in the hospital after he crippled you. I listened and I was with you all the way. He had to pay. You said it. You said it again and again and again as he fucked you and fucked you and fucked you. You didn’t want him to do that to our town, you didn’t want that big house up on the hill, you didn’t want to be queen of Gnaw Bone to his king but he didn’t care what you wanted. He never cared what you wanted. He only cared about one thing. Curt. Curt was all Curt cared about. Wakin’ up next to you and tellin’ you he loved you and then goin’ off and bangin’ Shauna, givin’ her money, makin’ you the fool as you wheeled your way through life. I listened, honey, I listened to every word you said. You were right, he had to pay.”

“He had to pay. Curt did!” Bitsy hissed, yanking her face from his hand which stayed suspended in air for a second before he tried to touch her again but she dragged herself back so his hand dropped.

“Bitsy, baby –”

“No!” Bitsy snapped. “We had a plan. You take care of Curt and we play it cool. The money was untraceable. We’d been putting it aside for years, Harry, years. No one would ever know. No one.”

Shock made every centimeter of my body lock. There it was but I couldn’t believe my ears as I lay there and stared at the hideous scene playing out in front of me.

Harry and Bitsy had had Curt killed.

Bitsy.

Bitsy!

“He hired an investigator,” Harry returned.

“So?” Bitsy shot back. “I knew that, Harry, and I told you. The guy didn’t know anything. The game was to play it cool, you know that. No matter what, play it cool. That investigator didn’t know anything. I know because I got in Curt’s desk and read his reports. He didn’t even know we were sending the death threats! He didn’t know anything. He didn’t know shit! Then you off and kill him the same night that guy you found killed Curt. Why? Why would you do that? And this,” she threw out an arm, “Shauna? Nina? It was only supposed to be Curt. Only Curt. Why would you drag Nina into this? What’s the matter with you?”

“Shauna was fuckin’ Curt and Max and me,” Harry retorted.

“I know that, Harry, it was part of the fucking plan for you to look like you’d moved on from me,” Bitsy returned.

“Jesus, Bits, I just told you she was fuckin’ me,” Harry bit out.

“Yes, Harry, I know that. That was the plan,” Bitsy bit back.

“God,” Harry leaned back, “you don’t even care, you don’t even care she sucked me off, that I had to fuck that cold, emotionless piece of ass to keep up this shit so no one would guess.”

“I cared but that was the plan, Harry, we both had to sacrifice so we could have what we wanted. So we could be where we wanted to be,” Bitsy reminded him.

“But she was tryin’ to take Curt’s money, your money,” he clipped. “She got pregnant to do it.”

“She’s not pregnant, you idiot!” Bitsy, finally losing it, snapped. “She’s as pregnant as me. She said it because Curt always wanted a kid and obviously I couldn’t give him one so she thought she could play that but she wasn’t going to get dick. Not from Curt, he may have thought with his dick half the time but the other half wasn’t stupid, Harry and you know it. And you had to let her play you so you’d be with her when Curt was done and then no one would think a thing of it when you dumped her after I was available and you came back to me. That was the plan, Harry. We’ve been talking about it for years. That was the plan. Simple, smart, patient and cool. But no. No, you go off and murder Curt’s investigator and try to pin it on Shauna and… and… and I don’t even know what Nina’s doin’ here!”

“Shauna wants Max,” Harry stated.

“So?” Bitsy yelled.

“So,” Harry leaned forward, “outside, her other asshole is lyin’ in the snow, four bullets in his chest and her finger pulled the trigger, the residue will be on her hand. She was out when I did it. She won’t remember a thing. And it’s the same gun that killed that Fitzgibbon guy.”

I shifted my head to look down at the prone Shauna before I looked back at Harry in time for him to finish.

“The same gun that’ll kill Nina.”

My lungs seized and I felt the blood drain out of my face.

“Nina?” Bitsy whispered.

“Yeah,” Harry’s crazed eyes flicked to me then back to Bitsy, “Nina.”

“Why?” Bitsy asked then repeated on a shout, “For God’s sake why?”

Harry surged from the bed and I tensed as he bent at the waist, his face having gone red, his arms straight down at his sides, hands in fists and he roared, “He can’t have it all!”

Bitsy’s upper body leaned away from him before she breathed, “What?”

“Max!” Harry spat. “Max! Fuckin’ Max. Holden fuckin’ Maxwell with his varsity letter his freshman year and his scholarship and his mountain that everyone thinks it’s so great he kept clean when all that buildin’ was goin’ on all over the county. Max didn’t let anything touch his land. Oh no. Not Super Wonderful Holden fuckin’ Maxwell. Not him. He could have made it rich workin’ alongside Curt but he didn’t do that. Not Holden Maxwell, man of integrity. Man of strength. He had Anna and they were always holdin’ hands, always laughin’, always tight, lookin’ at each other like the rest of the world didn’t exist. Then he lost her but he didn’t lose everything, not Max. No. After he lost her everyone thought he was even more wonderful how he stayed cool with Curt and stayed tight with you. How he manned up,” spittle flew out of Harry’s mouth on the last two words, “how he built that house for his Dad, how he kept goin’ even though everyone knew losin’ Anna rocked his world. He didn’t fall. He didn’t even falter. Not Max. Everyone thinkin’ how strong he was. How fuckin’ perfect. Then the finest piece of ass in two countries waltzes into town and before you could blink, she’s cuddlin’ up to him at The Mark, she’s in his bed, she’s makin’ out with him on the street and at The Dog and two weeks later she’s movin’ from fuckin’ England just to keep him warm at night.”

He bent at the waist to put his face in Bitsy’s.

“No,” he sneered, “he can’t have everything and I’m gonna make it so he doesn’t. I’m tired of havin’ nothin’ and waitin’ fuckin’ years to make your play against Curt and all the while I’m watchin’ Max have everything he wants. Every woman opens their legs for him and everyone in town thinks he shits roses. The same time, everyone in town thinks poor Harry, gettin’ played by Shauna. Poor Harry, losin’ Bitsy and pinin’ after her all these years. Poor fuckin’ Harry. Well, Bits, fuck… that. Max told me himself just this mornin’ to man up and I’ve decided I’m takin’ his advice.”

“But Harry, Max doesn’t have everything,” Bitsy whispered.

“Yes he does, Bits. He even has you. Even you think he shits roses,” Harry retorted.

“You can’t –” Bitsy began.

“I can and I can now especially because she knows everything and I’m not waitin’ ten years finally to have the only thing I ever wanted, except half of it,” his eyes dropped to her legs before slicing back to hers as I heard Bitsy gasp, “to have Max’s latest bit of pussy take it away.”

“Harry,” Bitsy whispered, “this isn’t what we planned.”

“No, Bitsy, it isn’t but I’m the man and I’m sick of bein’ led around my dick so I’m changin’ the fuckin’ plan.”

“You can’t do that,” she told him and he leaned back, throwing his arms out.

“No?” he asked then planted his fists on his hips. “Watch me.”

“Harry!” she shouted when he started to move around the bed. “If you hurt Nina, you won’t have me,” she threatened, Harry’s body rocked to a halt and he turned on her.

“Yeah? You gonna run away?” he asked snidely and I watched Bitsy close her eyes tight then my eyes went back to Harry when he kept speaking as he untied my ankles. “This is what people know. Shauna wanted Max. She always wanted Max. And she used that Robert guy like she used everyone else. When he became expendable, he was gone. When Nina got in the way, she was gone. Shauna’ll wake up and she won’t know shit. And all they’ll know is that she’s here with the gun that made three bodies dead and she has the residue on her hand. She fucked herself with her play on Curt, makin’ her a suspect in his murder so they’ll probably pin that on her too. But don’t worry about Shauna, Bits. She’ll make a good bitch in prison. She’ll have her shit sorted exactly as she wants it before she finishes buttoning up her orange jumpsuit.”

Then he was finished with my ankles and started walking toward me again and I started moving on the bed, ineffectually shifting my body to get away from him, running into Bitsy as he pulled a set of keys out of his jeans pocket.