Page 124 of Trigger Happy

Arch squints through his glasses, and his mouth tips up. “Thought you were a pumpkin spice latte guy?”

I level him with a glare. “Fuck off. It was her favorite drink.”

“I see,” he says like he does not see. “Nothing says ‘I’m coping’ like chugging your ex’s favorite drink while referring to them as her.”

“I’ve also been doing two-a-day workouts and chopping a lot of wood.”

He nods a few times. “Sounds like you’re really dealing with this in a healthy, mature way.”

I grunt and yank two rolls of duct tape off the shelf. “What do you think? T-Rex Brute Force or Gorilla Grade?”

“Your call. They’re the same tensile strength.” Arch scrubs a hand over his beard.

I take another sip of my healthy coping mechanism and set it next to a display of garden gnomes. “Let’s test it. Put your hands out.”

He looks me over. “You’re not serious.”

“Try me.”

Arch rolls his eyes and holds his hands out anyway, because he’s a good guy and owes me for lying. I tear off a strip of Gorilla Grade and start wrapping.

I wind the tape tight around his wrists. “So,” I say, “what’s with the one-eighty? Why are you so invested in my love life now?”

He doesn’t answer right away. Just watches me tape his wrists. I can admit I’m curious. I want to know why he went from trying to convince me to murder Sabrina to pushing us to talk.

Arch finally clears his throat. “It’s not my place to tell you. You need to talk to Sabrina. She’s been texting you.”

I wouldn’t know. I still don’t have a new phone. “Why? What good would that do? All she’ll do is lie again.”

He sighs. “There are things you need to know.”

“Things, huh?” I say, cinching the tape tighter. “Tell me more about these things. I’m on the edge of my seat.”

He tilts his head like he’s trying to choose his words carefully, then says, “Your brother wasn’t who you thought he was.”

My hands still. “What the hell? Sure, he got way too into dissecting roadkill growing up, but Walker was a good guy. The best.”

He shakes his head, and when he looks at me, I see genuine, true pity in his eyes. He’s not lying. “Just talk to her, would you?”

There’s nothing she can say to make this better. I don’t want to talk to Sabrina, or see her, or even look at her, but maybe he’s right. I need to tell her we’re done, and then I can walk away.

For good.

And now that I’ve had some space to calm down, there’s still one thing that’s bothering me. When I watched that video, Walker looked like he wanted to hurt Sabrina. It almost seemed like self-defense.

Why would Sabrina need to defend herself from him?

“I’ll think about it.” I finish wrapping his hands and step back. “Go on. Give it a pull.”

Arch tugs with everything he’s got. The tape doesn’t budge.

“Pretty strong,” he admits.

I toss the roll in the air and catch it. “Told you. Gorilla Grade’s so much better than Sabrina. It never lets me down.”

I grab my coffee and start walking down the aisle.

“Hey, wait—where are you going?” Arch calls after me, struggling against the tape. “Take it off.”