Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (dark books to read TXT) 📗

"Why?” Sarah asked. “Are you going to punch me in the face?"

David’s eyes rose with his voice. "So that's what this is all about." He swayed his arm aside and turned away to walk back across the street.

Sarah followed with a fire that wasn't ready to go out just yet. "Yeah, David. That's it alright."

"Well, is it or isn't it?" he asked, turning around to stand in her path as they found themselves once again under the shady oak trees that covered the cool neighborhood sidewalk from the scorching sun.

She looked into David's tired, unshaven face. His stare was filled with a determination that hid behind the rough, bloodshot eyes that probably hadn't seen a decent rest since the last time he brushed his twisted hair. She knew that he wouldn't move until he got an answer.

Sarah swung her hands out at her sides and spread her fingers apart tightly. "Why the hell did you come to my house this morning?" she shouted before walking briskly past him toward the playground as he stood in place behind her.

"She knows." His voice cut through her spine.

Sarah stopped and turned slowly. Her words stumbled in hesitation before emerging from her open mouth. "What are you talking about?"

David's eyes dropped as his face tilted down. "That I was on her dad’s boat the night before the accident."

"What?" Sarah shouted. She marched toward him with the gracefulness of a freight train squeezing its brakes on ice.

David held out his palms in front of him. "Vance found a bunch of old photos I tried to burn and he told her," he said before dropping his hands.

Sarah punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could.

"Ow!" David shouted. He bent, reaching to nurse it as if mortally wounded. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Oh, I don't know..." she said. "Maybe not steal his girl and accuse him of shit in front of everyone..." She tilted her head back to the side. "Hmm... Let's see..." Sarah raised her eyes to the sky as she tapped at her chin. "Oh yeah! Maybe not punch him in the face?"

David put his hands in his pockets and turned away from her. "I know you don't really care, but it's his fault. He's the reason mom and Tony's dad split."

Sarah pressed her mouth shut as she studied him for a moment.

She watched him stare beyond her to the shadowy playground down the street. He lightly kicked a pebble down the sidewalk. "See, the woman Tony's dad had an affair with was Brad's mom... right after Brad's dad-"

Sarah interrupted him. "Right after Brad's dad died in the old rec fire." She blew out a huff and shook her head. "So, you blame Vance?"

David nodded. "I mean, it's not like he planned it, but his selfish, reckless actions have consequences for all of us. Think he gives a damn?" David asked as he began to slowly stroll alongside her toward the car.

"But how can you even be sure Vance set the fire?"

"Think it's just a coincidence that he likes to burn shit down?" David asked with a roll of his eyes. "They were going to cut him from the team before they had to start over from scratch after the fire," he said. "Besides, I saw it on an old note Janice left on her dresser. Must've forgot to give it to him."

Sarah glanced at David before returning her eyes to her shoes as she stepped along the grainy concrete sidewalk. Did he just say  "Janice"? 

#Vance#

Crackling flames could barely be heard over the heavy metal rock music that blasted through the woods as Vance broke a fresh stack of brittle sticks under his knee to throw into the massive fire pit. He stood behind his tailgate and stared into the small, forested clearing ahead.

"Gonna have to raise that shit higher, Eddie," he said to the straining Pine Bluff High linebacker pulling a thick tow cable down from a giant oak tree. Several others piled on to help as they tugged down with all their weight. A giant steel cage slowly rocked back and forth from the looming limbs above. Eddie grunted in agony as they hoisted it higher.

"Why the hell doesn't Cory have to help?" Eddie asked between strenuous breaths.

"I dunno," Vance said. "Anyone heard from Cory?" He asked the group of teenagers fastening Vance's makeshift traps around the camp. He laughed as he turned back across the wooded clearing to Eddie. "Probably buried in a pile of monster shit at the edge of town."

A couple others from the football team ran to grab the cable and help Eddie heave the huge swinging contraption above the leaf cover. Vance watched as he took a seat beside a busty blonde cheerleader resting in a foldout chair just beside his pickup.

"What's it all for?" she asked with a silly laugh.

Vance leaned back and wrapped his arm around her as he tilted his head with a grin. "Shandra, right?"

She giggled. "Shannon."

"Well, Shannon... if I told you that..." He leaned his face to the side of hers and whispered in her ear. "I'd have to kill you."

She laughed again as one of the others spoke up. "Gonna catch us a squatch in this thing, right?"

"Oh, you have no idea," Vance said as he looked around the area. The scent of smoke did little to cover the odor of the nearby chicken houses. Spools of rusted barbed wire formed netted tripwires along a travel path littered with one concealed bear trap after another. He turned to look at an ancient stone well that rose from the leafy ground. "I really wanted to do something with the pitchforks and the old well," Vance said. "But I doubt I could squeeze you in there, you big son of a bitch."

Vance strolled casually over to the cooler, stirring his hand through ice cubes as he plunged wrist deep into the frigid depths and retrieved a tall can.

"It's all set," Eddie said, slapping his hands across one another. Eddie walked closer through