Page 81 of Pawn

Jo stumbles before she levels out, taking a seat on the floor. I can’t tell how drunk she is but that slight smile on her face tells me she’s high as fuck.

“Ew, what?” Lea asks, turning to Jo who smiles towards her.

“Really?” Allie sits up on her elbows in a frilly tank Lea likely made her wear. She smiles towards Jo. “Well alright, Jo.”

“How fucked up is she?” I ask.

“I dunno.” Allie shrugs, laying back on the mattress and I’m starting to feel like I’ve found the Cheech to Jo’s Chong. “We got pretty fucking baked because she’s not over you.”

Jo throws some kind of hair clip at Allie, missing Lea. “I am very over him,” she says before she burps. Her eyes land on me before they drop to my crotch. “Why are we even here? I was having fun.”

“Yes, why are you two here?” Lea echoes. “Don’t you have some whiskey-infused sex fighting to attend to?”

Alright, enough of this chit-chat. “Tell her what you know.”

Lea gets off Allie with a thin arched brow before she walks to the mirror, fixing her hair. “Wanna be more specific there, King?”

“About Evergreen.” I’m giving her a chance to redeem herself. To give a good explanation before I drop the bomb.

“E-Evergreen?” Jo asks, glancing between us, her jaw tenses before she tries to get up. “I thought you said you didn’t know anything.”

“She lied.” I’m trying to rush this along. “Now tell her or I will.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lea scoffs, her straight hair going behind her shoulder.

“So you didn’t set the Rowland house on fire?”

The song blaring through the house ends in time for me to say it. And Jo hears it crystal clear. Her brows furrow, her mouth moving like it wants to say something but she can’t.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Lea spits. “I know you’re psychotic but that’s the most outlandish thing I’ve ever heard. Even for you, Damien.” The way she drops my name makes me think she’s as shocked to hear that as Jo is.

“I saw the emails.” Leaning against the door, I’m not giving her a way out. “They were in Beckett’s account so lying isn’t gonna help. Isn’t that how you knew what happened to Jo’s parents?”

“What? No!” she yells, her face red. “I told you why!”

“Uh.” Allie sits up further her brows knitting. “That’s pretty fucked up.”

“You went into Beckett’s office?” Jo asks, her eyes on me. “After I did?”

“The least I could do was help you find out about your parents, I promised you that but I didn’t think it would be this.”

“Was that before or after you called the cops on Jo?” Allie asks, defending her friend and right now I wish they were still fighting. There’s only one person who would’ve let the cat out of the bag to her and that’s her twin brother. A twin brother that has a pounding with his name on it.

“W-what?” Jo looks like she doesn’t know what to do, her nails scratching against the wall behind her. “You did what?”

“Jo, focus,” I say, trying to level with her. “Lea burnt your fucking house down.”

Allie’s finally off the bed, hopping across the room so she can comfort her friend. “Chill, King.”

“I didn’t do that!” Lea yells.

Pulling out my phone I tap through to the photo of the email. “Then who the fuck could your mom have been talking about? Protecting her kid?” Walking over to Lea, I slam the phone on the dresser like a lawyer with the final piece of evidence.

Lea has a harrowing look on her face, her cheeks turning pale as she reads it over. “What the fuck is this?” she asks, like I’ve given her proof aliens exist.

“You tell me!”

“Okay fine!” Lea takes a deep breath and leans her ass against the dresser. “All I know is that sometimes my parents funnel money into a company for people to keep hush. And in this case, it looks like it was Evergreen but I had nothing to do with it. I’d never go to The Grove. Ew.”

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