Page 57 of Killer Kiss

“Couldn’t be that bad.”

But it could.

“He met a girl. From Providence.” I grinned wryly. “Lacey reminds me a bit of you, actually.”

“So, she’s a complete badass?” Ophelia winked at me.

I shook my head. “She’s rich. Spoiled. At least, she was back then.”

Ophelia seemed irritated, so I threw her a bone.

“Pretty.”

Pink flushed her cheeks, but she rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Stop flirting with me and get on with it. What did you do to her?”

“Took a leaf out of your book and put a hidden camera in Banjo’s room. Filmed them having a threesome with Banjo’s best friend, Rafe.”

Ophelia’s eyes practically bulged out of her head. “You did what? Jesus fuck, Augie.”

“It gets worse. I then showed it to half their school at Lacey’s birthday party.”

Her mouth dropped open, but there was a hint of laughter in it too. “You didn’t?”

It really wasn’t funny. I still couldn’t laugh about it. “I’m not proud of it.”

“Then why did you do it?” she asked curiously.

I rubbed my hand over my face. “Because I was sure she was ruining his life. He was only eighteen, and she came in with a whole host of fucking baggage and problems that were weighing him down. Banjo’s like Fawn. His weakness is the people he loves. He’d do anything for them, at the expense of his own happiness. It was a shitty thing to do, I can see that now. But at the time I thought I was doing him a favor.”

Despite my claims, I didn’t care what Ophelia thought, I couldn’t meet her gaze. When she reached out and rubbed her thumb over the back of my hand, I pulled away.

Guilt swirled in my stomach. I fucking hated myself for that night. But I couldn’t accept Ophelia’s sympathy either because that wasn’t even the worst thing I’d done. “I’ve done drug deals,” I admitted. “Small-time, but I was a dealer, nonetheless.”

“You live in Saint View. Doesn’t everyone do that at some point?”

I lifted my head to find her smiling at me.

A genuine smile that was so fucking blinding it hit me square in the gut. I was sure she’d never looked at me like that before. That every other smile had been sarcastic or snide.

They had nothing on how this one made me feel.

Fuck. When had I ever cared if a woman had more than one type of smile? When had I ever studied one long enough to notice? I’d never had a girlfriend. My life was one long string of one-night stands with women whose names I didn’t know and faces I couldn’t remember. I could probably blame my lack of healthy relationship role models for that. It’s not like I’d ever seen a functional relationship while I was in foster care.

But Banjo was different. He’d known what he’d wanted all along, and he’d had the balls to go after it, even though his relationship with his two best friends and the girl they shared was far from conventional.

If anyone needed saving from anything, it was me. Which was why I’d stayed away from them ever since.

I sighed. “I wish dealing and the video were the worst of it.”

Ophelia leaned back in her seat and folded her arms beneath her tits. That didn’t help that little problem I seemed to develop whenever she was around. All the more reason to tell her the worst thing I’d ever done so she got up and left before my dick could get hard again.

“I tried to drag him into my business.” I had to force the words out, the disgust for myself so strong I wanted to walk myself off the Saint View bluff. “We needed money, and fucked if I’ve ever had any idea how to make any. All I know is taking my clothes off.”

Before this conversation, I wouldn’t have guessed Ophelia had a sympathetic bone in her body, but she did.

I hated that it was all currently directed at me. “I don’t deserve that.” I pointed at her face and made a circular motion. “Stop.”

“What?”

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