Page 198 of Deceit

“Marty.” My voice changes into ice as if I don’t miss my friends. “Do you follow his sentiment?”

“He lied, Emmy.”

“Do both of you fuckheads remember thatI’mthe one who faked my own death?”

“And he helped.” Bishop advances closer and I immediately counter. “I know it’s hard to say no to you…but this affected all of us.”

Lifting my chin, I force my features to stay stale. “Do you wanna know the story of why or not?”

Bishop stares at me, long and hard, before I feel Marty at my side.

It doesn’t deter either of us from breaking our concentration on each other. The silent challenge that we’ve ensued. We’re poison and stubborn together, but when we work along each others’ side, we’re unstoppable.

“Fine.” I pull out my cell phone and deal the only card I have left to play.

The most rational one of all—Kyson.

Marty and Bishop together are the fuse and explosive.

“Hello?”

“Kyson—“ Bishop snatches the cell out of my hands and tosses it to Marty before his hand rakes through my hair and yanks, hard.

“If you’re so impatient of what I have planned for you, Emmy Lou, all you had to say was ‘me next’.”

“You can punish and bitch at me all you want,” I offer. “But I’m trained for torture…all kinds.” Bishop’s eyes glaze over in a mixture of something that passes too quickly to nail so I continue. “Let him go…you get what you need.”

“I’m not done with him yet,” he stresses, pulling on my hair harder to the point where he’s going to have strands between his fingers.

“He hits like a bitch, Lou Boo,” Mills interjects to keep his pride and manly bullshit intact. “Don’t worry about me.”

Oh, but I am.

Very much so.

“I didn’t fuck him,” I say as calmly as I can, noticing that Bishop isn’t holding his knife anymore. “He’s my best friend. He covered for me after explaining that he didn’t want to do it over and over again. I brought him into this situation. And he was faithful to me.”

Bishop’s jaw ticks once before he abruptly releases his hold on me.

“He’s pissed,” Marty claims at our side then not bothering to hand my phone back to me.

“Does he know everything?” Bishop asks.

“Yeah, he’s on his way over. Let dickhead go, we’ll deal with him later as a group. Ky might want to take a few hits on him afterward.”

Bishop jerks his head. “Go ahead.”

Marty goes to release my best friend, and I take a wide and deliberate step back from my husband. He watches me as I hear the clink of cuffs begin to be severed from the locks.

I have so much ass-kissing and payback to do with Mills it’ll take me a lifetime to make it up to him. But he’s worth it for what he did for me.

“Where are my kids?” I ask Bishop, clutching my hands at my sides.

“Sleeping.”

I see movement from behind him and Mills rubs at his wrists, his gray eyes latching onto mine but they’re not as pissed as I thought they’d be. Instead, he actually looks worried.

“You might want a drink for this,” I tell the room as Mills and I stare at each other.

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