Page 34 of Deceit

“Your phone still hooked up to the alarm system at home?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, no.” He raises his chin to face me, clearly wanting to end this shit as much as I do. “How are we handling this?”

Shared trait number four—getting shit over with ASAP.

“Depends. You squeamish with blood?”

“Nope.”

I nod. “Alright, then. Pineapples is the safe word. Let me know if you need out.”

* * *

Hardy and I have beers in our hands when the long-haired blonde that is my sister’s so-called ex-boyfriend/stalker decides to grace us with his consciousness.

My brother moves out of his seat when I outstretch my arm to halt him to remain still.

He’s pissed.

If anything besides the four traits I’ve already discovered, he definitely has my temper. And this fuckhead is in for a real treat with the two of us as his company.

“Thanks for joining us,” I drone, my lips hovering over the end of my beer. “I’m so glad to finally meet my sister’s ex-boyfriend. Chad, right?”

Chad glances over at Hardy, obviously confused because ‘ole boy over here probably doesn’t even know I exist.

“Hey, asshole,” my brother greets with a malevolent tone to his voice. “I thought I told you to leave Scar alone.”

“She won’t return my calls,” he answers, patting down his chest. We found two knives and another handgun in his jean jacket, which are now in Hardy’s possession.

And also, what’s up with everyone getting concerned about other people not answering their fucking phones, geezus Christ.

“And why would she do that?” I press, brushing the wet beads of my beer away with my thumb. “I hear you got quite the angry disposition.”

Chad furrows his brows. “That only happened twice…and I was drunk. And that time with Madelyn was…” He steals another look at Hardy. “Dude, I’m sorry, it was a mistake.”

Hardy tenses, clenching his bottle so hard that his knuckles are turning white. He senses my gaze and fills me in.

“This is the second accident my daughter has been in. Scarlett was babysitting, and Chad over here drove them to get something to eat at this pizza joint. Little did our sister know that he drank a fifth on the side of the establishment and proceeded to drive them home.”

My head slowly turns back, anger brewing in my veins and up my spine. My jaw steels as I take in the skinny piece of shit who couldn’t take out a grown man, so he decided to use my baby sister for kicks and smacks to make him feel like one.

“Then what?”

“Madeline got whiplash, and Scarlett went through the windshield.”

The table rattles as I slam my beer bottle down. “Remember the safe word?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, because I’m about to show you what I’m all about.”

I allowed my brother to kick Chad’s ass with his baseball bat in the woods behind Mom’s trailer while Chad’s curses turned into cries and pleas for help. When the word pineapple failed to be mentioned through Hardy’s lips, I realized we had yet another thing in common.

No mercy for those who fuck with our family.

I lied to Hardy when I said I took Chad to Allegheny Police Station, and he went to check on Scarlett at the house.

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