Page 33 of Under the Lies

“We have a deal,” I tell her when the waiter shows up to take our order.

She might want this now, but I’ve seen the covert looks she gives me when she thinks I’m not looking. She still wants me.

And I want her.

By the time Harlow comes back, mark my words, I will know what it feels like to be between the legs of her little sister.

After dinner, my watch goes off with a text. Reading what Reeve sent, I frown.

“Something wrong?” Sayer asks. Her tone is almost hopeful, like if I have to duck out she can go home.

Typing out my reply, an idea forms.

Smirking, I look at her. “C’mon, we’re going to stop number two of the night.”

She watches warily as I get up from my chair and walk to her side of the table. With my fingers wrapped around the top of her chair, I pull it out.

“Where are we going?” she asks when I give her no choice but to get up.

“To the casino.” Wrapping her hand around the crook of my elbow, we walk out of the restaurant and onto the sidewalk.

She throws her head back and groans to the stars.

“Regret agreeing to this yet?” I mock.

“I regretted it as soon as we left the library.”

My laugh is the only sound exchanged between us on our walk to The Underground.

Heathen’s Hell was my first solo venture within my company, the business I backed on my own. But The Underground is my legacy. For a lot more than people know.

I don’t only deal in money and contracts, but secrets.

Secrets are my favorite thing to take.

Unfortunately, we’re not going to the casino for fun. Reeve’s text was about one of our members refusing to pay off his debt before leaving. Now I have to go handle the problem.

It’s not our fault that he’s a shitty player at cards.

My original plan was to take Sayer home after dinner, but why not fucking kill two birds with one stone and bring her along.

Then her old classmates and parent’s friends who are there can see her. And they’ll talk. They always talk.

Which is what I want. The more people who see us together, the more of a chance it has to get back to Harlow. Wherever the fuck she is.

It’s seven blocks from the restaurant to The Underground and Sayer’s steps slow the closer we get. I take her through the back entrance, leading her to the gambling hall. She doesn’t need to see anything else in the manor.

She’s a curious little kitten and I don’t need to be answering any more of her hundred and one questions tonight.

I hear the noise in the gambling room before we walk into it. The conversation, the chips clinking together, the music.

Right before we enter, Sayer squeezes my hand.

I look down at her.

She’s nibbling on her bottom lip, worry in her eyes.

“What?” I snap. More irritated with myself than her. She shouldn’t look as tempting as she does while worrying at her lip.

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