Page 53 of Played

“She had pictures of us and threatened to turn them over to TMZ.”

“I could have handled myself.”

“No doubt. Anything else you want to know?”

“How has Laurel funded the little enterprise of hers? Where did the money came from? Was she blackmailing, extorting money from people? I mean, come on, she’s all over the news.”

“Cause lord the bitch loves to be in front of the camera.”

“What’s she got—two racers on the Indy scene? And they’re shit. Their cars are shit. It’s just a way for those boys to be on the track, they’re playing race car drivers. And now she has a division for bikes. Who does she lure in but Archer Morgan, who is one angry guy. Anyone halfway responsible for Fisher’s death, Archer’s gunning for. Lord knows he’s hell bent on teaching me a lesson. Everyone else on her team are unknown. She’s running old bikes except for Archer’s, and that’s his ride River knew because he’d run her down many times. He doesn’t care about the penalties. It’s all about him needing revenge.”

“Revenge for what?” Ben asked.

River looked over at Ben, whom she had almost forgotten was there. “Cypress took Fisher from him.”

“Fisher’s tire blowing took Fisher out along with Cypress and injured Riot,” Ben said, banging his fist on the table.

Holding out her hands, River shrugged. “Just telling you that’s what he spews at me every time we run into each other. I can’t seem to catch a break. I swear every time I’m out somewhere he shows up and so do the news crews. It’s like I’m bugged, or someone is leaking my comings and goings to him.” River laid the pen down she was toying with and leaned back. She glanced out the window, thinking about all of it.

She wanted to know everything about Laurel, because that bitch knew what River was doing before she did, and she was sick of it. “She has eyes on me. I want to know everything I can about that lying bitch. I want to know where she’s eating, how she’s paying for it, who she’s fucking. I want to know where she’s getting her money from.” River picked up the pen again, tapping it on the table. When she glanced up, Riot looked away. “Riot?”

“I thought you knew.”

“Thought I knew what?”

“Laurel had an insurance policy on Cypress. One million dollars.”

River pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. After a second, she ran her hands down her face. “Fucking whore.”

“He would have never done that to you.”

River reminded herself she had promised to control her temper. Trying to keep her word, she kept her voice low so as to not start screaming. “I received two hundred thousand for the loss of my brother. That bitch got a million. Sometimes I really hate my brother for being a fucking coward. For letting someone like Laurel wedge herself into his life. “

“Don’t...”

And her temper flared. “Don’t what? Say he was a coward? Why the fuck not? Do not say he put up with Laurel to protect me. Fuck you and him. He did it, all of you did it, you did it to protect yourselves, you just used me as the scapegoat. Cypress was a kinky fucker who lived a polyamorous lifestyle, so fucking what? Jason and Michael are a married couple. And you, Riot—you checked out. My question is: why? What was it that kept you from sticking by me? You know what… it doesn’t matter because guess who got left holding the proverbial bag. Mal, Dan, Ben, and ME.

“I carried the weight of it all and these three picked me up every time I fucking fell down. So do not sit in my house and tell me Cypress did it for me—thatanyof you did it for me—because you did it for yourselves. All of you are fucking cowards.”

“I killed Cypress.” It was almost a whisper as Riot said the one thing that had haunted him. The one real thing Laurel had over him.

River shoved out of the chair and heard it topple over as she stormed out the back door, heading for anywhere,anywherebut in that house. Air she needed air; she couldn’t breathe.Riot killed Cypress.

“That did not go well.” Riot scrubbed his face with his hands. He had no idea how they even got to this point.

“She almost kept her temper intact.”

Mal stood, watching River cross the backyard, her feet eating up the distance. “You all deserted her. You deserted her when she needed you most. Doesn’t matter the whys or why-nots. It’s just the facts, and River has barely kept her head above water all these years while y’all seemed to have made it to the good life.”

She turned to face the men sitting around the table. “This ranch is all she has, and because of Laurel buying DD and giving River the boot, she might just lose her home while trying to keep her career alive so she can have a damn paycheck at the end of the day. Now, while you boys chew on that, I’m going to go catch River before she does something stupid.

River heard Mal calling her name, but she didn’t stop. Turning towards the training room, she kept walking. Mad and hurt, she wanted to punch something. Mal stepped in behind her, trying to settle her down. River needed to vent. To fight. To scream. “You wanna go a couple rounds? Let’s go.”

“No, and neither do you.”

“I’m so… pissed.”

“Over which part?”

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