Page 56 of Scorching Lies

My muscles strain, pushing the bar above my chest, the weights heavy in my hands. West and Cole stand near the doorway of The Basement watching me wear myself down by working out. I’m wired, ready to get my hands on someone, my fingers twitching with the need.

“You sure you want to do this? She’s going to lose her shit on you.”

“Exactly.”

West chuckles, but Cole doesn’t make a sound even though I can feel the heat of his stare on the side of my face. Slamming the bar into the holder I release it and sit up. Sweat drips down my face, into my eyes, making its way down my shirt.

“Where’s G?” I ask.

Cole answers this time. “Probably avoiding us after what happened last night.”

Cole's irritation isn’t with G, but when you are the head of your team you go down for their mistakes. G’s boys had Hank Harlow, but he somehow slipped between their fingers and got away. Now he knows we’re looking at him, so he’ll be on high alert. Cole is pissed and is looking to pick a fight so I told G to steer clear of The Basement for today. As for our tattoo artist, he’s in the middle of the ring, waiting for me to join him. Only, we closed the fights for today, so he’s in there alone. Using a small blue towel I wipe the sweat from my beard.

“It’s about time for a trim caveman.” West jokes.

Tossing the towel to the side, I push to my feet, walking towards my brothers. Cole leans against the wall on his phone, waiting until I get closer to look up from it, while West fakes a jab to my ribs. Dancing on his toes he pretends to try to box me, but I’m focused on Cole.

“You straight, man?” I ask.

Ally is with Kenna, which were my orders not his, so he’s on edge. He doesn’t trust Kenna not to lose her shit when she does finally wake up. I made sure to leave her a little note and the doctor should be stopping back by for a follow up visit soon. I make a mental note to check in with him about her condition and to see if she needs anything. I’m still fucking fuming at the fact she risked her damn life to save some asshole. Which is why he’s here instead of sleeping off his concussion and broken ribs. I’m going to get to the bottom of their relationship real soon.

“I’m fine. Just trying to keep track of a lead that I have.”

His thumbs are flying across his screen, his eyes moving from me back to the phone, unable to focus on anything in front of him.

“Why don’t you give it a rest?”

Slapping him on the shoulder, West says, “You know little baby brother can’t do that. He doesn’t know how to have fun. Just ask Ally.” West winks at me before looking back to Cole.

Cole’s thumbs freeze, his body tensing, yet he doesn’t move. West’s words roll right off him, but West Nudges Cole's arm, pushing him further.

“I bet she’ll be crawling back to me once she figures out the only thing baby brother here can rub the right way is his screen.”

Cole's eyes snap forward, the blue growing darker and his expression clouds into rage. Rearing back his arm swings forward, fist connecting with West’s jaw. Relief floods my emotions when he starts to laugh. It worked. Even though it came with a punch to the face, it got Cole off his fucking phone and in the present with us.

“Who are you watching anyway?” I ask, trying to probe some information out of him. “I don’t know. They seem to be a fucking ghost, but I can see the trail they’re leaving and it’s a mess.” He seethes as we make our way from the weight room to the ring.

Looking at him from the corner of my eye, “Then what makes you think it’s got something to do with Del Mar?”

His steps falter, “Because it has something to do with dad’s death. The patterns, the names on the accounts, they all point to around the time dad died.”

We continue down the stairs, coming up to the closed door. Reaching out I push open the red door to reveal our guest sitting in a single chair in the center of the mat. He’s blindfolded and gagged, but from the movement of his hands I can tell he’s finally awake.

“Are you going to share with the class?” I ask Cole.

Stopping to face me he tilts his head, “I will when I have more. You have to trust me on this, brother.”

Nodding, I clap him on the back and keep moving forward, leaving Cole and West to fan out further into the room. This is my show. They are just here for the fun.

“Well, well. Look who decided to wake up.”

Kicking the leg of his chair with a laugh, I don’t bother trying to hide my disinterest.

“What the fuck do you want?” His voice is even.

“Most people in your position would be cautious with how they speak to the people who have them tied up.” I kick the leg of the chair again, but this time behind him, continuing to circle around him.

“Most people are scared of you and your brothers.”

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