Page 51 of The Lies We Believe

“T-thank…you,” I breathed out. Bane’s arms tightened around me, a silent acknowledgement. His thick thigh pushed between mine, and I locked it in place by wrapping my ankle around his.

“Anything for you, angel. Now sleep.”

Heavy even exhales ruffled my hair as Bane succumbed to sleep, the arm wrapped around me becoming heavier every minute that passed. As the first rays of dawn filtered through the open blinds, my eyes fell closed, a small smile on my lips.

When I woke, my arms searched across the bed for Bane, but the sheet was cold. Blinking awake, I could still see the indent his head had left on the pillow.It wasn’t a dream after all.The last few days had been a cluster fuck of epic proportions that had nearly ended my life, but the devil had spared me so I could act as a warning and to deliver a message. That was before she had even realized what I’d taken.

“I’ll spare his life...”Her voice circled my mind like a cruel joke. I braced my arm against the tiled wall in the shower, my head hung low, defeated. Hot water pummeled my aching muscles as it sluiced down my body, staining the shower floor red as the remnants of my blood washed away down the drain.

I knew it was a lie. Dahlia was incapable of telling the truth. She stacked everything in her favor and used people’s weaknesses against them. For Bane, that was me. For me, that was Bane, Max, Dale, and Gabe. The longer I defied her, the more people she would hurt or kill. I couldn’t play what if with people’s lives.

I was too weak, and she knew it.

“Here you go,” Bane said when I stepped into the kitchen, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. “How are you feeling?” I shrugged and winced in response before shuffling onto the bar stool at the counter. “That good, huh? I’ve got your meds.” He slid a small pile of white and blue pills over, depositing them next to a bottle of water.

I hated taking tablets because I never knew what was in them and feared being poisoned or drugged. But I trusted Bane, and he trusted the doctors at the hospital. All I could do was take them and hope for the best.

“They won’t kill you, Riv. I checked them over,” he muttered as I eyed them warily. “I know how you feel about taking things.”

“Mmm.” I hummed as I swallowed them down, my eyes tracking Bane as he took bacon and eggs out of the fridge. If I hadn’t been paying close attention, I’d have missed the way his shoulders bunched and his breath hitched when he set them down on the counter by the stove before turning back to face me.

“Riv.” His hands wrapped around the edge of the counter in a white-knuckled grip. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

CHAPTER 22

BANE

Iwatched the color drain from River’s face, leaving his bruises in stark relief, making them look even more ghastly than when he’d walked in. He blinked wide, red-rimmed eyes up at me. I didn’t know how many more hits he could take, but for now, they were going to keep coming until this case was closed and Dahlia was either behind bars or dead. I knew which outcome I preferred. Fuck my job and duty of care for my profession. My world had narrowed down, and now my purpose existed for only one man. River was at the forefront of every errant thought that went through my mind.

River swallowed and wrapped his trembling hands around his mug like it could shore him up and keep him safe. I didn’t know how to say this, how to tell him one of his friends had been beaten, assaulted, murdered, and dumped in a container. I owed him the truth; he’d survived for so long in this life that sugarcoating it wouldn’t do him justice. He was stronger than he believed. Very few people could have lived the life he had and still have so much love to give.

Shadow’s claws tapped across the floor as he ran to River’s feet, a pathetic whine following in his wake. His erratic tail thwacked against the counter as his head appeared next toRiver’s arm, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. I chuckled at the momentary reprieve. A beatific smile lifted River’s lips as he stroked Shadow’s head before his gaze sliced back to mine. The temperature in the kitchen seemed to drop.

“I…” I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth, my heart pounding its way up my throat. “I don’t really know how to say this, but?—”

River’s face was void of all emotion, the sight stealing the air from my lungs. “W-who died?” he rasped. His voice sounded like broken glass.

I shook my head as shock rocked the ground beneath my feet. “How did you know?”

River screwed his eyes shut. A single tear stained his mottled skin, glittering in the subdued morning light. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. I mirrored his actions, setting mine on the granite in front of me.

You looked like every officer and doctor on the TV when they tell a relative someone they love died.

My head dropped between my shoulders, and I sucked in a shaky inhale before lifting my eyes back to his glassy ones. “Max.”

River gasped and bit his fist. His shoulders rocked as shudders rolled through him, and the dam burst, tears flowing in a viscous current down his face. “No. No. No. No.” He repeated that one word, over and over again. My heart broke for him. I couldn’t bring his friend back. All I could do was be there for him.

Without conscious thought, my feet carried me to him, and I wrapped my arms around his trembling shoulders. River buried his face in the crook of my neck, his stuttering gasps clawing atmy skin as his pain became mine. His fingers laced through my hair, tethering me to him like he was afraid I’d vanish as he clung to me.

“I’m so sorry, angel.”

River shook his head as tears and snot soaked into my henley. I didn’t care. All I wanted was to be there for him in any and every way he’d let me.

“H-how?” he whispered against the shell of my ear. I shook my head as the images of Max’s body flashed behind my eyes. “I-I n-need…to…know.”

My fingers flexed against the hoodie he wore—my hoodie—until I felt his solid form beneath them and closed my eyes as I relayed the events of the morning Max’s body was discovered. I promised him we’d make sure whoever killed him was arrested and held accountable for their crimes.

A hysterical laugh tore its way from River’s lips. I released him and cupped his blotchy face in his hands. “I promise. I promise you, River,” I vowed, staring into his eyes, forcing my way beneath the agony he was drowning in.

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