Page 103 of Cruel Lies

Sport. That could only mean one thing, and I forced myself to remain a level of calm as I rushed to the closet for my coat. "What happened to her?"

"Oh, she’s fine. But I stayed home today from work, so I asked a buddy to keep an eye on her for me." He cleared his throat, the rasping hoarseness making me glad he wasn’t near Harper right now. I hated the thought of her getting whatever fucking sickness this man was struggling with, but it was likely drug-related, to be honest. I knew a cokehead when I saw one.

Which was why I paid him well enough to maintain his lifestyle and his habit while slumming it in the mechanic shop.

Money motivated all men. The only question was, how much.

"Have you kept in touch with her today?"

"Oh, yeah, I texted her at lunch, and she even sent proof of life from the taco stand. I’ll send it to you."

I pulled the phone away from my face as the photo came through, and there she was, the bane of my existence, the woman who owned me, heart and soul, since we were teenagers, standing in line at the taco truck that parked outside the shop on the corner every weekday at noon like clockwork. She smiled and held up a peace sign in the photo, and a pang of jealousy ran through my veins as I realized she thought she’d sent this to Sport. She was posing for him, smiling, like a normal fucking woman.

She had a life, and we weren’t in it. And she washappy.Almost like the three of us dragged her down and caused her pain, and she could only be free once she’d cut the ties that bound us all.

Could it be that we weren’t meant to be?

"See, boss? She’s fine. Safe and sound, and eating lunch with Big John. He’s not gonna let anything happen to her."

"Sure, yeah, thanks for touching base. Keep me posted. I wanna know when she makes it home."

He shuffled around, the receiver rustling against something in the background, and his voice returned, a little further away from the phone than before. "Sure thing, man. I’ll let you know when she arrives, and if anything changes."

"And you’d better chill it on the drugs because if you put her in danger again because of your habit and hangovers, I will find you, and Iwillmake you regret it."

I didn’t wait for him to hang up. I ended the call with a snarl of rage, of jealousy so engrained in my psyche that it made me question who I was.

I didn’tgetjealous. That wasn’t my deal. But seeing Harper message another man so carefree, like she had grown close to him, stung like a thousand bees. It felt like I’d pushed him and her together, and I had no one but myself to blame for the ensuing friendship.

Was there more there than just amiable coexistence of two coworkers? Could she truly fall for someone like him? He was a rich brat, someone who was bored enough to take on a well-paying job since Mommy and Daddy cut up his credit cards and locked down the trust fund. He literally bled money.

Surely, she could smell a fake, a fraud like him, from a million miles away.

Right?

My phone vibrated, and I frowned as I watched a text from Angel pop up in my notifications.

Angel

what do you want, asshole?

My eyes rolled back into my head so often these days, I was becoming well-acquainted with the interior of my skull. My fingers flew across the screen as I hastily typed out a reply.

me

We’ve gotta talk about what we’re planning to tell Lilly when she decides to put us on trial.

The three dots indicating he was replying popped up, and I waited as he typed out another snappy comeback.

Angel

I don’t see how that’s my problem. I wanted to kill her. It was yours and Nash’s decision to protect her and void the contract instead. Deal with it yourself.

The urge to throw my phone into the nearby wall was so intense I nearly acted on it. Instead, I slipped it into my pocket and sighed, carding my fingers through my disheveled locs. The same locs I took pride in had started to come unwound, stray strands of hair poking out here and there in a disheveled manner that disgusted me.

I didn’t want her to see me like this, but she wasn’t here, so there was no reason to worry about it.

Angel looked at me with disgust any time he walked past me on his way out the door, but I could bear those looks of disdain. Nash wasn’t faring much better, so it wasn’t like I was the only one slowly falling apart these days.

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