Page 52 of Cruel Lies

"Hey, fuckwads, neither of you know how to answer a phone when it rings?"

Angel popped his head in the door of the office, a look of pointed disgust on his face as he stared at the two of us, her naked, me with my pants around my ankles, my cock buried in her as we both panted through an interrupted release.

"You ever heard of knocking?" I spat, hating that he’d ruined this moment for us. "You should try it sometime."

"If I’d knocked, I would have missed that horrible O face of yours, brother. Jesus, I wouldn’t wanna look at that above me while I was getting laid. Maybe work on that." He sauntered across the room and settled on the couch as Harper scrambled to cover herself and I tossed her the clothes I’d ripped off her, piece by piece. "Don’t worry, I’m not here to jump in line for my brother’s leftovers."

Harper shrunk from that intentional barb, and I winced on her behalf at his brazen disdain. Angel had never in his life been so cruel intentionally, not to his worst enemy. Had her presence changed him for the worse, or was he fighting the way he really felt?

I couldn’t tell, for the first time in my life, and it made planning this whole thing that much harder.

"What the hell could Nash need us for that is so important?" My belt clinked back into place, and I disappeared into my room to grab a shirt so I could deal with whatever crisis was going on that I didn’t know about.

Angel smirked as Harper bent over and slid on her shorts, then skittered to the corner for a change of clothes. "Oh, you know, he went down to his favorite club to blow off some steam, and I guess something serious must’ve happened, because when he couldn’t get ahold of you, he called me. And considering the fights we’ve been in lately, I know he wouldn’t be calling my phone unless it was life or death."

"He didn’t tell you what happened?"

Angel shook his head, his pale blonde-white hair hanging free for a change. "Nope. Refused. Just said to have you call him back." His eyes focused on his nails as he pretended to pick one clean. "I debated just forgetting about it, but I suppose there’s a number of things he can do that might adversely affect me as well." His gaze lifted as Harper moved back into the room, nowwearing a bra and a new pair of jean shorts that looked like they were unraveling at the edges. "I didn’t feel like taking that risk."

"You really are a piece of work," Harper mumbled as she marched over to where Angel sat, flipping her phone over to peek at the missed calls. "Weird, he didn’t call me."

"Probably doesn’t have your number," I supplied, but she just shook her head.

"A year after I was supposed to be dead, I paid the cellphone company extra to get my old number back." When I just stared at her, she shrugged. "Listen, I know it was stupid, but something about that number—I dunno, man. I wanted a small part of my old self back."

I shook off the revelation that she’d been just one phone call away this whole time, and dialed Nash. Almost as a second thought, I hit the speaker button and set him on the table as I slipped my shoes on, just in case.

Nash picked up on the first ring.

"Shit, Ro, I fucked up."

TWENTY-FIVE

NASH

"I ain’t talkingover the phone, man; just get here, okay?" I hung up the phone and prayed he’d drive fast. The girl’s body was going cold, and soon, she’d be hell to move. We’d have to break some bones, and that could be messy and irritating if rigor mortis set in.

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckety fucks." The cobblestones under the heels of my boots made a dullthudas I paced back and forth, shooting the dead body an irritated grimace with every pass.

I didn’t come here to fucking kill a bitch. I came here to blow off some steam. The whole point of frequenting a dark, seedy strip joint was to find girls who weren’t picky. Who weren’t above doing anything for a dollar. I paid the bitch to follow me outside and suck my dick, but instead of using that cocksucker for its intended purpose, she decided to run it.

Her first mistake was staring too long at my face when the fucking streetlight flickered and put it into stark relief. When I left the house, I didn’t bother to put any makeup on, and she got a full view of the scars one of her kind gifted me with.

Her second mistake was laughing.

Atme.

With my cock out and at eye level.

I wasn’t used to my cock not working, but fuck all if she hadn’t played with it, and still, the fucker wouldn’t stand up like he was supposed to. It was probably all the booze that’d replaced my blood. I was well over the legal driving limit and no doubt inalcohol poisoningterritory.

Not that I could tell. Right now, the only thing racing through my mind was the irritation that I’d been so out of control of myself that I let a bitch like her get under my skin and affect me like this. I let her make mefeel something,regardless of the emotion behind it.

It wouldn’t happen again.

Ever.

Blood pumped through my veins as I spiraled, something Ihadn’t done in a long-ass time. She looked at me from the other side of life through dead eyes that glassed over like windows. Her face mirrored mine, a sloppy, shaky recreation that made me suddenly sick.

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