Page 40 of Addicted Lies

Hope shakes her head and then looks down at her phone, sighing. “I was hoping to see Hawke and Ford this weekend, but it looks like they’re at Pearl, and I’d rather not go there.”

I frown. They’re practically cousins, and Hope and Ford seem to enjoy one another’s company. But it pisses me off to hear they’re at the strip club my brother owns. I know it’s unreasonable, and they’ve gone there plenty of times before. Hell, I go there too. But it’s eating me alive not knowing what Ford is doing. Not that he owes me anything.

I throw my head back on the sofa, frustrated that this fucking thing is taking way too much of my energy. Maybe I really do just need to go and fuck someone else to bring me back to reality.

“What did you need to see them for?” I ask.

She casually shrugs. “Just stuff.”

I glance at her out of the corner of my eye because I can’t help but feel like there’s something she’s not saying. But that’s always been Hope’s style—keeping things close to the chest.

“Okay, I’m grabbing all of these. Shall we go home and put facemasks on and watch a horror movie?” Ivy asks.

Hope’s eyes glisten with delight. “Really?”

I pull her in for a hug. “Of course. We don’t get to see you all the time.” Horror movies filled with gore are her favorite. And though I don’t share the same sentiment, I can at least keep my stomach for most of them, and Ivy chooses when to be curious but is often scrolling through her phone.

We close up the store, and before we leave, I find myself looking at my phone again. Still no response. I’m not at all surprised because why would he bother messaging me when he’s at a strip club doing fuck knows what?

I internally slap myself. Fucking stupid. I don’t even care that he’s there, so why is it affecting me so much? But it’s more the not knowing what’s going through his mind that’s bothering me. I shouldn’t be taking it personally that he’s not replying to me since we were never like that before. But it does.

The next morning, my jaw drops when I arrive ten minutes before my appointment only to discover the tattoo parlor has been burned to the ground.

That fucking psycho!

Rage bubbles in my bloodstream.

I’d like to say it could be a coincidence, but I very much doubt that.

I’m fucking furious. If he wants to be controlling like my brother, then so be it. But I’m going to make him wish he never pissed me off.

It’s time Ford learned what the wrath of a woman really feels like.

CHAPTER 18

Ford

“Fuck. Another one? Really?” Hawke says, devouring a burger in two bites as he looks over the body. We’re on the wharf, between two cargo ships Eli owns. It’s where we conduct most of our business, and where we take delivery of our imported stock.

“Move everything out and relocate immediately,” Eli’s fast to instruct.

“Waylon was in town this week,” I mention. “He knows these locations.”

Eli thinks this over. “He wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack on the same weekend of being here, and besides, it’s only one person.”

It’s pissing down rain, and I’m soaked through. “Think it was the same poison?” Hawke asks after swallowing the last bite of his burger.

“It’s hard to tell since the rain’s washed everything away, but most likely,” I reply.

Fuck. This isn’t good. It means someone really is targeting Eli’s men. When we watched the surveillance video from his club, the bouncer had spoken to three women at the bar. There was nothing obvious linking any of them to the poisoning, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. It just means the person was either lucky or acutely aware of the security camera angles. This, however, is too close to home.

“The poison used on the bouncer at the club took about twenty minutes to take effect, and this guy just started his shift, didn’t he?” I ask the security guard.

“Yeah. I literally swapped positions with him five minutes before I found him like this. I thought it was weird he hadn’t replied to my cross-check message.”

Eli tsks under his breath. “We need to figure out where he was before he started his shift.”

“It’s possible the cargo wasn’t the target. So far it’s just been your men,” I point out, but it’s still best to move the product and operation just in case.

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