Page 92 of Give Me Perfect Love

Abruptly, she sits up, her hair falling around her face. She makes no move to put it behind her ear.

“You hired that man to kill Cain.” She doesn’t ask. She says it with the hopes that I’ll confirm.

I do. “Yes.”

She nods, which is not what I was expecting, but what I prefer. I don’t want to fight with her. Not when she looks like she’s been through the fight of her life. Not when I feel like I have.

The thought of Cain putting his hands around her throat makes my muscles tense and my blood pump harder.

“How do you know him?”

“Danny?” I ask.

“I never heard his name,” she says.

I nod. “His name is Danny O’Brien. People call him Bones. I don’t know why, but I’m sure there’s a reason. Just like the boy he called Sweep. His name is Johnny. I’m assuming they call him Sweep because he’s the cleanup man. He sweeps up the mess.

“Ben grew up with them in New Jersey. They came through here a while back, and Ben suggested I hire them to take care of Cain. I did, but somehow, he got help and ended up back here.”

“They cut his throat,” she says.

“Yeah.”

She exhales. “What were they doing here?”

“They came back to finish the job,” I reply. “I paid them a lot of money.”

“That’s not what I meant. What were they doing here the first time?”

I sit up, pulling my shirt away from my belt loop, realizing this is it. I can continue to lie and have her believe I’m who she thinks I am, or I can be honest.

I know she’s going to be pissed, and I can’t say I blame her. If she was hiding a secret like the one I am, I’d be pretty mad, too.

This isn’t anI snuck out and had a few beers with the guyskinda shit.This isI’m doing something illegal. I have been and I’m not going to stop.

She could leave me for this.

Am I willing to take that chance?

I look down at the floor, her rug a swirl of dark burgundy and turquoise.

“Bryce,” she says.

Fuck, I’m not sure what to do here. I stand up and lean my head back, my eyes going to the ceiling.

“We said we wouldn’t keep things from each other.” Her voice slices through my thoughts. My struggle with telling her the truth. If she leaves me, I’ll be broken. More so than I already am.

“I know,” I say. I shut my eyes briefly. It’s now or never.

If we get deeper into this without her knowing who I really am, what I really do, then it will all be a lie.

I can’t have us build a life together and keep her in the dark at the same time.

I have to trust that she can handle it.

“I’ve owned Red for many years now,” I say.

“I know this,” she replies.

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