Page 27 of Whips and Chains
But he’d found it here, with Rebel and Vaughn and Kian, in the most unconventional way.
Fang groaned. “I don’t think I want to hear this.”
I glanced at him. “You really probably don’t.”
He nodded. “I’m going to take LaLa upstairs to bed then.”
Vaughn followed, but Kian dropped down into the seat Fang had vacated and grinned at me like an overexcited golden retriever. “Tell us all the juicy hot details.”
Rebel sniggered. “He wants the tea as much as I do. So spill it.”
So I did, because I needed someone to talk to, and I no longer had the one person who’d always been my go-to. Eventually the police showed up, and I put on the show of my life, acting shocked when they told me about Toby’s death, though the numb feeling that spread through me at hearing it on their lips was real.
They asked where I was, and I told them the alibi the guys had given me. If they questioned the neighbors, Cassy in particular, they might have found out that alibi had holes in it, but for now, at least, it satisfied them.
They left, telling me they may need to contact me again.
My fingers shook the moment the door closed.
Kian took them and squeezed them. “You did good.”
I nodded up at him, and he let me go.
“What now?” Rebel asked. “You’ve got a shift at Psychos tonight, but I can tell Bliss you won’t make it in if you just want to lie low.”
But that reminded me what day it was, and I fumbled with my phone to check the time. “Shit. No, I’ll do the shift tonight. I need the money. And the distraction. But I have a job for Clean Sweep this afternoon. I can’t miss it or Francine will fire me. I’m already skating on thin ice with her.”
Fang picked up a set of car keys. “I can drive you.”
“Thank you.” I paused. “Can you do something else for me?”
He nodded solemnly. “Anything.”
“I need you to convince Grayson to tell me when the next meeting of his group is.”
Rebel quirked an eyebrow. “Because you’re feeling the urge to kill and need to be counseled out of it?”
Fang ground his molars. “If its Reaper or X or Whip you’re thinking of offing, don’t worry about it. I’ve already got that covered.”
I waited for someone to make a joke out of that, but it didn’t come, and I realized he was dead serious. “Okay, don’t do that, please.”
He let out ahumphof acceptance. Or maybe of disappointment, I couldn’t quite tell.
“Then why do you want to know about Grayson’s meetings?” Rebel asked.
I stared her dead in the eye. “Because I’m sick of being on the sidelines of my own life. Somebody tried to kill me last night, and in the process, they murdered my best friend. I can’t just let that go.”
She pressed her lips together. “Vi, those guys in Grayson’s group, they aren’t…normal.”
Like I didn’t already know that.
She carried on, but her expression was full of worry. “I’m really happy for you, that they were there when you needed a three-way railing—”
Fang let out a groan that sounded like it was full of pain.
Rebel ignored him. “But those guys aren’t men you want to be hanging out with.”
I appreciated her concern. I really did. But I was so far past this point. I’d already had this argument with myself, with Toby, and I kept coming back to the fact I couldn’t just walk away.
