Page 102 of Bad Seed
No!
I take another step back, my shoulder scraping along the boxes. The bloody tarp snaps against its rubber straps and threatens to tumble. Aubry catches it before it does and notches it back in place without taking his eyes off of me.
“I was kidnapped. By men who threatened to…” I gulp, shoving all of that to the far back of my mind. They’re scary, and I’m scared. But I’m also angry, and being angry at Aubry is easy because he’s not so scary. Right? “And for what? Some guy I don’t know. Some Talong? Who the fuck is that? Do you know?”
He swallows so hard his Adam’s apple dives.
“Why is kidnapping me supposed to find some guy? It’s called Google, or Facebook, or… I don’t know. Hiring a bounty hunter. It doesn’t make any damn sense.”
“Sadie…”
“I don’t understand. What do I have to do with a mob that lives in a casino in fucking Vegas? Or this guy they’re looking for? Or…?”
Time stops dead. The air scratches at my skin as I swivel my head up to him.
“I’m…”
“You’re…”
“Talong.”
Holy shit.
My giant, rich boyfriend is with the mob.
Holy fuck. He does look hot in a suit and with some sunglasses… But he’s killed people. Probably. Definitely broken laws. That’s what they do, they’re lawbreakers. And that’s bad.
A ridiculously hot bad boy…who lied to me.
“Who are you?” I sputter, trying to stuff my libido into the same box as my trauma. I hope that doesn’t cause any problems for future me.
Aubry takes a deep breath. “I am Talong—”
“Yeah, we established that. What else? Who are they? Are you related to them? Is that your mob family out there? Did you steal from them? Is that why you were running away?”
He touches my arm. It’s barely a clasp compared to the bruises I have bursting under my skin from all the manhandling for the past two days. But I gasp as if he’s cut me.
Aubry… Talong looks at his hand and lets go. “I’ll explain it all later. For now—”
“For now, you’re going to tell me if anything you said was real. The banana sauce, the island, your Lolo… Are you even filipino?”
“Yes, everything I told you is real.”
“Except the part about your name, and you being on the run from the mob… Is Astin even your cat?”
“Of course, he is. I saved him. He was nothing but skin and bones, his fur matted with blood when I fished him out of that shipping container!” Instead of rage, he unleashes a mournful howl at me. Shaking his head, he grabs onto the top box and digs in. “We ran together. He’s all I had in this world.”
“Had?” I gulp. “What happened?”
It’s Aubry’s eyes that stare into mine not this Talong mobster. His lips twitch as if he’s trying to reel back in what he said. With a sigh, he turns away again. “Astin’s fine. Angry, but fine. Look. The short, short version. My grandfather’s farm burned down, I had nowhere to go, and Mr. Ato took me in.”
“I met him.”
His face plummets, and he grabs my shoulders. “You did?” he panics, staring at my chest again.
“He’s an asshole.”
Panting, Aubry stares at my body like he’s checking every inch for something. “But…you’re alive.”
