Page 70 of Devoured
“Lucky bastards.”
“I know,” I said, though I know that was stupid. I could have been next to them, on that island, if I wanted. But for some reason, I was still in Sage City, still commuting to the Dahlia District in Cresting Heights almost every day. Still waiting for Iris.
“How boring,” she said, a hint of a smile on her face. “It’s not fair. You find out my dark secrets, and I barely know yours.”
That was true. But what could tell her about my past, without scaring her away?
“I told you about my ex,” I said, though ‘yelled’ would have been more accurate. “She used to sell drugs at some of my clubs.”
“With your permission?”
I shook my head. “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
She snorted. “That’s a lie.”
“Not when it comes tothatkind of business.” But I knew that was a lie too. As if drugs were somehow where I drew the line, as if our bet wasn’t business. Iris shifted in her seat. She was right. I was a hypocrite. I shouldn’t have been messing with Iris in the first place, making crazy bets for the sheer entertainment of it. But here we were.
“People started dying,” I explained. “What she was selling wasn’t a good mix.”
“People died?” Her voice was quiet.
“I’m all for substance abuse,” I said, but then I raised my hands, “Even if I’m choosing sobriety now. But not when the shit is so bad it kills people.” I thought of those young adults dead in my club. Eyes open, staring at the bathroom ceiling. Never to see daylight again.
“What happened to her?” she whispered. She knew there was more to the story.
“She ended up taking some of it.” I left out the part that I had acquired her product and given it to her myself. Karma was the biggest bitch, after all. And I didn’t mention that Lexi’s face had haunted me for years after it. Even now. Knowing that she had betrayed me, gone behind my back, done something she knew I despised, that I had this feeling about her, and still, I didn’t want to believe it. That she could do something so cruel. That more people lost their lives because I didn’t want to believe my security team when they said that she was the breech. She had used me to get inside of my clubs, seducing me in California, convincing me to take her to the clubs all over the nation. So that I would turn a blind eye.
And I did. But only for so long.
I gave Lexi time to confess, because maybe she had a reason, but she never said a word. So I was the one who gave her some of her own drugs. Would it be the same with Iris? Would I have to give her a taste of her own medicine? Would she always choose business over me?
But I knew the answer. It was always business with her. Always. It was stupid of me to think otherwise.
Iris’s face was cast to the side, her mind drifting in unknown spaces.
“Why?” she asked.
I tilted my chin. “Why, what?”
“Why did you still do it?” She motioned around as if there were narcotics surrounding us. “Drugs. They hurt your customers. Killed your relationship with your girlfriend. Killed her. Why did you still do them, for years after that?”
A fair point. But I didn’t care to be questioned.
“Because I could,” I snapped. Because sometimes, escape was the only thing that would give me a break from the guilt. From the shame. From her dead eyes staring at me and seeing nothing. “I told you. I quit. Let it be.”
“Sure,” Iris said, her voice dry, “Sure.” As if we were having a mundane conversation. It made my defenses stand on end. Her lack of reaction showed that she actually didn’t care about my past when she should have. Because not caring was unlike her. The past haunted her, and yet she had no reaction to mine?
“Did you ever find anything new about those people who abducted me?” she asked.
I stared at her, blinking. That had happened a long time ago now. “No,” I said. And that was the truth. There was nothing new to tell her. I had always known exactly what had happened.
“Speaking of,” she said, a hesitation in her voice, “You’re right that the first part to making the Dahlia District a better place for the workers, is to get the politicians on our side.”
So that’s why she had come. Business as usual. She had completely switched subjects as if she was disinterested. Because it didn’t matter. None of it mattered.Ididn’t matter. We both knew the bet would be over soon, and then she would either quit the Dahlia District, or take it over. Either way, I would move on. Business was calling me to New York. And business was keeping Iris here.
As long as we both understood where we were coming from, I could help her out. A little, anyway.
“I can get you in front of the right people in the capitol,” I said. “I know a few politicians.”
