Page 1 of Wicked Love
CHAPTERONE
Madelyn
Silence seemed to have settled over the campus. Other students were chatting and laughing as they walked along the paths, but they might as well have been miles away from where I stood with my stepbrother’s hand clamped around my arm, his best friends flanking us, and all three of them glaring accusingly at the other guy I was falling for.
Logan’s words echoed in my mind, sounding no less ridiculous than when I’d first heard them.We’ve found out why we’re having so much trouble looking into your dad’s murder. Beckett’s family is behind it, and he’s been covering their tracks all along.
Beckett was blinking at Logan, his forehead furrowing. “What the hell are you talking about? I thought Maddie’s father died from a sudden disease.”
Of course he did. Because that was what I’d told him, back when I’d believed that story was true too.
How could he or his family have anything to do with Dad’s death? I wasn’tthatbad a judge of character, was I? Beckett had never seemed anything other than considerate and protective toward me.
Heck, he’d just raced to my rescue over an anxious text message I’d sent him. I hadn’t seen the slightest sign that he meant me any harm. If he was mixed up in the murder in any way, wouldn’t he be trying to get rid of me, not keep me safe?
Logan scoffed, his brown eyes glinting harshly beneath the rumpled tufts of his chestnut hair. “You can’t fool us with that innocent act. We know just how many lies you’ve been peddling.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I burst out, spinning to face the Vigil guys. “I know you weren’t totally sure about Beckett, but you can’t just go around making up crazy stories—”
“It’s not crazy, and it’s not just a made-up story,” Dexter said in his usual matter-of-fact tone, folding his arms over his lean chest and fixing his bright green gaze on Beckett. “We have photographic evidence that he’s been hiding things.”
Slade looped one of his well-muscled arms around mine—the one Logan didn’t still have in a death-grip. An angry flush darkened his bronze skin. “Don’t worry, Piccolina. We’ll make sure he gets what he deserves—and that he doesn’t set foot anywhere nearyouagain.”
Beckett ran a hand over the smooth strands of his sandy blond hair, his gray eyes stormy with what still looked like genuine confusion to me, along with a fair bit of frustration. “I have no idea what you three are ranting about. How could I be covering up a murder I didn’t even know about? Why would anyone have murdered Maddie’s father anyway? What the fuck is going on?”
Logan finally let go of me to march toward Beckett, his massive frame looming over the other guy, who was half a foot shorter. “If one more lie comes out of that mouth—”
I leapt forward and snatched the back of Logan’s shirt, yanking him to a halt. “Enough with the threats and the accusations. I want to know what the hell is going on too! Whatever it is you think you know, tell us.” I couldn’t decide whether it was remotely reasonable or if my other boyfriends had gone insane until I had some idea what had gotten them so riled up.
Slade’s hand had slid down my arm to grasp my fingers when I’d lunged after Logan. “He owns that night club in town,” he said tightly. “He was there at least one of the nights when we went dancing, before you ever talked to him. I bet he never told you that. He was stalking you.”
“Preparing for your ‘chance’ meeting,” Logan added, his voice dripping with derision.
Beckett raised his hands, his mouth tightening. “Yes, myfamilyowns a club downtown. It’s part of the family business. I swing by to check up on things periodically. I don’t see how it’s lying that I didn’t tell you that when you never asked me about it. How was I supposed to realize you’d find it so suspicious? Do you need a full list of all my family’s assets?”
“That would be a good start,” Dexter piped up as if he hadn’t realized it was a rhetorical question. I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or serious.
My mind was reeling. It wasn’t totally bizarre that Beckett might own the club and simply not mentioned it, but he definitely hadn’t mentioned seeing me there. Ithadbeen just an accident that I’d bumped into him the one day outside the coffee shop… and the second time another day in the post office… hadn’t it? Or had that been more than a welcome coincidence?
I caught his gaze. “Had you already seen me at the club before the first time we talked?”
Beckett looked back at me without a flicker of hesitation. “What does it matter? Would it really change anything if I had?”
He hadn’t actually answered the question. A little chill quivered down my spine. “It might—if that means you went out of your way to make sure we’d end up talking as if it was a random meeting, when really you’d planned it all along.”
Logan’s lips had drawn back from his teeth in a silent growl. “He’s got connections to the trucking company too. When we went to investigate it, we saw a truck with a shipment for his club, ordered in his name. We’re supposed to believe it’s just random chance that he’s associated with a company that’s got ties to all those other businesses in the trail we’ve followed—a company that probably also ships illegal merchandise?”
My stomach plummeted. Too many coincidences adding up tended to mean they weren’t coincidental after all.
Becketthadturned up right after my car had gotten stolen—right after someone in town had realized I might have information to do with my dad.
I took a step back, tugging Logan with me. Beckett’s eyes widened.
“Maddie,” he said, “you can’t really be buying into this bullshit. Clubs need to get shipments of alcohol. Someone’s got to deliver them. There’s nothing nefarious about it.”
Slade snorted. “There is when you had so many other options and you just happened to pick the company that’s mixed up in this case. And—” He cut himself off, his mouth setting in a grim line that wasn’t like the joking, flirty guy I was used to at all. “We’re not telling you everything we found out. You’ll just use the information to make excuses and hurt even more people.”
Beckett rubbed the bridge of his nose as if he had a headache. “I think I’m starting to get an inkling of what must have happened. Did someone you talked to today give you the impression that I was involved in whatever happened to Maddie’s father? Whatever exactly happened,theywere lying to you, probably to mess with this ‘case’ of yours. I didn’t know anything about Maddie or her family until a month ago.”
