Page 16 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

I cock my head over my shoulder as I continue my fast pace out the front door. “Since my problem is currently you, then you better hope you don’t run out of breath.”

I spot my car in the distance and unlock it with the fob in my hand, planning a speedy escape.

“You can’t just dump all this shit on me and then expect me to pretend that I don’t have a clue.”

I turn to him. “And you can’t just waltz into town acting like-”

“Is that the van that’s been following you?”

I turn my head over my shoulder and catch a glance at a black SUV as it pulls up to the curb adjacent to the parking lot. It sure looks like the same one. I reach for Asher’s hand and pull him around the opposite side of the building. For the second time in a brief span of time, we find our bodies pressed together, the hot fire of his breath on the skin of my throat.

He swallows nervously, and just when I think he’s about to try kissing me again, he doesn’t. “I should go say something to him.”

I push hard against his chest, holding him in place. “You should stay right fucking here and not say a word.”

“I think you’re in more danger than you think you are.”

“Do you really think the Callaways are trying to have me killed? Do you have any idea how that would look in the press?”

“They’re clearly up to something because they know you killed their son and you’re not dead.”

“I’m well aware of the predicament I’ve found myself in.”

He takes a deep breath. “Are you absolutely sure you can trust Nick?”

“Like I said before, I don’t need a white knight to ride in on his high horse to save me. Nick isn’t like the rest of his godawful family.”

“How can you be certain?”

“I’m a pretty good judge of character,” I say confidently, but I know that he’s right.

I can’t trust Nick with absolute certainty just like I can’t trust anyone else, not even my mother who tried selling me out to the police.

“I really want to kiss you,” Asher says lowly, but he doesn’t. “I know that I can’t though.”

I pat him on the chest. “That’s a good boy, now can you please pretend that we never had this conversation.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” I retreat and peek around the corner of the building to find that the SUV seems to have disappeared. When I look back to Asher, I realize that the only way I’m going to get him off my tail is if I tell him a convincing lie. I grit my teeth and force a smile as I lean in close to him. “I promise you, when I’m done here, when I do the things that I need to do, I’ll leave this place. I’ll go back home with you.’

“Someone wise once told me that trust isn’t a commodity that should be so easily accepted.” His lips hitch into a wry grin. “But I guess it’s better to put faith into people and believe them.”

And then I kiss him softly on the lips.

Nick and I don’t kiss, not really. We’re more animalistic in our fucked-up attraction to each other. Asher and I have kissed far too many times to count. They are two men that are completely on opposite ends of the spectrum. And yet, even with our shared history, it still feels wrong every time his eyes gaze into mine, every time his lips are so close to mine that sparks ignite between us. It feels like I’m cheating and I’m not, not that I could since Nick would never claim me. I would never claim him either. We are on a doomed path to self-destruction but that’s just it, it’s better if we self-destruct without the interference of others.

I retreat from him slowly at first, taking a few measured steps at a time, and then I twist on my feet and get into my car.

I don’t know who to trust, all three men have their motives.

Nick doesn’t trust me, and why should he? I’m not someone that should be trusted, especially by him. For the record, I don’t exactly trust him either, which is why he’s even a possible contender for the asshole that’s having me followed.

Then there’s his father, who is so much worse than he is. He has every reason to want those disks back, if not want me outright dead. He has every reason to go to the police and show them the video footage. He has every reason to want me locked up behind bars for the rest of my life. I killed his fucking son. What kind of parent wouldn’t hand that evidence over to the authorities? A parent that’s hiding something far worse.

And then there’s Asher. It’s not like he would have a motive or even would have known that the disks exist in the first place, but there’s somethingoffabout his timing in showing up. There’s also something weird about the story he told me about how he found me. He’s hiding something.

Whatever the case, I know that I have to get those disks back because there is obviously something far more incriminating on them than the video of me stabbing Carter.

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