Page 12 of Sweet Lies

I don’t respond as I climb the stairs, knowing Rebecca will be in her room. She always goes there when things get overwhelming.

Not knocking, I enter the room that has too much pink to represent her true personality. She’s obviously been expecting my arrival because she instantly throws a pillow at my head.

“If that were a grenade, I’d be done for,” I attempt to joke.

She doesn’t laugh; instead, she continues to stare at her wall.

Sitting down next to her, I try to find the right words. This is the last thing Elijah would want me to do. I’m supposed to avoid her, not sit in her room. But I can’t bear the thought of her being hurt because of my words. Not even for Elijah.

“Why do you hang out with women like that?” she asks. “Really?”

“Because it’s easy. There’s nothing to it. Nothing holding me there.” Why can’t she just understand and leave it alone? Nothing good comes from digging.

“Is that what you want—easy?”

I hate that there are tears in her eyes.

“What I want doesn’t matter. You make nothing easy,” I declare, standing, pissed at the whole situation.

“Because I ask you something you don’t have the answer to or because you know the answer, but you don’t want to admit it?” she asks, glancing up.

Releasing a slow breath, I rake my fingers through my hair. “It’s your party—you should get back down there before they notice you’re missing.”

“The only person who would notice is in this room. This may be my party, but no one will miss me. I’ve said maybe five words all night. They’re here for my dad, Claire, and Elijah. This could just be another party if the car out front didn’t have a bow on it.”

“Poor you,” I say angrily. “You can be anything you want to be, but you hide that part of you away, only letting a few see it.” My hands clench at my sides.

She was silent for a moment before nodding. “You’re right. What does it say that I let you in?”

My control slips, as it seems to do when Rebecca is involved, and I snap. “That you and the Barbie downstairs have more in common than you would care to admit.”

The slap that comes is expected. She pulls back for another, and I grab hold of her wrists. “You get one, princess.”

She tries to wiggle free, but it’s useless.

“You’re a dick,” she hisses, still trying to get free.

“First accurate thing you’ve said all day,” I mutter, releasing her. She’s not expecting the action and falls to the bed.

“One day, you’ll realize how much I matter to you.”

“Don’t bet the new car on it,” I state, stepping away and out of the room.

“I realized it a long time ago,” I whisper to myself outside her door.

ChapterFour

ANDRE

I’m shutting the gun case and trunk when Elijah’s name flashes across my cell. “Hey. Finishing up at the gun range. I’ll be at the bar in a few.”

The silence and change in the sound tells me the call’s been switched to the car system. “Change of plans. There was a problem at the drop for Wil and Big Al. Dad called a meeting. He wants your ass here.”

“Does he need me to pick anything up on the way?”

“No, I think he’s saving a few things for later.” He laughs before hanging up.

There goes my nice evening of getting drunk and falling into someone’s bed at the end of the night. Wil and Big Al are big in the organization. Wil is Lucas’s second, and his brother; Big Al is his third. Both are deadly and mean fucks on a good day. If they got screwed over, there’ll be trouble. They get the big jobs—the jobs where if something goes wrong, someone’s going to lose more than a finger.

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