Page 68 of Deceiver

Because if I am, what I’m hearing is that Western has a guy who is getting the boys off Bill. Then what happens, does he sell them for more? Double the price? And all along his club is safe because there is no link to them? I must be getting it wrong, because there is no way Western is that evil.No way.

“Tell him he will get what he’s fuckin’ always got and not a cent more. He pays the parents to get the boys, he sells them to me for double, he’s gettin’ his cut. He don’t need to know anythin’ fuckin’ more than that. We’re a buyer, that’s the end of it. If he asks more questions, you tell him you’ll take your business elsewhere. Stick to the plan. I’ll meet you tonight for the handover. You know where. Eight. Don’t be late.”

Shock runs through my body as I scramble away from the door, frantically rushing down the hall before Western comes out and notices me listening in. I dart out the front door and rush out, heading towards the shed. Fury just brought me back to the club after he took me to get a few things from in town, and if I go running back out now, he’ll know something is wrong.

I just got the information I’ve been wanting for for so long, and yet it’s the last thing I ever wanted to hear.

Western lied to me.

He has been involved all along.

After everything he has been through, he is the monster behind the plan.

He looked me right in the eyes and told me he wasn’t involved.

Reaching the shed, I rush inside, slamming the door. Hand pressing to my heart, I close my eyes and try to remain calm. It doesn’t matter what I tell myself now, the truth is right in front of me. I’m afraid, though, that if I tell Western I know that this might end badly. He could deny it, for a start, make up a story and have me believe I’ve gotten it all wrong. Which is why I’m going to follow him when he goes tonight.

I’m going to follow him, confront him, then I’m leaving this town.

I can’t be here anymore.

The heartbreak is too much to carry.

Already there is a pain in the pit of my stomach because I know how much this is going to hurt. I know that leaving Western is going to be so incredibly difficult for me. I love him, and for the first time in forever, I had hope for us. I thought we were going to finish this together, and then create a life. A life where the two of us would love each other until the day we die. Now, that is being ripped from beneath me once more.

I fight back my tears, tired of crying.

I’m tired of hurting.

I’m tired of being lied to.

I take a deep breath, push my chin out, and make a plan.

The first step in that plan is making sure Western doesn’t know that I know.

I want to follow him, undetected. I want to make sure I catch him in the act.

Then he can’t talk his way out of it.

Then, I’m going to call Nathan and tell him what I know.

I don’t want to see the man I love go down, but I can’t watch another teenager be snatched from their lives and sold.

The shed door opens, and Western steps inside.

It’ll be the biggest act of my life, not letting him know that something is wrong. Even looking at him now, I am fighting the urge to scream and cry at the same time. I want to hurl abuse at him, but I also want to demand he tell me why I wasn’t enough for him to be honest with. Most of all, though, I want to ask him how he could do something like this after what he went through. Did being locked away for so long really just turn him into a monster?

“What’s wrong?”

He’s smart, too smart.

Luckily for me, I have a valid excuse for being up and down with my emotions.

I offer him a small smile, which is so incredibly difficult I don’t know how I pull it off. “Just having a bit of a moment, I’m okay.”

He walks over to me, tucking my hair behind my ear. “It’ll get better.”

How can he stand in front of me right now, looking down at me the way he is, touching me the way he is, when he knows it’s all a big lie? Does any of this mean anything to him, or is it an act, too? An act to make sure I stop digging, to make sure I don’t reveal the truth, to make sure he and the club are safe. He did switch from not wanting me, to wanting me very quickly. Was this the plan all along?

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