Page 16 of The Best Bad Boy

Sarah glowered at me. “Oh, so it’s okay to share the sex part with me, but nothing else. It’s been like this my whole life! I’m involved but never trusted enough to know what I’m involved in!”

I stood, suddenly furious. “Involved?” I shouted. “You caused all this! I’m merely trying to sort it out so you can go home to your sheltered and privileged life!”

I regretted the words as soon as I said them. It wasn’t Sarah’s fault I had a conscious, and I chose to rescue her, and it definitely wasn’t her fault she was born into a family of crime. I knew I had to apologize, but when Sarah glared at me and then accused me of only wanting one thing from her, something in my brain felt like it snapped. She had no idea what I wanted, and how dare she assume it was sex? Instead of apologizing, I laughed coldly.

“Sex? That’s what I want?” I said, my voice cold and emotionless. “No, Sweetheart, I can get that anywhere without the drama.”

I watched her face twist in anger and sadness as she fought not to cry. She held it together long enough to throw a poisonous look back before she stormed from the room.

“Well, maybe you should go out and do just that. I’m too good for you anyway!”

I stood there feeling like the world’s biggest asshole for a long time. Shewastoo good for me. I was a lot of things, but emotionally available was not always at the forefront.

“You’re such a fucking idiot,” I grumbled to myself just as my phone rang. My stepdad’s number popped up on the screen. “Fucking hell,” I said through gritted teeth as I swiped the screen to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Any time you change numbers, you know I’ll find them,” he said instead of hello. “Now, why would someone who had nothing to do with a bride disappearing begin using a disposable phone right afterward? Unless, of course, he DID have something to do with the woman going missing?”

“Hi, Pauly,” I said wearily. “I’m using a burner because I’m not even in the country. And I have a crazy family that seems intent on self-destructing and bringing me with them.”

Pauly paused for a split second. “I don’t know where you are, but what I do know is this. I will find you. So do yourself a favor—either come clean or make sure I never get proof you helped her.”

“Okay, thanks for the advice,” I said and hung up. A second later, my brother Alex’s number showed on the screen as the phone rang again.

“Yes?”

“Dad just called you?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Listen, I know you didn’t have anything to do with it, but shit is getting really serious around here. I can’t talk long. He’s watching me all the time. He’s threatened Sarah’s dad already and has had someone shoot at their house as a warning. It wasn’t designed to hurt them…yet. But he will. We have to do something. I don’t want to be a part of this!” Alex’s voice sounded tight, angry. “I’ve never wanted to be a part of this. I hate the violence, but I grew up with it. You didn’t. You got away. Please help me do that too. I’m scared that her entire family is gonna end up dead.”

I sighed. I wasn’t shocked to hear that Pauly had taken it personally. He had a reputation for being the meanest of the family heads, and his favorite game was to terrorize his enemies.

“Okay, well. I have some ideas, but I can’t share them with anyone. I don’t know who I can or would trust. I just pray you’re telling me the truth, Alex, because if you are, I’ll try and help you get out. But if you’re lying to me… baiting me… well, then we have a real problem.”

“I’m not. I promise.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up.

I slumped down into a kitchen chair. Did Sarah know anything about the threats and the shooting? I suspected not, and I intended to keep it that way until I could find a way to make it all go away.

“Kevin?” I said into my phone. “Come here, please.”

“I’m positioned out front, sir. Shall I ask Sam to cover me?”

“Yeah, and then come. I’m in the kitchen.”

Kevin entered the room a minute later. He sat at the chair across from me, his face hard and stoic while I recounted what Alex had shared.

“We need to do something,” I said. “Sarah has to be safe.”

Kevin looked thoughtful. “Boss, if I may say something?”

Kevin never called me boss unless he was concerned about my reaction to whatever it was he was about to say.

“I’m not your boss. I’m your friend.”

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