Page 88 of Give Me Perfect Love

“How are we going to do that?” Claire asks, her hand going to her stomach.

“Bryce said he knows someone.” I shrug, taking another bite of my food.

“He knows someone?” she asks, looking green.

“Yeah. You okay?”

She shakes her head and runs around the corner to the downstairs half bath. I look over at Austin as the sounds of her puking fill the apartment.

He frowns. I look back as she walks out, her face pale and clammy.

“Nerves are bad,” she says.

I narrow my eyes, a flash of worry in my chest, but then my phone vibrates. I peek over at the screen, seeing it’s my boyfriend again.

Boyfriend.My heart wiggles its brows. I roll my eyes.

“Hey,” I say, holding my phone between my good cheek and shoulder.

“Can you and Claire be ready in twenty minutes? The guy I know has an opening.”

I look over at Claire as she drinks a sip of water from the fridge dispenser.

“Hold on,” I say, removing the phone. “Would you like to go today?” I ask her.

“Is that Bryce?”

I nod. “He says the guy he knows has an opening in twenty minutes.”

She shrugs. “Why not.” She doesn’t say it like she’s down for whatever. She says it like she’s lost hope and has no idea where we go from here.

I realize my best friend has not only been through something traumatic, she’s discovered that Cain made up everything. She had a job she loved; she was a chef like she always wanted.

But this whole time he was the puppeteer. He was in control of everything.

I put the phone back to my ear. “Yeah.”

“Okay. I’ll pick y’all up.”

“Thanks,” I reply.

“See you in a bit.” He hangs up and I crumble my wrapper. After tossing it into the trashcan, I wipe my hands of crumbs and reach for Claire’s cup of water. She hands it to me as Austin stands from the couch.

He pulls a smoke out from behind his ear after he rinses his hands off from eating. He licks his lips, looking down at the cigarette between his fingers. “I can’t be the only one asking what the fuck is going on here, right?”

My eyes bounce to Claire. Her face is expressionless, and it kills me. How can I fix her?

“No,” I say to Austin. “You’re not.”

“Thank fuck,” he says. “I mean, we witnessed a man get murdered. We all stood there and watched someone get shot in the head. What are we supposed to do with that?”

I shake my head, crossing my arms and leaning against the counter. “I don’t know.”

“How does Bryce know those men? Is that why Cain disappeared, because Bryce hired someone to get rid of him?”

Austin is asking the same questions I’m asking. No one wants to know these things more than me.

“Yes,” Claire says. We both look at her. “What?” she asks, lifting her brow, her eyes jumping between Austin and me. “Isn’t it obvious?”

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