Page 183 of Chandelier Sin
“You share your subs,” she retaliated. “What does that make you?”
“Now you’re boring me.”
“Fuck off.”
Her feistiness made me smile. “The last time someone said that to me I injected insulin between their toes. The coroner didn’t find it.”
“That’s a lie!”
The truth was a lot more sinister.
Stella watched me carefully, seemingly startled by my confession.
I folded my arms. “You’re still standing there.”
“You’re the gatekeeper for whatever they do on the sixth floor. Not just one sub, but many at the same time.”
She’d pushed my patience. “For you, I’ll imagine a more interesting way to die.”
Her mouth snapped shut and with that favorable result I turned and headed down the hallway.
Glancing back and not seeing her, I entered Jake’s office.
They weren’t impressed with my lateness, considering I’d been the one to instigate this meeting.
Jake still hadn’t decorated his office.
Greyson and Cameron seemed to have noticed it, too. All three of us scanned the room with critical eyes. Considering Jake had created so many compelling areas within his Mulholland home, keeping this space sparse was weird. I’m sure we were all thinking the same thing.
These machinations were Cole’s territory. He’d no doubt broach the subject of this empty office at some point, delve into the mind of Jake Carrington and wade into a quagmire of complexity.
I suppose we were all complicated in our own way.
I opened my arms in greeting. “Guess who got cut out of the deal?” I gave them a devilish smile.
“You betrayed us?” said Cameron. “How very bourgeois.”
“Well, you know me,” I said. “I’m the working-class guy you’ve all come to love. Still, I think you’ll see I had no choice.”
Ruefully, Jake shook his head. “What’s the play?”
“I made Roper an offer,” I said, moving to the side.
Greyson looked at Cole and then Jake and then finally stared at me. “What the hell did you do?”
“Atticus, did you sell your soul?” Jake guessed. “I hope you know what you’re fucking doing.”
Understandably, no one was amused by my confession.
Usually being the guy who’d take a bullet for his buddies made my betrayal cut that much deeper and was way out of character.
Didn’t these fuckers know I loved them?
Cameron’s intensity sent a chill through the room, as it often did even in quiet company. The guy was always thinking, his dark charisma reined in within the undecorated space of Jake’s office.
Jake and Greyson stood there looking baffled over my statement. After all, we’d gone into this endeavor to buy Pendulum together. Me cutting them out of the deal was an asshole move.
Cameron turned to them and said, “The rules that govern things we can see, do not apply to those we cannot.”
