Page 135 of Drown My Sorrow

He’s kissing her, she’s still, her fingers clenching and unclenching, but he’s forcing himself on her.

Nope.

“Hank?” I call loudly.

Nat ducks away as soon as he lifts off her. I swing and hit him hard in the back of the head.

Nat stands there while he slides down her body and crumples on the floor.

She stares at me. I stare back at her.

“Hiding bodies makes us besties.”

I cock my head to the side. “Lying to the cops makes us forever friends.”

We burst into laughter and head down to the beach.

As we sit on the burning sand and talk, really talk, I realise that the words I’d said as a joke might very well be real.

I think I just made a friend.

PresentDay

The shouts drag me from my explorations of the long and exalted hallways of the Boothe family home. It’s a somber, dreary place, and the atmosphere is starting to affect me.

As I get closer to the stairs and the front entrance, I find Ezy standing in front of a line of the staff that work here.

“Who did it?” he growls.

Holt lifts his chin and simply glances at Ezy out of the corner of his eye with only a modicum of respect.

“The staff would not do such a thing, Alpha Boothe.”

“Daane!” Ezy snarls. “And are you implying that my pack would take that photo and send it to the journalists?”

“Perhaps the photo was taken through the window, sir,” Holt says calmly.

Ezy snarls, and the sound hits them all, causing the whole line to flinch.

“You all forget who I am. You think just because I’ve been away that I’ve forgotten who raised me, but, clearly, you need to have a reeducation.”

Ezy draws himself up. I’m about to interfere when I see a couple of the staff snicker. Another couple lower their eyes. I look up and down the line and realise they all know.

“You’re all fired!”

Their heads jerk up, shock, fear, horror.

“You can’t do that!” Holt cries.

I have no sympathy for any of them.

“Oh, I can’t fire you. But I can fire all of them,” Ezy says smugly. “How dare you come into my home, take my money, and betray me so blatantly. You all have one hour to collect your belongings and get off my property. No exceptions.”

Holt stays there longest, fairly quivering with rage. Ezy does not even bother to look at him.

“Ahem.”

My alpha ignores him.

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