Page 198 of Poison Aches

George gives me an impassive look as he puts the cracked glass away. I didn’t even notice that I had cracked it.

“What is she doing here?” I demand. I keep my voice low, but there’s no hiding the angry growl.

I frown. Why the hell am I angry?

For a man whose days and heartbeats are numbered and hidden in broken moments, I can attest, it takes a whole fucking lot to bring me down to my knees.

And she’s a lot.

Everything about her is a lot.

“I should be asking you that question. Don’t you know what will happen later?” George says tightly. We both look back at Angel.

“Governor Hughes is her father,” I tell him.

“Wait, what?”

“And his wife is Nurse Marie’s daughter that abandoned Spider and Ivy back home.”

“Holy telenovela!” the jerk beside me says. “I mean, I always knew there was more to the Irving kids’ story but I never thought… does Spider know?”

“That his clueless sister has been stubbornly searching for people she should’ve never searched for and that she’s in over her head?” I mutter. “Yeah, he knows.”

“But does he know that she’s here and that she found them?”

“Actually, the sister lured her here.”

George stares at me then back to the crowd from where we stand in the shadows of the balcony at the back of the room.

“You need to get her out of here,” George mutters.

“Like she’ll listen to me,” I grit out. “Besides, Governor Hughes has been working the room.”

“Don’t tell me he’s…”

“And would you believe me if I told you I tried dissuading her from finding these people?” I mutter, anger filling my veins. “And now she’s about to see the ugliness of the world.”

“And yet you’re still standing here, not doing a damn thing.”

I stare at Angel. She’s still talking to my cousin who is actively blocking that jackass idiot from talking to Angel.

I might not like Vaughn but he’s useful at times.

“Haven’t you heard that saying… ‘saying something a million times is never as good as living it once’”

“So you want to teach her a lesson?” George hums. “If my sister hears of this...”

“So long as a deluded little someone learns her lesson about desperation and curiosity.”

Besides, I won’t be around for long.

If she’s going to suffer her stupidity, I prefer it to be in my sights, which means it has to happen now.

“Well, we grew up together and she’s one of the only people that still cares for me, so I’m going over to say hello,” George says, and then he smiles slyly. “Besides, I want to measure the soon-to-be corpse of your cousin and Ivy’s date.”

With that, the bastard raises his glass at me and leaves.

After a few minutes, I watch him boldly and easily make his way across the room, straight to Angel.

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