Page 167 of Indecent Lies

He washome.

He was the only one who ever treated her as a normal person and not the poor girl who lost her parents and was nearly sold into the sex trade.

He was caustic and blunt and her best friend in this cold, cruel world.

Zara was her best friend too, but it was different. She felt more like a sister.

She didn’t feel right inside her own skin knowing something bad was happening to him. Something his clever brain couldn’t get himself out of.

How could this have happened?

It felt unreal.

It made no sense.

Lawless was the smartest of the smart.

He outsmarted the police all the time, he didn’t get arrested for bogus crimes and not drugs for god’s sake.

She just bet he had more money than Google, why would he need to sell drugs?

It had to be a case of the wrong identity.

But why wasn’t Rider breaking the world to get him back?

Lawless was not andneverwould be a drug dealer for fucks sake and everyone inside was just accepting it as though they believed it.

She didn’t get it.

Why weren’t they rallying the troops to get him out?

“Trust Lawless,” Snake told her.

“Trust Lawless, he’ll be fine,” Zara told her.

Trust him for what?

Everyone treated her like a kid, but she was not a kid.

She hadn’t been a kid in a long time.

Death changed her, made her grow up real damn fast.

She couldn’tcopewithout Lawless, she couldn’t. She’d go crazy.

He was the one pushing her to get into the college she wanted, she couldn’t do it without him.

He was kind and clever and he told her things plainly when others pussyfooted around afraid of hurting her feelings.

He always gave her the truth.

“No,” she answered the man who’d come to stand at her side with his hands tucked into his pockets.

“Ah, sorry, mamacita, bad day, huh?”

You could say that, Einstein,she thought.

Her eyes forward, willing that cop car to drive back through and drop Lawless off.

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