Page 31 of Darling Psycho

Only those privileged to be in his circle would guess his truth of being an operating psychopath without holding prejudice against him.

The magic answer was people saw what they wanted to see.

If they thought Lawless was a good guy, it was because their little fish hearts so wanted him to be in that role.

Jay had tried to push Lawless into specific characters and then threw tantrums when he couldn’t make it fit. Being his right-hand man only worked for so long. And to figure Lawless would walk back into that position was laughable in any circumstances. Didn’t he question why he agreed so fucking readily?

The answer was plain as the nose on his face.

He had done everything for Angela’s safety.

And would do more.

Jay studied him from behind his big boy desk, eyes hooded and broody. Studying him like he could dig into Lawless’ skull to see how shady and unmoored he might be.

Good luck with that. Even Lawless didn’t delve past level thirteen.

“You played me.”

“You tried to play me first, and you thought I’d roll over.”

“Hoped. I wanted you back; you know that already and I was willing to do anything to make that happen.”

“Do you think I give a shit what your agenda is?”

“No. I think you could give less of a shit what I’m about, even if it’s all for fucking love.”

With a tone that was as cold as it was even, he told Jay. “Don’t try to play me, Jay. I would burn this entire city down to ashes and not care. I would drag your carcass through the flames until your skin melted off, and then I’d piss on your bones.”

He scoffed. “Darling boy, don’t turn me on. You know your violent outbursts do it for me, even when you’re pissing me off.” Jay looked like he wanted to rip Lawless’ head off. “I always knew one day someone would draw that interest of yours. But a kid?”

“You did the same. Hi, pot. I’m kettle.”

“This is because of Angela?”

“You never should have approached her, Jay. You and me, we were good. We have history. I would have waded in for you if you had shit at your door.”

“And now you wouldn’t?”

“You think I would after what you’ve done? You don’t dig into my life. Any fucking part of it. And you stuck your rodent hands all over it, trying to use her against me, to get me to come to fucking heel.”

A beat of silence felt like a week.

Jay was not taking a tongue lashing all that well, and Lawless watched his face darken.

Dominants were notorious moody fuckers.

Especially when they didn’t get their way.

“We have nothing more to say, Penn.”

No, they didn’t. He climbed to his feet, met Jay’s eyes head-on.

He was serious as cancer when he said, “You stay far away from Angela. I don’t want to have to stop you, Jay. Fucking believe that. But understand, I will without hesitation. You like to play games, but if you remember anything about me, it’s that I play better. I play darker, and I play to kill. So don’t become my enemy. You made a big mistake. Probably the biggest ever. I’ve wanted only two things in this life, and you’ve tried to take both from me. Do you think I’ve invested so much so that you can steal her from me?”

“Wow, it finally happened.” The other man muttered. “I never tried to steal her. I was merely curious who held your attention. I wish I was the man who could say I was happy for you. But I’m not.”

“Don’t need you to be. I know you, Benz. Your instinct is to go into revenge mode. Please take my advice and don’t. You know I won’t stop.”

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