Page 42 of Pink Poison

She eyes me withthelook, theyou are a terrible liar and I'm going to call you out, look. “Really, Stevie? You're going to keep sitting there, trying to play dumb? Sweetie, you aren't a natural blonde—don't play with me.”

I choke on my spit. “Teegan!”

She shrugs, not missing a beat. "Are you gonna call me a liar or are you gonna talk?"

"What do you know so far?" I ask.

“There’s a picture of you on stage wearing nothing but a Butcher’s vest floating around,” she says dryly.

Fuck.

I shouldn't be surprised when I knew what it meant to go out like that. Granted, Kash may not have given me much choice, butIwas the one who gave in. I had options. I should have walked away or chosen to wear Creed's outrageous costume instead of letting a man—a Butcher—tell me what to do.

“Well, that came to bite me in the ass a lot faster than I hoped.” I sigh.

Teegan groans, dropping her faux pissy attitude. “Start talking. I need to know everything.”

Rolling my eyes, I blow out a dramatic breath. “Mybossconvinced me to do a little extra work for him. Apparently, his club is mending fences around the city throughescorting. So I go with this guy to a bar, Memento, for a business meeting.”

“Ah, hell,” she drawls.

“Imagine my surprise when I found out this guy was meeting with the Butchers,” I snark. “I was happy pretending to fawn over my date until Jameson and Max had to open their mouths." My cheeks heat at the reminder of what Max did, of what Ilethim do. Teegan's eyes widen and I can tell she hasthequestion on the tip of her tongue. I shake my head, unwilling to get into the details. "Let’s just say a lot happened after that, and no, I’m not ready to dive into that part.

“Stingy, ” she teases.

“Teegan,” I snap. “Let me finish this before I lose my gall. One of the newer members,Kash—he is bat-shit crazy, by the way—got me back to Le Papillon. Mydateleft me a gift in my lockerafterhe was warned off by Jameson. So, Kash had me wear his cut on stage.”

Her mouth opens comically wide at my confession. I’d honestly find her reaction funny if I weren’t in such deep shit with thenewinformation of my supposed affiliation floating around. “I…What…How?” she stutters.

“Jesus,” I snort. “Take a breath, Tee.”

“Okay, backit up.” She waves her hand as if she’s swatting my concern away. “Escorting? That’s been your hard limit since we met. How in the hell did you get wrangled intothat?”

Glancing around the restaurant, I make sure everyone within earshot is minding their plate. The last thing I need is for Atticus Lennon to find out that I’m talking about him. “Do you know who owns Le Papillon?”

“Of course,” she whispers, sliding her chair closer to mine. “Everyone in Nawlins knows his name.”

“He can be quite…convincing.” There's no mistaking my tone, thatconvincingdefinitely means coercive.

Slowly, she nods. “Okay, now how do the Butchers play into this?”

I offer her a weak smile while I pat her hand. “Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I was a little distracted…”

She cackles, stealing the attention of nearby tables. "I bet you were, you hussy! How many of them have you managed to get under…or over…now?"

"Most of them," I grumble.

“Mostof them?” she howls.

“You know my history with Jameson, and Kashdefinitelyknew what he was doing with this whole vest ordeal.” I laugh nervously. “It doesn’t help that he did itafterhe heard what I was doing with Stone at the bar.”

“Oh. My. Hell.” She fans her face dramatically before flashing me her signature white teeth. “I bet Mack had something to say aboutthat.”

Every ounce of my previous playfulness evaporates the millisecond his name leaves her lips.Mack.Ihatethat I still feel his touch burning my skin with his spiteful words echoing in my head. I hate it just as much as I hate that after everything he has done, I still laid in bed after Kash dropped me off at the hotel, moaning mystepbrother’sname as I came.

The Butchers may thinkI'mpoisonous, but what I am is nothing compared to Maxwell Jr. There is no antidote for his brand of venom. Even if there was…I'm not sure that I want it.

“—evie,” Teegan’s voice breaks through my thoughts, bringing another round of heat to my cheeks.

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