Page 63 of Pink Poison

“Don’t.” I bark. “Delete that audio—now.”

“Why?” he drawls, giving me his bestfuck offface.

He doesn'tknow. He's drunk, or almost drunk. He doesn't know.

I repeat the mantra, willing my coiled muscles to relax enough until I can trust that I won't throw a hit. Exhaling slowly, I inform him of what he doesn't know, “It’s Stevie.”

“I’mmorethan aware.” My jaw sets, crushing my teeth between the pressure. His eyes narrow, his addled brain just now taking in the disdain written over my face. “Are you jealous she didn’t send one to you or somethin’?”

“Delete. The. Fucking. Audio.”

He smirks. “Nah, I’m gonna hold onto this.”

All sense of reason snaps in my mind as I throw my fist into his face. Ishouldhave turned her ass out of the city the second Stone told me she was back. Ishouldhave walked away when I saw her on Hill’s arm at Memento.

I should have protected her.

His delayed reaction time allows me to swing again. I feel the snap of cartilage before I hear it, and it does absolutely nothing to sway me from wrapping my hand around his throat. Whatever fucked ass story Mack has created in his head about Stevie is over.Wewill no longer be catering to his delusion.

“She. Was. Drugged!” I yell in his face. “Hillrapedher, youstupidpiece of shit.”

He groans, but I'm not done.

Squeezing his neck, I strip away his ability to speak. Whatever he has to say right now doesn't matter—it’s time for him to listen. “I gave her up foryou,” I seethe. “One slip-up almost cost us our entire friendship. I chose you when I was falling for that woman, brother. I wanted her sofuckingbad, but I couldn’t do that to you.” Sloppily, he claws at my hand, but I can’t let go—not until he understands. “Seeing her again after all these years is killing me, Mack. Knowing that Stone and Kash were willing to go after her, no holds barred, pisses me the fuck off. I’mjealous. I’mbitter.Ishould be there protecting her.”

My chest heaves as I release his neck, knowing damn that this will be Mack’s breaking point. It’s time for him to man the fuck up and see thatheis the problem, and has been all along.

He coughs, sputtering the spit that he choked on with his first full breath in a minute. “W-Where is she?”

“Safe with Kash and Stone.”

“We need to—”

I shake my head, cutting him off before he can finish his sentence. “No.”

A noise,a keening, reminiscent of an animal wounded cracks from his throat. It's raw, laced with an unbearable pain that matches his eyes. “Jamie.”

I knew this would break him. How could it not when it broke me? Butthis?Thisis different. This is the broken pieces of his messed up mind, warring with his heart—his morality. He has spent far too long in his delusion, in his loathing. He, somewhere along the way, blurred the lines between love and hate—before he clocked me for being with her the night I dumped her at the bus station.

Hisfeelingsfor her have been his only constant…and now he's forced to face them in a new light.

It's enough to kill a man—to see his best friend grapple with himself, to hear his soul's deep devastation—to know that he's going to hate himself forevery slight spoken, every twisted thought and action he has done to her,becauseof her.

“She is safe,” I remind him, my voice nothing but a rasp.

His hands clench, then unclench at his sides, repeating the pattern until his forearms bulge. “I want that sick fuckerdead.”

And just like that, my blood is back to boiling. Creed fucking Hillwilldie, and itwillbe by our hand, no matter how long it takes.

“Look at me,” I bark. His darkened green eyes meet mine, burning a hole straight through me. I understand the sentiment. Hell, Ishareit. We may be broken, hurting for a life better lived, but we cannot rush into this. If Hill even has aninklingthat we’re after him, we will be taken out faster than we can blink. And I'm not too proud to admit it. “Weneed to be smart about this. We’re no good to the club—toher—if we go in and get ourselves killed,” I explain.

“Fuck that!” He makes a move to walk towards the exit. “I’ll take him out myself.”

Stepping in his path, I box him in where he stands. “We need to do this right, Mack.For her.We owe her that and so much more.”

“How about the fuck do we fix this?” he asks as his chest rattles.

I wish I fucking knew, brother.

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