Page 44 of Cruel Debts
Liam's brow quirked as he listened in, his interest piqued now.
"It's notthemthat we don't trust, young lady." My father didn't want to say it. To him, I was still his little angel, though he knew I had my quirks.
My mother held no such reserve. "It'syouthat's untrustworthy, missy. With your habit of doing the exact opposite of what you're told, and your tendency to run off and do stupid things half-cocked when you get a wild hair up your ass?—"
"Listen," I huffed, gripping the phone tighter with every second. "I'm going to say this one more time. I'm here for Keehn. When I find him, I'll bring him home, and you can roll out the red carpet, and I'll try not to sayI told you sotoo much. And then I'll do whatever it is you fucking want of me. I'll let you marry me off and play the doting little housewife while my future husband and meal ticket creeps around town collecting floozies and STDs, and I sit at home and raise his hellspawn. You can reap the benefits of my prosperous family ties, and Keehn can inherit the company when you retire. Everyone's happy in that scenario." I take a deep breath as my mother gears up to interject and runherover this time. "Until then, I want you to please refrain from calling me, sending me letters, emailing me, or sending vague threats by carrier pigeon. Because I'm no longer interested in entertaining your plans until I seeminethrough."
My father sputters on the other end of the line, but my mother doesn't miss a beat. "If you let those heathen boys ruin you, Trinity McCoy, so help me?—"
"Mama, I hate to tell you this, but Johnny Falstaff ruined me in the tenth grade, when he stuck his floppy dick between my legs and tried to convince me he knew how to fuck. Compared to that, these guys are as honorable as Prince fucking Charming."Unfortunately.
I flicked the button to end the call and tossed the phone back to Liam, who barely managed to catch it before it fell to the floor at his feet.
"What gives, Trin? That's an expensive phone?—"
"Next time my parents call you, Liam, maybe do us both a favor and don't bother bringing them to me." I marched right into the living room area and ploped down on the couch next to Asher, who looked like he'd rather chew glass than have me this close while he sharpened and polished pointy objects. "Can I help with anything, Asher?"
"Like I'm stupid enough to hand you sharp objects when you're in a mood like this."
"Ugh, fine," I groaned, sweeping the pillows off the end of the couch with a flourish. If they didn't wanna play along, then I could just make it easy and annoy them with my presence until they got tired of me.
It shouldn't take too long.
About half an hour later, Asher and Liam ganged up on me, the former carefully putting away his tools before he unceremoniously dumped me off the couch and told me to get lost, in not-so-many words.
Okay, so in exactly that many words.
"Listen, we have to talk alone." He pointed between him and Liam, as if there was any question who thewewas. "Him and I."
"I don't understand," I said, trying to pull off the dumb blonde persona, like I used to give to the guys when they were too forward with me. "Why do I have to leave?"
"Because this conversation doesn't concern you, pretty bird," he said with a frown. He used that nickname more and more for me now, and I didn't know how to take that. Was it him growing on me? Was it me growing on him? Or was it just knee-jerk, like the old days?
He pointed to my room, and I sighed heavily, determined to make him let me stay. "I'm not going anywhere," I declared loudly, staring at his hand like he was the one hallucinating. "Put that finger away before I gnaw it off."
"She will, too," Liam said with a chuckle. "She's half animal."
"I didn't want to do this the hard way," Asher said as he stood up, towering over me. "Get up, Trinity."
Uh-oh.I knew that look in his eyes. I was in trouble. "Not on your life."
"Suit yourself."
He leaned over, tossing me easily over his shoulder with a grunt. I squealed and shouted, but he just held me tighter, marching right for the bedroom door he unceremoniously kicked open as he waltzed into the room. He tossed me on my bed before I could think to respond, and then with a flourish of his own, he slammed the door shut—and locked it from the outside.
I didn't even know he coulddothat.
No amount of me beating on the damn door resulted in him letting me out, so I settled in, pressing my ear to the door in the hopes I could still hear through the damn thing and pick up on the things they didn't want me to know.
At first, it was so quiet that I couldn't accurately make out the words. But once they assumed they were safe, that I'd given up, they grew bolder, their words clearer. I could hear a third voice,which I assumed was Hawke, on what had to be speakerphone, joining the conversation.
No wonder they had to get louder. If he were already at the club, he'd have a hard time hearing them at all if they didn't yell.
"We need to drag Mistwood back into this, see what he can dig up," Liam growled, his voice low. "If he wants to keep his head, he'll do what we tell him."
"Mistwood is getting antsy, reluctant to help us as much anymore," Asher said with a huff. "Can we really still trust him like we used to?"
Hawke's voice on the phone was loudest, probably because he had no idea he was shouting. "If he wants to keep using Keehn's good name to make a life for himself in that police precinct, then he'll do what we want and shut his piehole about it. One word from us, and his whole little life falls apart at the seams."
