Page 26 of Hayes
“Wait here.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Not sure where I’d go naked except for a towel.”
He chuckles low and deep.
He goes back into the bathroom, and a few minutes later, he returns with some bandaids and pain reliever.
He hands me the pills, and I take them dry. While he quickly covers my cuts in thin bandaids, a deep scowl so uncharacteristic of him blanches his face whenever he looks at the cuts. When he’s finished, he wraps the towel around me, covering my body.
His eyes lift to mine, and that glorious grin of his reappears. Somehow, this smile has a wicked flare to it.
“Now are you going to tell me what you’re up to?” he says.
I pull the towel tight around my chest with one hand. “What do you mean? I’m not up to anything other than getting as much money for my family as possible.”
“You were the cause of the bloodshed in that room. And if I know you as well as I think I know you, then you aimed to kill. My guess is Harvey is dead. Possibly even Daniel if you got the chance.”
I suck in a breath. Fuck, he knows.
I was careful.
I hid my actions so there would be no way for the others in that room to know if it was me or someone else who killed their friends. I retied myself to the bed after. I screamed in fear. And I only attacked when the lights went low, stabbing Harvey from behind with his own knife so there was no way anyone would guess it was me.
How did Hayes figure it out? He wasn’t even in the room! And once the others know, what punishment will I receive?
My instincts kick in, and I do the only thing I can think to do. This is Hayes’s hotel room. I reach under the pillow I’m leaning against, hoping to find some weapon—a gun or knife—something to escape.
My hand finds a knife.
I keep my expression blank as I press it in the palm of my hand, and my fingers curl around the hilt.
Hayes leans into me, that grin still there. His green eyes bare into mine, begging me to trust him.
I don’t. And he shouldn’t trust me, either.
“It’s okay. I can help you,” he says.
It’s a lie.
He wants to know the truth so he can figure out how to use it against me. He’s just like the rest of them, trying to figure out what retribution he should seek.
His smile falters a second, sensing what I’m about to do, but he doesn’t stop me. I swing the knife into his chest and run.
Chapter 13
Hayes
Lilith stabbed me. She fucking stabbed me.
My lips curl up. I’m falling in love with her even more.
I stumble up, the pain in my chest throbbing. I want to lie down on the bed until the pain subsides, but it’s not going to anytime soon. I stagger into the bathroom, gripping the sink as I take a look at the damage.
My knife is jabbed into my chest, with blood oozing around the impact. It’s high in my chest—completely missing my lungs or heart. It pierced the skin just below the clavicle, missing the muscles of my shoulder and any major arteries.
I’m still grinning like the fool I am. Lilith just stabbed me. I should be angry. I should be planning my retribution. Instead, my heart is doing somersaults in my chest when I think about her.
My phone vibrates in my pants pocket on the floor. I kneel down gingerly to pick it up, seeing Gage’s name flash across the screen.
