Page 25 of Hush Money
Wren Wright
Business & News Managing Editor
Manhattan Times
She turns to me slowly,her hand moving to her mouth.
“Fuck, Keaton,” she whispers. “I can’t believe this is happening. I’m…I’m so sorry.”
I nod.
“Yeah,” I say. “It’s a clusterfuck. My brothers and I have been meeting with legal to figure out what we need to do—well, brother. Brooks has been scarce, as usual, when the adults are talking. Wren has agreed to give us some time in exchange for us providing whatever we find out.”
Her eyebrows knit together.
“Wait…you’reprovidingher with information?” she asks. I nod.
“We always knew that Cato was…Cato. Butthis…”I say, standing up from the desk and pacing the room, “he’s gone too far. He’s hurt too many people. And his ‘reign’ needs to end now before we lose everything and can’t help anyone ever again.”
She stands and walks toward me slowly.
“So you’re helping to build a case against your dad,” she says, putting it all together. I nod. She walks closer to me and takes my hand in hers again.God, it feels good when she touches me. “I fucking hate that you have to do this, Keat. But I’m so fuckingproudof you for it.” We look at each other for a moment before she clears her throat and lets her eyes drop. “But I’m so sorry that this has been going on and you’ve…you’ve had to deal with me on top of it all. If I had known, I never…”
I scowl and step even closer to her.
“Don’t finish that sentence,” I growl, cutting her off. “There isnothingthat should ever stop you from calling me, Evie.”
She swallows. I step closer.
“I need to know that you hear me.”
“I hear you,” she says. But then, I see the look on her face change, and she tilts her
head up to me. “And I need you to hear something too. You always say that I have you. Well, you have me too, Keaton. You always have. I never told you that, and I should have. But I’m telling you now.”
I smile down at her. She’s cute when she’s stern.
“I hear you,” I repeat after her. She nods.
“Good,” she says. “So, wanna get drunk and talk shit about our fucked-up families?”
I laugh, and it feels good.
“Hell yeah I do.”
I grab us some beers from the kitchen, we eat some leftovers, and watch trashy TV. And after a few more beers, she gets up to throw some of the bottles away. As she makes her way back to the living room, she stops and looks down at the giant tablet that controls all the electronics in the room. She gives me a devious look then picks it up. She hits a few buttons, and the lights dim a bit.
She giggles. Then she hits another button. I hear her type something in, then a Beyonce song starts playing, and she starts to sway her hips some. She sets the tablet down, and I lean back into the cushion, just watching.
Fuck,she’s beautiful.
And the way her sweatpants are clinging to those hips?
I’m a fucking dead man.
She sways more, lifting her long hair off her shoulders and letting it fall back as she
moves, singing alongto the song as she does. Her eyes are closed, and she looks like a goddamn angel.
