Page 71 of Degradation
I nod. ‘Partly. I do also like his company.’
‘This is fucked up. Have you been getting these the whole time you’ve been here?’
I nod. ‘The first one was in my welcome envelope. But they’re getting...’
‘Nastier.’
‘Yeah. I thought maybe it was a joke, but it’s getting kind of scary, now.’
‘And they say your mom was murdered?’
I nod.
‘Was she?’
‘I don’t know. I’m looking into it with Lu. But John left the party with her the night she died. Someone who was there told me he was driving her car. But that wasn’t in any of the newspaper articles.
‘You think it was John Novelle?’ he whispers.
‘Yes,’ I say, not bothering to lie.
He lets out a breath. ‘This is fucked. Does anyone else know?’
‘Just Lu.’
‘Daisy,’ he says, touching my hand. ‘I’m sorry you didn’t feel that you could come to us with this. I’m sorry we made it so you couldn’t.’
‘Please don’t tell the others,’ I say.
‘I can’t keep this from them,’ he says, putting all the papers into a rough pile. I put my hand over them so he can’t take them.
‘What if it is one of them?’
He snorts. ‘I’ve known those guys for years. There’s no way. There’s just no way.’
‘How can you be sure? This person knows things that someone who isn’t close to the Novelles wouldn’t know. Please keep it a secret, just for a little while, until I can find out more about my mom’s death.’
Blake stares at me, eyes slowly moving. His lips turn up into the ghost of a smile. ‘Say I do keep it a secret. What will you give me, beautiful?’
My eyes roll and then narrow. ‘Blackmail again?’
‘I am very good at it,’ he murmurs unapologetically. ‘And I didn’t do anything too bad last time, did I?’
‘I guess not.’
‘Plus, want to know what I think?’
I let out a small sigh. ‘Not really, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’
‘I think,’ he leans closer. ‘I think the thought of being under my control turns you on.’
I huff. ‘That’s not so. I like having autonomy, making my own decisions.’
Blake smiles. ‘Maybe that’s true when it comes to everyday life and Shade. I mean, he does love laying down the law and I know you hate that. His big brother bullshit even grates on me.’
He takes a step back. ‘I’ll tell you what, I won’t tell the others for alittle whilelike you asked, but only because I want to look into this some more myself and figure out who this fucker is. We need more information.’
He winks. ‘This little thing between us is just an extra perk.’
