Page 84 of Break Me
Twenty-Five
“Baby, you can’t do that!”Caden shouts, faking an anger he definitely doesn’t really feel, slamming his fist on the coffee table of his living room.
Riley’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, Caden’s in the recliner dragged up against the table and I’m on the couch, feet on the floor, a drink in my hand. I really shouldn’t drink. I’m not so nice when I drink. But fuck, am I really nice when I don’t drink?
Besides, I took my last Xanax earlier this morning, so I’m fucked. This is my only choice. Obviously, I could score something from a dealer here, and it wouldn’t be so hard to find one. If it was, I’d call Felix, and he’d find one.
But I don’t like buying prescription drugs off the street. A purity thing.
It’s been a week since Rolland was killed, and I still haven’t left. I don’t know why. Felix has been blowing up my phone. Not emergencies, but he’s pissed. He took care of the last job quickly enough and he wants to talk about more. He always wants to talk about more.
I usually do too.
For once though…I don’t.
Maria Virani buried her husband, and the funeral made the news. What didn’t make the news was how he died or why. Nothing about Jack. Riley. Any of it. Instead, people are mourning a real estate mogul and his widow, the woman who lost a child three years ago, too.
If might actually be sad if it wasn’t so fucked up.
Caden’s smile lights up his whole face as he swipes Riley’s entire pile of cards and shuffles it in the deck. I don’t even know what they’re playing. I’m not playing with them.
Riley laughs, covering her face with her hand, that big black diamond shimmering under the lights in the living room. The blinds are open, nothing but darkness outside.
“Hey,” Caden says and I realize he’s talking to me as he shuffles the cards. Riley picks up her drink, probably rum and Diet, and watches me as I shift my gaze to Caden. Riley has a small smile on her face. Probably because she’s drunk, and because now that Rolland is dead, Caden is more…carefree.
“Where’s your girl?” Caden asks me, still smiling. He sets the cards down and picks up his beer by the neck, tossing it back.
I finish my drink, swirl the ice around in my glass. “What girl?” I arch a brow at him.
Riley giggles. “Ava is obsessed with you,” she says, cocking her head as I level a stare her way. “You telling me you don’t feel the same?”
“Her mom is dying.” I reach down and set the glass on a coaster on the table.
“Even better,” Caden says teasingly, setting his beer down. Not on a coaster. “When chicks are grieving…” He trails off when Riley throws him a glare. He holds up his hands in mock innocence. “I mean, I’m just sayin’…”
“Shut up,” Riley says, rolling her eyes.
Caden gets off the chair, sinks down to the floor beside her and wraps an arm around her shoulder. Riley tries to pull away, but he doesn’t let her, and she reluctantly lays her head against him.
I feel that pang of jealousy light through me. Not that Caden has Riley. I know Riley is my friend, and I don’t want her for anything more. But I want what they have, as toxic as it may be sometimes.
I don’t care.
I want it.
With Ava fucking Culwen.
“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” I tell them.
They look up from each other to stare at me. “Why?” Caden asks, as if he’s offended on my behalf. But they’ve been through shit. So have I. Ava…she hadn’t watched a man die before Rolland. She probably hadn’t seen someone beat the shit out of a helpless sack of crap before, like I made her watch with Rolland. And I didn’t just beat the shit out of him…I helped hurry along his death.
She probably hates me for that.
Good.
I hook my arms around the back of the couch. “Is it really that mysterious?” I ask, letting my eyes flutter closed as I lean my head back. “She thinks I’m a psycho.”
A beat of silence and then Riley mutters, “Well, you are a psycho.”
