Page 11 of Ghost Among Lies

The man shook his head vigorously and pleaded for us to stop. Reality had truly sunk in.

"I mean, I guess it doesn't matter since he's already dead, but we're cutting yours out anyway." Nyx turned around and smiled at Anita. "Do you want to gut him or drill?"

"I'll remove the kidney."

Nyx sighed. "I guess I'm stuck drilling his asshole. That's what I get for being nice and asking."

The next few minutes were filled with the man's screams. Lilith, Beckett, and I stood off to the side, out of range from blood splattering, while Nyx and Anita did exactly what they said they would. Unlike the care a surgical doctor would use to remove an organ, Anita hacked it out of the guy's body and unceremoniously dropped it on his chest.

Nyx hadn't even bothered to remove the guy’s pants before she bent his knees up and drilled straight through his flesh.

It didn't take long for him to die. I could say with complete honesty that at least he suffered for the wrongs he committed. Dying in the same manner in which he killed others was poetic justice.

Anita walked away from the body and stopped in front of me. "Call Hawk and get a cleanup crew in here." Then she turned to Nyx. "We need to find someplace in this shithole to change so we don't scare Krista."

I watched my teammates leave the room as I gave the three men one final glance. This place was gruesome, and whoever the unlucky bastard was who cleaned up this mess was going to have a field day. With any luck, the place would burn to the ground.

CHAPTER SIX

HAYES

"I ran into Sloane today." I dropped the sentence like a bomb in the middle of playing a video game with Toby––my childhood best friend.

To his credit, he only paused for the slightest second before responding, "Oh yeah? Where at?"

"A coffee shop an hour east of here. I was meeting with a customer when she walked in."

I didn't tell Toby I actually saw her at a library. My friend was constantly telling me I needed to get over my hangup with such a public place. Toby knew all about my relationship with Sloane. He had a front-row view of our romance and how it ended.

"Did she say anything about what happened between you guys?" Toby didn't take his eyes off the television nor did he stop playing the game even though I had.

"Nope. Once she figured out it was me, she abruptly left."

That wasn't how it went at all, and honestly, I wasn't even sure why I was lying except for the fact that Toby didn't know a thing about the shit I was involved in. As far as he knew, I owned a garage and towing company. Which technically I did, but it was also a front for my less than morally acceptable side of the business.

I also didn't want him to know I had been the one to leave without getting answers despite saying for years I would get them if I just had the chance to talk to her.

"It's for the best. I doubt she had a good reason to leave. I've said it before. Her parents probably found out about you guys and convinced her you weren't good enough. That or she got sick of slumming it and found some rich guy who could give her the lifestyle she was used to."

For years, I thought that was the case, but after seeing Sloane in the coffee shop, I knew there was no way that's how things had played out. The hard look in her eyes was enough to tell me things weren't what I thought they were.

I should've stuck around. I should've used the opportunity to find out what had happened. Now I would never know what changed.

Unless I find her.

If Sloane was able to track me down, then I could do the same. I had the resources. I just never tapped into them. Now, I was thinking I should.

"I know that look." My friend pulled me from my thoughts. "You're convincing yourself there's still a chance for the two of you." Toby set his controller down on the coffee table. "When are you going to accept she's not the woman for you? She. Left." He enunciated each word. "Ran away one night and never came back. I'm not sure what more proof you need that she doesn't want you."

"You didn't know her like I did."

Toby always hated Sloane. He took every chance he could when we were in high school to remind me she was out of my league.

"I know she was a stuck-up bitch who wanted to keep your relationship a secret from her folks. She led you on with the promise of marriage and taking her virginity when in reality she’d probably fucked half the guys at that preppy-ass school she attended."

I never understood what people meant when they said they saw red. I thought for sure it was one of those exaggerations. Not anymore. The edges of my vision were crimson, and I was prepared to kill my best friend. "You don't get to talk about her like that! You have no fucking idea what we had together!"

"Bullshit! You acted like she hung the fucking moon while you were nothing but a big joke to her and her friends. Thinking anything different makes you a fucking idiot." Toby pushed off the couch and stormed out of the house without a single glance back.