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The patio door opening catches my attention and a concerned Tara rushes through it. “What the hell is going on?!” she shrieks. She must have heard the commotion from her spot by the pool.
Noticing Reilly holding his aching jaw, she runs to him, checking him over. “Are you okay? What the hell happened?” she gasps. Reilly nods, planting a possessive kiss on her forehead to reassure her.Oh please, it was one little hit. He’ll be fine. Turning towards me, Tara crosses her arms over her chest. “Someone better start talking. Right fucking now,” my stubborn wife growls, shooting me daggers then looking at Rush with the same intensity.
“Yourhusbandhas some serious trust issues,” Reilly speaks up, glaring at me.
I maniacally laugh. “Reilly has lying issues, that’s the only problem here.”
“I won’t ask again,” Tara raises her voice, ignoring our petty comments.
Nodding at Rush, I let him know I’m good. I won’t go crazy if he lets me go. He hesitates but slowly removes his hands from my biceps.
“I was going through my father’s shit again to see if we missed something, trying to figure out if he had any connection to the Draaks that I was unaware of. Instead, we found something else that’s suspicious. Reilly, why don’t you tell her what we found?”
Tara’s eyes snap to Reilly. “What’s he talking about?”
Reilly’s eyes soften when he looks at her and a spark of jealousy runs through me. There’s something magnetic about Tara that makes me want her full attention. “He’s accusing me of doing some shit behind his back with his father. Something I’m completely clueless about. I don’t know what he’s talking about, baby. I promise.”
“What kind of shit did you find?” Tara asks.
“That’s what I would like to know,” I grunt. “I want to know why my father was sending you thousands of dollars every month.” Tara sucks in a breath. Part of me is beginning to question what we found, knowing that in all of our years of friendship, Reilly has never done anything to cross me, but it still doesn’t make sense.
Reilly takes a protective step in front of Tara like the words he’s about to say will set me off. “I already told you, asshole, I don’t know anything about the money—”
Tara steps out from behind Reilly like the strong woman she is. She might not feel that way after what happened with Zayan, but I fucking envy her strength. “Show me,” she demands, cutting Reilly off.
Meeting gazes with Rush, I gesture in the direction of the office. He leads the way, and the rest of us follow. It only takes him a few seconds to unlock the computer and pull up the file. Reilly and Tara’s eyes widen. Plain as day on the screen is Reilly’s name along with a whole bunch of money transfers into the account.
“Holy shit!” Reilly breaks the silence. I can’t help but notice the clear confusion covering his face. “I’ve never seen so many zeros in my life. This is in my name?”
“What do you know about this, man?” Rush asks.
All eyes go to Reilly as he answers. “I-I honestly don’t know anything. This has to be a cover-up for something else or some kind of mistake. Maybe he was just using my name or something. He always hated me, so maybe this is another way to fuck with mine and Nix’s friendship?” His eyes are jerky, like his mind is racing as he awkwardly stutters through his answer.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yeah… yeah, I do. We’ve been best friends since we were playing cops and robbers at the Snakes warehouse as kids. Do… Do you think I would’ve taken a loan from you to open the tattoo shop if I had that much money lining my pockets?”
Running my hands down my face, I sigh as I think about his words. No. Yes. Maybe. People do crazy things to hide shit. But Reilly’s been my ride or die for so fucking long. Even if he was taking money from my dad, there must be a reason for it. If I learned anything from the Tara situation is that people can fabricate stuff to look real and that I’ve also got a quick reaction to not trusting anyone.
When I don’t answer, Tara takes it upon herself to fill the void. “There has to be some other explanation. There’s no way Cohutta would betray you. I’ve seen the way he is with you. He looks up to you, and he’s loyal as fuck. At least hear him out, Marnix. Please. Please, just listen this time. I need you to be level-headed so we can all discuss this and think it through. You promised you were changing, and I need you to show me that.”
This woman could ask me to step in front of a train and I would. That’s the power she has over me. I never thought I’d allow anyone to be able to control me as she does. But Tara is like a tornado. Fucking dangerous, but so damn fascinating you can’t look away.
“Okay,” I mutter, and Tara shoots me a small appreciative smile to say thank you. “Reilly, I need you to tell me anything you could possibly know? Even if it doesn’t seem relevant, we need answers. I’m willing to step back and let my initial reaction go to figure this out together.”
“I’ve already told you I didn’t know anything. I’m not sure I should waste my breath anymore…” Reilly stares at the floor, lost in thought.
“I know, man. I came on strong. I’m going to try to think rationally about this, but you do have to understand that it seems extremely weird,” I try to argue, but I back off as much as possible.
“I know what it looks like, but I’m telling you the truth. I have no idea what this account means or why your dad would put it in my name.” He’s being genuine and I can tell he’s not lying. “Wait.” His head snaps up. “Your mom.”
My brow shoots up. “What?”
“If anyone knows what is going on, it’s Rose. Your dad might have changed over the past couple of years, but he told her everything. She has to know.”
Of course. If we want answers, she will be our best chance considering my dad is six feet under rotting in Hell.
My entire body shakes as each ring goes by. Part of me wants her not to pick up because it’ll give me a little bit longer to live in complete oblivion. I want answers, but at the same time, I have a feeling the answers I’m going to get aren’t ones I want to hear. The moment I think the phone will go to voicemail, my mother picks up.
