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“It does not,” he protests with a laugh, his gaze subtly flitting in Blaise’s direction.
I track his gaze to Blaise. He’s sitting on the arm of the chair across from us with his arms folded, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his gaze is practically slicing into Rhyland.
“Speaking of murderous looks.” Rhyland puts a balled fist in front of his mouth and lets out a sharp cough. “Yo, Blaise, bro, you might want to lay off the death glare before Hadley thinks you’re plotting to kill her.”
“I’m not looking at her. I’m looking at you.” Blaise yanks his gaze off Rhyland, his eyes softening as they settle on me. “So what happened?”
And just like that, the brief lightness I felt goespoof. “I don’t even know where to start.” Plus, I’m not used to sharing my problems with other people. Even my sisters.
And look where that got me. Alone, in a very sketchy situation, in debt to two very powerful mobsters. That doesn’t mean I want to share all the details with Blaise and Rhyland. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
But if I want to have a chance at coming out of this at all, I may need some help. So taking a deep inhale, I prepare to do something I haven’t done in a very long time.
Tell the truth—well, partially anyway—and ask for help.
* * *
By the timeI’m finished giving Blaise and Rhyland a recap of what occurred with Axel, my shoulders feel less weighted. However, giving them the details reminds me of yet another problem I need to deal with.
Finding out more about this forgotten memory I had with Blaise’s voice in it.
It was so faint and so brief that I’m not even positive when it happened. My best guess is during those few blank days I have.
As soon as we’re done discussing this Axel ordeal, I’m bringing it up. And if it turns out Blaise does know me and has known this entire time, I’m going to be pissed off.
“What the hell?” Blaise breathes out after I’m done telling him about what happened with Axel. “What the hell did Amelia say to her dad to get him to let you off the hook?”
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume Axel doesn’t normally go easy on people,” I say, even though I pretty much already know the answer. Have heard enough about Axel to form my own conclusions.
Rhyland nods. “He’s worse than our dad.”
My brows spring upward. “Really? Because I…” I bite down on my tongue, realizing I was about to say something about their dad that could lead them to figuring out that I’m now working for him too.
“Because you what?” Blaise eyeballs me over.
I shrug, picking at my fingernails. “I was just going to say that from what I heard, your dad seems like he was the worst of the two.” After all, Axel didn’t take a branding iron to my wrist.
“Axel is worse,” Blaise stresses. “So you need to be careful.” His fingers wrap around the armrests of the sofa, his forehead creasing. “I’m not sure what Amelia said to her father, but I think we should try to find out.”
“I’lltalk to her.” I flop back in the chair. “This is my problem.”
“I can do it,” Blaise insists. “Besides, it’ll give me something else to focus on while I’m out with her on Saturday night.”
“What?” Blaise and I say simultaneously.
“It was part of the deal,” Blaise says with a sigh. “To get her to help Hadley get out of this mess.”
“Why did you ask for her help at all?” Rhyland asks. When Blaise just shrugs, he shakes his head. “No way. You’ve got to give us a better answer.”
Sighing, Blaise slants forward and gives us a quick recap of how he was at school and how Amelia offered to help me in exchange for him pretending to be her boyfriend for the night.
“You know there’s probably more to it than that,” Rhyland says after Blaise finishes. “There always is with her.”
“I know.” He tugs his fingers through his hair, leaving his hand resting on top of his head. “But it was the only way I could think of to get Hadley out of that mess. And it worked, so…” He shrugs, his hand falling to his lap.
“I don’t want you to owe anyone on my behalf,” I tell him, feeling very uneasy about what he did. Sure, it got me out of the mess with Axel, for now anyway, but I feel like I owe Blaise now. “Maybe I should talk to Amelia and see if there’s something else she wants. Maybe something I can do for her.”
“No!” Blaise and Rhyland both shout, making me nearly jump out of my skin.
