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Mid-pass, one of the guys glances in Alex’s direction, hatred burning in his eyes. I half-expect him to throw down the joint and sucker punch Alex—he looks that pissed—but he just shoves open the closest door to him and slips inside. The rest of his friends follow after him, all giving Alex dirty looks as they go. When all of them are in the room, the door slams shut.
“Everyone here seems to hate you,” I remark as we wander down the hallway.
He gives another unbothered shrug. “They probably do, but they’re too afraid of me to say anything. Most people are. Or, well, they’re afraid of my last name.”
I’ve heard Blaise say something similar before.
“Well, this Jay guy obviously isn’t afraid of you,” I point out, kicking an empty bottle of vodka out of my way.
He snorts a laugh. “Oh, he fucking is. It’s why he sent Jason to talk to me instead of coming out there himself.” He stops in front of a door at the end of the hallway and glances at me. “If Blaise were here, Jay would’ve greeted me at the door with a joint and a drink.”
“Are people really that afraid of Blaise?” I ask. “Because I don’t get why.”
“They’re afraid of what Blaise might become. If they really knew Blaise, they’d realize he’s nothing like our father. But it’s probably better that they think he is.” He grins. “It keeps me from getting my ass kicked a lot.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m sure it does.” I give a short pause, recalling something Alex said earlier. “Is Blaise really the heir to your dad’s business?”
He frowns, his muscles raveling into tight knots. “If my dad has his way, Blaise will be. But Blaise wants no part of it. And I really don’t want to say this, but it’s the truth, so …” He sighs. “My dad always gets his way, so if he wants Blaise to become his heir, he’ll find a way to make that happen.”
“Does your dad really have that much power?” I ask quietly.
His brow curves upward. “You tell me. You’re the one with the burn on your wrist.”
I swallow a shaky breath. “Alex, you can’t tell anyone about this. I made a promise to your dad that I wouldn’t let anyone know about it.” I’m asking politely right now, but if he acts like a jerk about it, I’ll have to take a more drastic measure.
When he doesn’t respond right away, my fingers curl into fists as I prepare to take that more drastic measure.
His gaze descends to my fists, and then he rolls his eyes. “Will you chill out? I’m not gonna tell my dad.”
My fists remain balled. “How do I know I can trust you?”
He gives a half-shrug. “I guess you’ll just have to.” When I scowl at him, he sighs. “Look, as much as I like tormenting you, I love my dad not getting his way even more, so I’m not about to tell him something that’ll give him any satisfaction.”
“You think me breaking this part of the deal will give him satisfaction?” I question. “Because he seemed like he needed the deal to exist.”
“No, he doesn’t. Trust me. He probably already has a backup lined up for whatever he’s having you do. And a backup for his backup.” He reaches for the doorknob. “That’s the thing about my father. He’s got guys lined up who are willing to do anything for him, so no one has any importance to him. Including all of his sons, except for Blaise, but only because my dad needs him to be his heir.”
The way he says it, so matter-of-factly, makes me pity him. Sure, my dad’s a straight-up asshole, but he wasn’t always that way. August seems like he’s been a terrible father from the beginning.
“Why do people do anything for him?” I wonder. “I mean, how did he get to the point of having so much power?”
He shrugs. “He was raised to be that way by his father, whose father raised him to be that way, and so on and so on.”
“So, this business your dad runs—which FYI, I’m still a little confused on the details of everything your dad does. But anyway, his business has been around for a long time? That’s the only reason he has so much power?”For reals?
“Yep.” He wraps his fingers around the doorknob. “And just so you know, it’s probably better that you don’t know what my dad does, since you probably made a deal to help him.” He leans forward, his eyes darkening, a smirk teasing at his lips. “You have too much of a conscience to be able to handle knowing everything. You’d probably end up doing something stupid, like call the cops, which would only get you in more trouble.” He leans away from me then pushes the door open.
“Yeah, I know about the cops being corrupt here …” I trail off as Alex suddenly pales, his eyes locked on something in the room.
I quickly look inside, and then panic lashes through me.
Payton is sprawled out on a bed with her eyes shut and a needle in her arm.
“Oh my God.” Vomit burns at the back of my throat as I run over to check her pulse. I can’t find one.
There’s so much silence.
So, so much silence.
