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“This was underneath part of them,” he says.
I help him unroll and Mali’s eyes widen when she sees the wordguiltypainted across it. Now that she’s seen it, we can throw it away like I wanted to do last night. Not only does it feel like a threat, but it also reminds me of how great things were before Laiken left.
“So, what does this mean?” Mali asks. “This person is after all of us now?”
Cam shrugs. “That’s what it looks like. We all need to be careful, at least until we figure out who the hell this is and how we’re going to deal with it.”
Laiken huffs out a sarcastic laugh. “You think I haven’t tried that already? To figure out who this asshole is? It’s impossible. They cover their tracks like a damn mob boss.”
Cam’s brows raise as he turns to me. “You don’t think…”
I chuckle. “That Monty was secretly in the mafia? Absolutely not. He’d say the wrong thing and get himself shot.” Mali snorts at my choice of words while Laiken presses her lips together. “For fuck’s sake, you know what I mean.”
Laiken’s phone goes off, and she glances down at it. “I have to get back to work.”
Cam and Mali nod and she walks back over to her computer, but I’m a little curious whatworkis. Whatever it is, she becomes completely engrossed in it.
I’mnotjealous. I’m not. I just haven’t had her attention on me anywhere near enough in the last year and a half. Does wanting her to make up for some of that by not being able to take her focus off me make me a bad person? If so, just add it to the list of sins I’ve committed.
I don’t fucking care.
My phone dings inside my pocket, and I pull it out. My hand tightens when I realize it’s an unknown number—just like last night.
You always did have a tendency of watching her when you’re not supposed to.
Yeah, fuck all that. Last night, it came in as a group text to all three of us at once. I couldn’t respond without Laiken seeing exactly what it was I had to say, and I didn’t want to slip up. But this time, it’s just to me, and my thumbs fly across the screen as I text back.
Who the fuck is this and what do you want?
What I wanted was for her to stay gone, but we don’t always get the things we desire most. You should know that better than anyone.
This son of a bitch. To know I’m texting the person who is the reason Laiken left me in the first place, it awakens the darkest parts of me. The part that would have killed someone if they were trying to get in between her and I. But before you go thinking that’s what happened with Monty, it’s not. Though I can’t say I would’ve have been willing to do it if I came to that.
I would’ve done anything for her.
How about you stop being a fucking coward and come down here so we can deal with this in person? Or are you too much of a bitch to do that? That’s why you hide behind anonymous text messages and making sure you don’t get caught, right? I mean, you couldn’t even take Laiken on. Had to knock her out to get your way, didn’t you?
The sound of my phone dinging again grabs Cam’s attention, but I’m too focused on my phone to notice.
Fuck you. You have no idea what I’m capable of. Better learn to behave like Mommy dearest says, Hazey. Wouldn’t want me to take another woman you love away, would you?
I see red as my jaw clenches and I go to text back, telling them to leave my mother the fuck out of this, but before I can send it, Cam rips my phone right from my grasp. His brows furrow as he reads part of the conversation and then he looks at me in disbelief, making me roll my eyes.
“Are you trying to get us all killed? Or have you become that suicidal that you just don’t care anymore?”
I snatch my phone back and shove it into my back pocket. “Fuck off. Motherfucker had it coming.”
He puts a hand on my chest as I go to walk away, preventing me from moving. “Listen, I get it. There is nothing I want more than to figure out who this is and make them regret the day that they decided to fuck with us. But they’re right. We reallydon’tknow what they’re capable of. So, as much as we want to fucking rage right now, we can’t. Okay?”
Exhaling, I nod. “Okay.”
“Thank you.”
MALI IS STILL HANGINGaround by the time Riley walks in for her shift, much to both girls’ dismay. It was amusing at first, their hatred for each other, and sometimes it still is, but right now, I’m not in the mood for any of their shit. And clearly neither is Cam, if the way he excuses himself to the back to check our inventory is any indication.
When the bar first opened, we tried to get Mali to work here. We knew Cam and I couldn’t handle it all on our own, not without working ourselves into the ground. But Mali told us no. That she loves us too much to do that. And then there’s the fact that she absolutely refuses to let Cam be her boss.
I will forever refuse to ask what the look he gave her and the wink she shot back at him meant during that conversation.
