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“You shouldn’t have threatened Alicia,” I said as I untwisted the pill bottle cap.
“I’m not worried about her,” he replied, flicking on the TV.
“You should be. But that’s not the point I was making.”
He turned his head to give me his full attention. “Then what was your point?”
“I don’t care what you do to me. I’m expecting it after everything.” I paused for a beat, letting my glare turn lethal. “But you will not hurt my friends, or we’ll have a fucking problem.”
He grinned lazily, not fazed by my threat. “We have no interests in your friends as long as they stay out of our way.”
While we were talking, I grabbed the drinks from the fridge. Each of them had their own drink of choice. Both were avoiding alcohol, but Jace didn’t go a day without downing lemonade, and Kian loved iced tea. As long as they drank it with dinner like they’d been doing every night, this would work like a charm. He turned up the volume of the show, and I dumped the pills on the counter, crushing them up with the bottom of a glass.
Pushing all the bottled drinks to the back of the fridge except for the two I grabbed, I peeked into the living room to see Kian staring into space, looking deep in thought. Adrenaline flooded my veins, and I hurriedly untwisted the caps and dumped the pill powder in both bottles. I put a little more in Kian’s because I wasn’t as worried about Jace hearing me. He slept like a fucking rock.
I shook the bottles a couple times, brushing the remnants of the powder off the counter with my free hand, then I put the pill bottle back in the cabinet. Putting the drinks in the fridge, I grabbed the jelly and then turned around. My breath caught in my throat when I saw Kian a couple of feet away on the other side of the counter. My face heated, and I studied his expression, wondering if he’d seen what I did to their drinks.
“Jace told me something the other day.” He rounded the counter, crowding me against the wall near the fridge. “And I want to know if it’s true.”
“I wasn’t aware the two of you were on speaking terms,” I muttered, not making a move to push him away when he rested his forearm on the wall next to my head.
“When it comes to you…” He trailed off, not finishing his thought as he reached forward with his other hand and played with my hair. “Jace thinks you have a personal grudge against his gang.”
My eyes widened in surprise before I caught myself, my spine going rigid as I pushed off the wall, only for him to grasp my hips and shove me back. Flutters filled my stomach, and I despised it. After everything, I still reacted to his touch. I had a feeling I always would.
“You told me that you know firsthand how my dad deals with people,” he murmured, his words making my body lock up. “And now I’m questioning it all.”
“I’m here for a job,” I snapped, my blood freezing in my veins as he dug for the truth. “That’s why I’ve been here in Little Haven for three years.”
“And the reason you screwed Jace and me by giving us to the Phantoms?”
“You came to my school, intent on running me out. Chris backed me into a corner. I had to do something.”
He brought his knuckles under my chin, tilting my face up. “You are so fucking hot and cold. One second, you’re the girl I fell for that summer. Then, in the same breath, you’re someone I don’t recognize. A headstrong, dangerous woman. Someone I’d love to get to know.”
I swallowed thickly. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Kian. I lied to you. It was just business.”
“Do you know my dad?” he asked, changing the subject. “Did Grimrose do something to you?”
Nick’s face flashed through my head, and I licked my dry lips. Him standing over my beaten brother. His threats to take me and use me to make my brother obey. Anger tore through me at the memory of Kian laughing with him when I saw them out at lunch. But my face remained blank as Kian studied me.
“No,” I answered firmly. “They didn’t do anything to me.”
His relentless stare didn’t let up, and he raised his hand, his thumb brushing my bottom lip. “Caught you.”
I bristled. “Excuse me?”
“You have a tell. Licking your lips,” he informed me, his hand sliding from my face to my throat. “I saw it the day you left Pacific Point that summer. On the first day I was on campus and pulled you into that storage closet. When we slept together, and I asked if it was more than just sex. And you just did it again. Which means you’re lying.”
“No, I’m not.” My heart hammered against my ribs as I called his bluff. His fingers stayed wrapped around my neck, firm enough that I knew he could feel the thumping of my pulse.
“You are,” he tossed back. “Which means whatever you’re doing, it’s not to take over Little Haven. Jace was right. It’s personal for you.”
“Look at you. Siding with the guy you claim to hate,” I sneered, using my anger as a front while realizing I needed to get the hell away from both of them. They should despise me after what I’d done to them. Be so angry that they serve me up to their gangs for whatever punishment I deserved. But here I was, stuck with them while they kept my dirty little secrets from their bosses.
From their families.
The families I wanted dead. Chris. Hayes. Nick. All of them. I wanted them to suffer like my brother had.
