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Scarlett coughs, Renie grins, and Nicolas is oblivious, while Redix cuts me a look that wants my blood.
The interesting thing? Karen’s not even nervous around me. That either makes her a sociopath or a stupid shit. Or both.
It’s a long hour while they visit with Nicolas, and I get to watch her squirm. Scarlett keeps stifling her smile beside me because she knows the impulse I’m holding back. I don’t have to tell her Karen’s on my shit list. Scarlett knows guilt when she smells it, too.
“Well, we should let you get some sleep.” Redix is wrapping it up. “I’ll make sure we have your favorite popsicles when you get home tomorrow, okay?”
It thrills my ovaries how sweet he is with his nephew when he kisses his cheek goodbye. And when he hugs his sister.
I stand up. “I’ll walk y’all out.”
He looks at me like that’s as good of an idea as playing with live electrical wires. In the rain. But fuck this. I may not make a scene in front of Nicolas, but cue the camera for when we are alone.
We don’t say anything on the walk down the hall. Or down the elevator. Or out the doors into the parking lot. But Redix looks as comfortable as getting an enema, and Karen holds his hand like that’s gonna save her.
It’s almost midnight, and I ask, “Where’d y’all park?”
Redix hits his car fob, and he’s parked at the very edge of the lot under a canopy of palmetto trees. He looks at me nervously while I follow them there. I know he thinks I’m jealous or that he’s doing something wrong. I can’t watch him suffer anymore because of her.
“Karen”—I step into her cloud of perfume—“you have one minute to tell him the truth, or I swear I’ll strangle you so hard it and your eyes will pop out.”
“Cade, stop it!” Redix is sweet to be defending her lack of honor.
“Tell him.” I keep my eyes on her.
She shakes her head like a shocked virgin watching porn. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re so full of shit, your eyes are brown.”
“That’s enough.” Redix wedges between us. “What the hell is going on with you?”
I glare at her and tell him, “She wants your gorgeous cock so bad she’s afraid to tell you that she works for Gentry Evans.”
I watch her reaction. It’s stone. It’s cold.
“What?” He steps back.
“She’s lying,” Karen seethes. “She’s just jealous.”
“I’m as jealous of you as your tits are real.” Enough of her bullshit, I turn to Redix. “She works for Gentry Evans, and he planted her in your AA meeting. She leaked the story about that man you were with at the club, and she’s got some reporter looking into why my dad retired from the sheriff’s office so long ago.”
The smirk on her face says it all, but Redix doesn’t see it. He’s looking at me like I just kneed his nuts.
“That can’t be.” Betrayal twists his handsome face as he turns to Karen. “You wouldn’t do that, would you? You’re in AA. You’re in recovery like me. You wouldn’t lie about that?”
I hate this for him. I hate she did this to him. He needs those meetings, and she just violated them.
“What was last night, then?” Redix asks her frozen face. “Was it real?”
Please don’t tell me he made love to her, thinking they shared a grueling journey to sobriety. Damn, that’d be so wrong of her.
“She’s lying,” is all Karen can repeat. She doesn’t even answer his questions or validate his pain, which hurts him, so that’s all it takes.
“Answer him, now!” I grab her by the throat and slam her against his passenger window. “Or I’m gonna make you real fucking sober with pain.”
Redix doesn’t stop me this time. He’s stunned silent.
“Tell him!” I’ll do it again for him. It’s taking me over, and I swore I’d have more control, but he’s hurting, and my thumb starts pressing down on that critical artery in her throat.
