“I can trust her as long as I don’t tell her what I did. Like you, I can’t be open about what we’re doing.”

I forced myself not to think about it. I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to feel. I embraced the numbness, knowing it was only a matter of time before it came crashing down.

*

Isla’s house was a cottage style looking place not far from where we were going to relocate. The second she opened the door, I saw the look of shock in her dark eyes. She looked different than the pictures Marko had previously showed me. Her hair was longer, reaching her elbows. She was tall and curvy with sun kissed skin. She was beautiful in a wholesome looking way. Not as beautiful as my Allie, mind you, but beautiful nonetheless.

They stared at one another in silence for an uncomfortable amount of time before I cleared my throat and said, “He’s in bad shape and needs your help.”

It was then she’d registered his hand clutching at his shoulder wound. I watched the shock wear off and concern swept in – concern and disapproval, as if she wasn’t surprised to see Marko at her front porch with a bullet wound in him.

Yeah, this was more fucked up than I realized.

Isla opened the door wider and gestured us in, and I helped him inside the cosy house, settling him down on a rustic, kitchen chair. All the while, Marko’s eyes had never left hers. He stared at her like he was entranced, and I felt bad for the poor bastard because she had immediately put up her walls.

She threw her dirty blonde hair up and tore apart the kitchen, grabbing at the first aid kit the second she saw it.

“Are you going to tell me what happened, Alec?” she asked harshly, and I wondered suddenly why she called him by his middle name.

“No,” he answered in the same tone.

“Then I take it you fucked up, again. Shame it didn’t end with that bullet in your head instead.”

“After last week, I’ll have died a happy man.” He smirked wickedly, eyeing her reaction.

Last week? Marko was keeping shit from me.

She tensed and a blush rose to her cheeks and she said not a word about it. I stared between both of them, feeling like the odd man out. Being around two people who looked like they hated each other and equally wanted to fuck each other’s brains out wasn’t where I pictured my night going.

I needed Allie.

“You can go,” Marko told me, once again sensing my thoughts. “I’ll be fine here.”

“Let me know how you’re doing in the morning,” I told him. I nodded once at Isla on my way out, and she looked away from me like I was bad news.

Women. Always so goddamn suspicious.

Eight

Heath

I raced back to the apartment and hoped beyond anything for Allie to be asleep. I needed some peace. I had a busy morning ahead of me. The car was covered in blood, had bags of money in the backseat, and I’d be walking into the apartment with nothing but my plain tee and cheeks that were scratched to shit. I looked disastrous – hell, I felt even worse. I didn’t have it in me to put on my poker face.

Lies!

Lies!

Lies!

When was it going to end?!

“Another late night, huh, Lawson?”

Wafts of Tru’s perfume assaulted me from behind. Where the fuck had she come from?

I gritted my teeth and shoved the key into the entrance door of the apartment building. I opened the door and didn’t bother leaving it open for her. She made it in time before it shut, slipping in quickly, her heels clacking unevenly on the tile floor. I resisted rolling my eyes and cursing at her. Drunk again, this chick. Christ, she was losing her shit fast and really didn’t care about changing.

I didn’t say a word to her as she stopped by my side and waited for the elevator to open. I felt the heat of her gaze, raking me up and down in that lustful way she couldn’t seem to shake off. This bitch was still hungry for me, and no matter what I did to shove her away, she still came bounding to me for more.

“I’ve been missing you, you know,” she whispered in an attempt at sounding seductive. By the slur in her voice, it failed miserably.

I glanced at her, repulsed to see that her make-up was shot to shit; mascara ran down her cheeks, caked and old, like she’d cried hours prior and hadn’t bothered to wipe her face.

“The fuck is happening to you, Tru?” I found myself asking. The elevator doors opened up, but I turned to her instead, running my eyes over every inch of her. She was already thin before, now she looked like a goddamn carcass.

“Been having fun,” she replied, lifting the corner of her lips up in a mischievous smile. I felt her hand on my bare arm, and a sick feeling took over as her fake nails dragged along my skin.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I snapped at her, whipping her hand away.

But the bitch took a step closer to me, rubbing her tits against my arm. I quickly pressed the elevator button again.

“Don’t you remember what fun is, Heath?” she asked. “Partying and fucking and forgetting? You used to be good at that before you got balls deep with a young, drama-hungry bitch.”

“Shut up, Trudy.”

“Do you have another brother hiding somewhere? You might want to keep him hidden away before she fucks him too.”

My head pounded even harder. “I said shut the fuck up, Trudy!”

“She’s using you. She’ll toss you away once Ryker’s out. You know most prisoners only serve three quarters of their sentences, right? You better use her as much as you can before then.”

I’d truly had enough of this.

The next time she touched me, I grabbed her arm and shoved her body against the wall. My body enveloped her, and I stared down at the bitch wanting nothing more than to shred her to bits. I was going insane, my head pounding with the urge to take my aggression out on something. I’d just witnessed my best friend shot – thought he was dead too – before he put a bullet in another guy’s head. The last thing I needed was Trudy running down my woman again.

“Fuck off about Allie,” I snarled at her. “If you know what’s best for you, you’d stop running that mouth. You keep that shit up around everyone else and you’ll be fucked up in no time, Tru.”

I stepped back from her, alarmed by the violent urges that flowed like bloodstream in my body. She didn’t look bothered, though. In fact, I saw excitement brewing in her eyes.