Porter hated me. Liam probably did, too. Tommy was never going to turn his life around. I just had to hope he was arrested before the men from Cassidy’s caught up with him. I’d warned him to get out of town. I just had to hope he listened. I couldn’t be responsible anymore. I had to take care of myself, just like I always had. I picked myself up, grabbed my coat, my keys, climbed in my car. I was all alone. As I drove out of town toward Clayton and the interstate, I realized I’d only really been with Liam and Porter for five days, so not much had changed. I was exactly the same, except for one thing.
A broken heart.
16
LIAM
* * *
“Fuck, what a day.” I ran my hand over the back of my neck as I opened Porter’s fridge and pulled out a beer.
I popped the top and tossed it in the trash under the sink. All I wanted to do was settle on the couch with Jill in my lap and watch a movie. When had I turned into an old fart? Oh yeah, when I fell in love.
“A good one though,” I continued. “Tommy’s a small fish. We got him, but he gave us two others for a lighter sentence. That kid’s a little shit, thinking only of himself. Whatever. I’m off duty, so to make us forget it all, I stopped by the adult store and got our girl a little—well, not so little—jeweled plug. I think she’ll look gorgeous with a bright green gem parting her ass cheeks.”
My cock went hard just thinking about her on all fours on Porter’s ottoman, ass up, her ass beautifully plugged. I took a long swig. Fuck, that tasted good.
I turned and finally looked at Porter.
He was leaning against the counter, staring out the windows that lined one wall of the great room, although it was too dark out to even see the snow coming down.
“You’re too uptight to have been in our girl. Is she in the tub? I want to tell her the latest.”
“She’s not our girl.”
I frowned, looked around. I didn’t see Jill, didn’t smell her shampoo. Hell, it didn’t feel like she was even here. It was a little woo woo to even sense that, but I did.
“Where is she?” I asked him straight.
He looked at me and shrugged. “Her house.”
“Okay,” I said the word slowly, clearly missing something. “Why the fuck is she over there? I can go get her. She shouldn’t be driving in this.”
He looked me in the eye. “She’s at her house because it’s over.”
“Over,” I repeated. Was he drunk? That was the only thing I could think of, even though he didn’t even drink.
“She used us.” I frowned, and he continued. “She admitted she was writing fake scripts, just like her brother said.”
I set my beer on the island with a loud thunk. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I went over there. She had no intention of telling us the truth, that she was using us, fucking us so that she’d stay out of jail.”
That didn’t jive with anything I’d learned today. Tommy was a douche canoe who didn’t give a shit about his big-hearted sister. As soon as I offered him a sweet deal with barely any jail time, he rolled on those who were pretty much extorting money from him.
“She told you she’s been writing fake prescriptions through Dr. Metzger’s office?”
He nodded.
“She said those words. She said, I’ve been writing fake prescriptions.”
“No.”
I sighed, tried to remain calm, but getting answers out of Porter was like trying to get the truth out of Tommy. “What did she actually say?” I slapped my hand on the granite. “Dude, what were her fucking words?”
He clenched his jaw. “I asked her if she were ever going to tell us and she said no.”
I stared at him, trying to work it all out in my head. “We picked up two guys from Clayton, the guys who Tommy owes money. Tommy doesn’t have the cash, as you’re well aware.”