As soon as she was a safe distance away, Riley stepped up to me, his face inches from mine. “I get what you’re trying to do.”
I shrugged. “And what am I trying to do?”
“Make me feel guilty for not helping you. Make me look bad in front of Paige and everyone else. Don’t you see what I’m doing is for this family, too?”
Oh, that fucking fuck. “And how is screwing an intern helping our family? I gotshotat last night.”
The beet red color drained from Riley’s face within seconds. His throat ticked with a hard swallow. “What?”
“Hill set me up,” I hissed. “Sent me to a party with rat poison, I guess to get rid of some of his competition.”
“Shit.” Riley raked his fingers through his hair, eyes about to bug out of his head, then glanced in the direction of the stairs. “Keep your voice down.”
I jerked my head in the blonde’s direction. “Didshekeep her voice down last night?”
Paige might’ve thought it was me fucking someone. But I never wanted to be the one to make those big dark eyes of hers look at me with disgust.
“We were quiet, okay?” Riley said. “Look, I’m sorry. We had to come back here to get some files anyway. Dad leaves for Dallas in a couple hours, and then I’ll be home. Just go do whatever it is you do all day. And why are you so worried about what Paige thinks?”
“I... I’m not.” I stepped away from him so he couldn’t see the lie that was probably written all over my face. Jesus, I needed to pull it together. We had enough happening in this house without a brother showdown.
“Good.” He slapped my cheek lightly and held his hand there, in a caring older brother sort of way that couldn’t fool me. “I know you used to like Paige, but stay away from her, got it?”
Too late. “Not my type at all.”
He nodded while he slapped my face a little harder. “That’s right. You prefer skanks, right?”
“Mmm, actually sloppy seconds,” I said, jerking my head toward the screen door. “Why don’t you give me the number of the therapist your ex went to? I’ll go give it toCalistaas soon as I’m done with her.”
There was that red shade of pissed that leaked into his face and tight jaw again. “Leave my ex the hell out of this,” he said, then pushed against the screen door to leave.
“I’m fine, by the way,” I said. “No bullet holes, but thanks for asking.”
He sighed. “I’m glad you’re okay. Just...don’t bring your work home with you.”
Like Rose had. All ten pounds of heroin she’d promised Hill she would sell had gone straight up her nose over the course of a month. That was why we were in this situation in the first fucking place. Well, part of the reason. The other was that Hill refused to sweep the debt Rose owed him under the rug. He didn’t want to be paid in money; he wanted a drug dealer starter kit with me.
Plus, Hill had gotten his hands on a certain set of pictures of Riley and Daddy-o handing over money to beautiful women who weren’t standing behind a sales counter. If I didn’t deliver for Hill—both figuratively and literally—those photos would be leaked and Dad’s bid for presidency was screwed. But I didn’t give a shit about him and Riley. Not really. I was doing this for Rose.
Riley glanced in the direction of the stairs. I did, too, in case Paige was standing there.
“And I’m not just talking about Rose, Sam. What if you had been followed back home?”
I hadn’t. Tony and I had made sure during the hour we drove around the neighborhood, trying to unfry our nerves with the rest of my tequila. But if there was even a slight chance Paige was in danger just by living in this house, she needed to go. The whole shitty day yesterday had proved to me that the drug business was just as unpredictable as a desperate junky.
“I was trying to help Paige out by letting her stay here, but if she finds out—”
“That you can’t keep your dick in your pants?”
Riley sighed. “Just hurry up and pay the debt back so we can be through with Hill.”
All 1.1 million dollars of it. No problem.
It didn’t matter that Dad was running for president, or maybe it wasbecausehe was, but Hill didn’t make deals. It was his terms, nothing else, or he would expose my family for what they truly were—a cancerous wound. His words, not mine. But he was right.
Dad didn’t know anything about Hill. I intended to keep it that way until the debt was paid back the way Hill wanted it to be—my “services.” I didn’t become a drug dealer to protect Dad and his stupid race to be president. This was all for Rose, so when she got out of rehab, she could concentrate on being my little sister again instead of worrying about any kind of debt owed to Hill.
“You agreed to be the one to work for Hill,” Riley said in a low voice. “If you don’t want Paige here, thenyoube the one to tell her to leave. I’m not doing it.”
