He frowns. “What do you mean? Hasn’t Blane told you about the deal he made?” His lips thin. “Some stupid cop had me thrown in here, and Blane is working with him to get me out.”
I swallow nervously and my eyes slide over to the glass for a quick second before I return them to my father. “I did know about the deal. But it’s no longer …” I pause to think of the right terminology. “ … in play,” I decide to say. Case told me not to mention this to him, but I’m not gonna lie to him. I’m not like Case; I can’t keep secrets. Not ones this big. My father truly believes he is going to get out, but he should know the truth.
“What do you mean? No longer in play?”
I sigh. “They found out Blane was working for that cop,” I say, and his eyes widen in shock, which isn’t a total lie. The others don’t know Case is a cop as far as we know. They just know Blane isn’t really a drug dealer. “They beat him up pretty badly. The officer who Blane was working for called it off.”
“Son of a bitch,” he hisses. He leans back in his chair and blows out a frustrated breath. His eyes harden, and his jaw tightens. He lifts his cuffed hands and places them on his head. “What about you?” he asks quickly.
“Excuse me?” I choke out the question, and I can see Miller’s body stiffen out of the corner of my eye.
His tight face relaxes, and he actually smiles as he looks at me. “What about you? You can talk to the cop, and you can finish what Blane started.” He makes it sound so simple.
“I … uh … I …” I shake my head real quickly as I try to process what he just suggested. “You want me to sell drugs?” I ask. Even as I say it, I look around the room and cringe knowing that everything in this room is recorded.
“Yes!” he says simply. “Have Blane put you in touch with the guy he was working for …”
“I can’t do that, Dad,” I interrupt him still half dazed by his new idea.
His face tightens once again, and he growls. “Why the hell not? You just plan on leaving me in here?” He looks behind me at the door and starts to yell. “Blane! Blane, I know you’re out there …”
“Mr. Williams …” Miller growls and starts to walk toward us.
“Who the hell are you?” my father demands. “Stay out of it. I’m talking to my daughter.”
“Dad …” My throat tightens.
The door swings open, and I spin around in my chair to see a very pissed off Case storm into the room. He grabs me by the arm and jerks me out of my chair. “Get out,” he orders as he shoves me toward Miller. Before I can even say anything, Miller pulls me through the door and slams it shut.
CASE
“You have some fucking nerve,” I hiss to the man sitting in the chair across from me.
“You.” He narrows his eyes at me. It takes my breath away how much they look like Taylor. That same blue but only his look tired. “You son of a bitch. You’re supposed to be getting me out of here,” he snaps.
I tilt my head from side to side, needing the movement to release some tension. The second I heard him offer her up in order to save his ass, my body went tense. And I stormed out of the room and into this one. “Sorry about your luck but it looks like you’re staying here,” I say flatly.
He stands quickly and slams his fists on the desk. “She’ll do it. Taylor will get me out of here. Won’t you, hunny?” he calls out. “Your mother would want you …”
“Shut the fuck up,” I demand, and he growls at me. “Even if she agreed and offered, I wouldn’t let it happen,” I inform him. “No information you could give me would be worth her life.”
“Why the fuck would you care about her life?” he demands.
I should be surprised, but I’m not. To be honest, I’ve heard worse. “The question should be why don’t you care?”
His lips thin, and his eyes narrow on me. “She won’t leave me in here like this.”
“That choice isn’t up to her,” I say truthfully. I saw the look in her eyes. At that very moment, her world shattered. He is willing to put her in harm’s way just so he can get out to get another high. Fuck him and his addiction.
He stares at me for a few long seconds before he bursts into laughter. “She thinks she’s better than I am,” he says through another spurt of laughter. “She thinks she can have a better future than what I have? She can go out. Find the man of her dreams. Get married, have children, and will still have an addiction.”
“No, she won’t,” I argue with him.
“It runs in her blood. She thinks I got this addiction after her mother died.” He chuckles. “I used to get high with her mother after Taylor and Blane would go to bed. Her mother died of an overdose. Blane was the one who chose to tell her it was a heart attack.”
I hear the door swing open, and I close my eyes as I take a deep breath. “Quit lying,” Taylor’s voice screams out.
I open my eyes and spin to face her. I go over to her and grab her by the shoulders. I try to push her back without just shoving her like I did just minutes ago.
