Page 31 of Shark’s Pride

“And I rest my case.”

Abbi looked confused. Instinct told me she was deliberating whether to glare me down or ignore me. She quickly chose the latter, giving Tawny even more of her focus instead. “What happened after that? How long did they take to make this ‘perfection’ happen?”

“A day, I guess,” Tawny replied, blinking. Maybe she was really starting to recognize how batshit her story sounded—only now, it was too crazy not to believe. “Maybe a day and a half. It wasn’t long. They had all the details taken care of. The body, the note, the information leak to the press. They gave me all the stuff I needed to go to ground—the papers, new IDs, some cash, and…well, all of it. They made me sign papers, swearing I’d never resurface. In exchange, they would handle all my debt and obligations I’d dug myself into.” She jogged her head up, and the brimming tears in her eyes caught the light from outside. “It seemed perfect. A fresh start. A clean slate. No more worries…”

“But what about your family? What did you tell them?” Abbi tried to hide her continuing fascination by taking a sip from her mug. But it was more than that. My Little Red always worried about how everyone else would be affected.

“That’s just it. Don’t have any.” Tawny shrugged, looking more desolate now. “No one would even notice if I disappeared.”

As Abbigail set down her tea and closed the space to the woman, clearly intending one of those girl hugs, I could no longer keep my reaction quiet. “Okay, can we get serious about all this?” I yelled, at once tempted to do it again. Self-composure was pathetically overrated. “Do you have any idea how this stunt has fucked with me, Tawny-of-the-tearful-apologies? Do you know what chaos you have wreaked on my whole damn life? Did you stop and think about anyone but yourself in this entire, insane scheme?” Though her tears welled heavier, I didn’t fall for her sad-sack, crocodile bullshit.

“I—I really am sorry,” she blurted as soon as Abbi loosened the hug. “No. I didn’t think this through at first. Not really.”

“You were scared about the debts, and they probably made threats,” Abbi offered.

Once more, the key question seared through my mind. Who are they?

“But afterward, when it was everywhere…my death, I mean—God, every news channel, every paper, magazine, website…” She folded and unfolded the empty packet of sweetener, not able to look at me for even a second. “Yeah, then it hit me. I started feeling really guilty about what it was doing to you, Sebastian. And…your life…”

“My whole fucking reputation!” My bellow caused both women to jolt. “I’ve worked tirelessly in this town, day and night.” I sucked air through my nose, trying to settle down a notch. I wasn’t very successful, since talking about my journey compelled me to remember where it began. Those grungy days when Pia and I were scrabbling…for everything. “Because, whether you believe it or not, I do understand the desperation that led to your decision. To struggle to make ends meet. To worry if there will be food for the next meal or where I’ll sleep at night. But I clawed my way up from the gutter. Inch by inch, I made myself into what I am today. And I’ll be goddamned if you will take that away from me because you were looking to take the fucking easy way out!”

“Sebastian!” Abbigail matched my volume decibel for decibel, only her intent was reproach instead of anger. How I even knew or cared about that difference was an astounding little factoid, but I shelved it for later.

“What? It’s true. Every word!”

“He’s right,” Tawny croaked, tears filling her eyes.

I longed to call out every drop as the bullshit it was, but Abbi’s empathy for the woman was palpable, which somehow ramped my aggravation higher.

“I’m—I’m so sorry. I truly am.”

“That’s not good enough,” I snapped.

“You don’t have to keep apologizing,” my girlfriend comforted at the same time.

I glared at her, willing her to heed my silent decree—my house, my dictate—but she wasn’t obliging with so much as a glance my way. The whole time, Tawny looked into her mug of tea and said nothing. Fantastic. Now, she’d succeeded in disrupting my personal life too.

“So was this your idea of an encore?” I finally snarled. “You just decided to show up on my front porch and cause some more problems for me now?”

“Bas—”

“Why, goddammit? I need to know that. You could’ve just stayed dead, and we could’ve gone on believing it. Why did you feel the need to come here and stir up more shit?”

I pounded a step closer to Tawny—an irony if there was one, since I was damn good and ready to put this entire fiasco behind me. Things were going well now. No, better than that. Everything was fantastic since Abbi came back last night, and then just the beginning of this morning was…

I closed my eyes for a second, forcing back the imagery of her sleep-mussed hair and lust-swollen pussy. None of that was going to be mine within the next five minutes. Not with this giant albatross setting up shop in my kitchen. And continuing to dunk her damn tea bag.

“Like I said when I first got here, Sebastian—I felt like I should warn you.”

“Warn me?” At least I maintained a half-civil tone—a miracle, considering I was ready to strangle her instead. “About what?”

“About…them.”

“Them.” I grinded teeth on the word. Well, hell. Now that her chin wobbled like a tuning fork, I wished she’d return to playing with her tea. “Them who?”

“The people who set this whole thing up. They’re very dangerous.”

She waited for a reaction, silently staring at me from across the counter. I was positive I’d lost a few layers of tooth enamel by now but finally spat, “And do these ‘very dangerous’ people have names?”