Page 39 of Break Me

I don’t even look back at Ava.

“She’s with me. It’s just…something was off, man.”

Caden’s hands ball into fists. He’s wearing his usual white shirt, sleeves rolled up to the forearms. I can see his veins bulging because he’s fucking pissed and hell, maybe he fucked Riley again. I don’t know. And I don’t really want to know.

“Something was off?” he repeats. He knows I’m lying. But if he had fucking killed his dad with that baseball bat instead of stopping too soon, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

That was weakness.

Rolland Virani doesn’t deserve to live, and I don’t give a fuck whose father he is.

“Stay in there,” I say quietly, eyes flicking past him to inside his and Riley’s condo. “It was probably nothing…just…stay there,” I say again. “I’ll be across the hall. He probably wasn’t anywhere near us. But he will come to us. We wait. If we do it right, none of us will go to jail, and he’ll end up in a grave.”

I hear Ava’s sharp intake of breath behind me and Caden’s eyes narrow on her.

“Maybe watch your fucking mouth, man,” he snaps. “Or else you’ll have to add to the body count.”

Something about those words and the way he says them makes me tense. I take a step toward him but he doesn’t back down. He knows me. He knows I won’t hurt him. Not too badly, anyway. But Ava has nothing to do with this.

“I’ll take care of her. Let me know if you hear anything.”

He nods, I clap my hand on his shoulder, squeezing a little harder than necessary, and I feel a sick sort of satisfaction when he winces.

I turn around, loop my arm through Ava’s, and drag her to my door as Caden locks and closes his.

“What the fuck is going on?” Ava hisses again as I push her inside my condo. I lock the door behind us and then turn around to face her, my back against the door.

“It’s complicated.”

“You’re…you’re going to kill someone?” she asks me quietly, and I see fear flash in her eyes.

I walk past her, bumping her with my arm. “Like I said, it’s complicated.”