Page 46 of Cruel Debts (Killers of Port Wylde #4)

FORTY-ONE

TRINITY

The next morning was calm—quiet, oddly so, but calm.

I couldn't think of a single thing to say to these men now that two of them had put themselves so far inside me that I could practically feel them against the back of my teeth.

And the one holdout stayed so far away from me that it was like he thought I was contagious, a patient zero who might infect him, too.

Asher was called out mid-breakfast, leaving the rest of us to lounge around the dorms until lunch, when Hawke slapped together some food that I couldn't even taste. I was too preoccupied with Liam's strange behavior.

Every time Hawke came near me, Liam would flinch.

And his eyes stalked the others around the house, at times making eye contact to warn them off of whatever they were planning to do.

After a bit, Hawke was so irritated that he left the room and didn't come back, though he left his bedroom door open in a pointed invitation.

Liam stared into my soul without even looking directly at me, though, now. And it unnerved me more than I cared to admit.

Hawke came to me at dinnertime, a worried look in his eyes as he sat on the edge of my bed.

"I have to go do some recon for the contract," he started, his voice softer, more considerate to me now that we'd been intimate. I didn't hate the change, but I almost missed the teasing asshole who used to infuriate me. "Are you going to be okay here alone with him?"

I cocked a brow and leaned back in my chair, tossing my legs over the side with a wince. I was still sore as fuck. "Who, Liam? What's he going to do, chop me up and put me in the oven?"

"Who knows, with that asshole," Hawke muttered, his eyes shooting to my door. "You have my number, and Asher's, if you need it. Just give us a call, okay?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Hawke," I said, unused to his concerned clinginess. "Are you going to be okay?"

He blinked at me, a blank stare in his eyes. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You went from hating my guts to tying yourself to me with a knotted rope," I pointed out, watching as he processed the change in himself for the first time. "I'm just saying, it's weird. And overwhelming."

"Do you want me to hate you?" He cocked his head, grinning chaotically. "I can go back to insulting you, if you want. All you have to do is step into the kitchen and threaten to pick up a spatula. That'll probably do it."

"Rude," I groaned, throwing a pillow at his head. "On second thought, maybe you should just lean into this sweeter side of yourself and embrace the change?—"

"Nope, too late, the usual me is back," he said with a huff, swinging the pillow back at me. "You shouldn't have opened your mouth."

"Ugh, you're right," I said with a groan, rolling my eyes. "I don't suppose you two will consider taking me to work tonight?"

"Not on your life," Hawke growled, his eyes narrowed. "Not only would Liam kill us, but I don't feel like catching an assault charge tonight."

"Says the literal Ghost." I distinctly remember how he made himself scarce the whole time Asher melted down on those two dudes in the club. "Fine, whatever. I'll just sit here and nurse my injuries while you and Asher ditch me with the holdout."

"Give him time, Trinity," he said in a moment of wisdom. "He'll come around once he gets over fighting it."

And then he was gone, leaving me to think about the possibility of Liam never 'coming around' as Hawke called it.

What would that look like? Would we all just continue to coexist, with this huge wedge between me and Liam, the last of my schoolgirl and grown woman obsessions?

The third love of my life? Could I live like that?

Could I walk away, if it came to it? Could I leave them all behind?

The thought was sobering. I had everything I wanted here, but I was supposed to be someone else.

What would my parents do if I told them I didn't plan to be their little brood mare for the family aspirations?

Would they hunt me down and drag me home?

Could they? I was a legal adult. I could make my own decisions.

But they had pull, they had money, they had power. And I had nothing without them.

I stewed over that for a half an hour, and then all hell broke loose when I ventured into the kitchen for snacks.

Liam stood in the living room, staring at the wall, his arms crossed as he slowly turned into a human statue. I spared him a few seconds of a glance and then continued toward the fridge, where I liberated a bottle of ice-cold water.

I didn't even get past popping the cap when his voice grated across my spine in true Liam fashion.

"You know, this house used to be peaceful."

Oh, so that was what we were doing, huh? We were fighting?

Fine. I could play this game. But I was done being nice. I was done being apologetic. Hawke and Asher wanted me here, and unless this had turned into a Liam dictatorship overnight, I had more on my side than Liam did.

"Oh, did it? I can't imagine it being peaceful with you three in the same space.

" The sweetness and sarcasm dripped from every word that spilled forth from my mouth, and it only served him right.

After all, he was asking for this. Him and his shit attitude, his abrasive comments, his bullshit act that he put on that none of this affected him at all.

"You know what I mean."

He still refused to look at me, so I goaded him on. Maybe if I could make him snap, make him face the truth, things would be easier.

"I know what you think you mean. But I also know what you're afraid to say. You're just scared that you're changing, too. And you don't like it."

Liam whirled on me, stalking over like a charging bull at a red flag. I backed up instinctively until my back hit the wall, and he used that to his advantage, caging me in with his strong arms.

His teeth were gritted as he bared them at me and came nose to nose, so close I could feel the rage boiling over in his blood.

"Let's get one thing right here, Trin." His left hand gripped me by the chin, and I winced as he yanked my face up to meet his glare, the fire in the depths of his eyes unlike anything I'd ever seen there.

"You're just a job. You're nothing more than a means to an end for us.

Sure, the guys are having fun, but you'll go home soon enough.

And when you do, they'll go back to normal, like they should.

" His words cut to the bone, ripped at the buried worries and fears that I didn't even let myself think about in the privacy of my own bedroom.

"You should stop fucking with them, with all of us, and just stay out of trouble until we end this contract?—"

"So you want me gone," I deadpanned, the emotion leeched out of me.

Sure, I expected him to say something about how I was making things different.

I expected the animosity. What I never expected from the man who once told me I was special to him, the man who promised to protect me, even before he made a blood oath with my brother, the man who took on a contract he didn't have to to find me and make sure I was safe, was that I was nothing more than a means to an end.

To make me feel weak and pathetic, emotions I hated so much I swore I'd never let anyone make me feel them again.

Just a job. A means to an end.

This wasn't the Liam I remembered. This wasn't the Liam who fought with me in the gym. The Liam who agreed to teach me to shoot, even though I didn't need to learn. The Liam who stood up to two strange men and staked a claim on me to keep them from getting too close to me.

The Liam I always thought had a soft spot for me.

"Fine. You want a complacent, quiet bitch, you got it.

You want me gone, you got it. You just get on out there and get to work, and I'll be packed and ready to go when you finish the job and come back to kick me out.

I'll even get on the train willingly. I'm so sorry to have disturbed your fragile ecosystem here, Liam.

Pardon me for thinking I could stay here and feel normal for once.

That my brother's best friends would welcome my presence and help me find him.

I'm so sorry that my kidnapping and escape caused you undue stress.

Just tell Minnie that your contract with her is complete and that'll be fine. "

"Trinity—" he called out to my quickly disappearing back, but I didn't stop. I took the bottle of water and chucked it at him, cap off, before disappearing around the corner and slipping into my room, where I locked the door behind myself.

Here it was, the opportunity I had been waiting for.

The opening to run, to leave this behind and return to my old life.

To leave these assholes behind and find my brother.

But now that I stood in the middle of my room in a pair of joggers and a crop top, with my go bag beside the window and Liam's backup gun from under the counter slipped in my jacket pocket, where I expected to feel a sense of freedom, I only felt sadness.

Here I was, about to do what I swore to do all this time—leave this cage and find Keehn.

Or, find out what happened to him. But I was reluctant to go.

Not only was I hesitating, I felt . . . sad?

I didn't want to leave these men. As much as Liam infuriated me, I didn't want to go for good. This was the only place I'd ever felt even slightly accepted for my true self, and not the big money princess I pretended to be for my family's purposes.

I set the go bag down and reached for my work bag.

I wouldn't go for good, but while the others were out, and Liam was here, I could give him a reason to worry.

I'd open the window, slip out, and leave my go bag in the middle of the floor.

Let him think I ran. Let him think I wouldn't come back. Give him time to worry about me.

I knew he would.

A petty part of me rose to the surface, and she was out for blood. She wanted to hurt Liam like he'd hurt me. She wanted him to know how much she hated him in this moment.

I couldn't hate him forever. But I could hate him for right now.

I pulled out my phone and texted the words fuck you, asshole, to Liam's contact in my phone, then hit send, because why stop at petty when you could actively be an asshole right back?

I'd only be gone for a few hours. The door was unlocked, and eventually he'd come looking for me. When he found the room empty, he'd worry. And when I came back, I could ask him how it felt to be weak for a change.

Like he made me feel.

With a last look at the room, I grabbed my cellphone off the bed and climbed out the window, determined to blow off some steam in the only way I knew how. The only power left to me.

The club.

This was single-handedly the biggest mistake of my life.

Minnie was conveniently absent from the club tonight, so getting in took a lot of work, especially since security had switched around in my absence. That meant finding a girl who could vouch for me, get me in the door, and then get me acquainted with the new staff.

There were a lot.

What happened in the last few days to this place? Seriously? I'd been gone a week, and it felt like a whole new club.

The clients felt skeevier than usual, too. And the girls wore strange, matching lingerie. Nobody was bare-faced, and even I was issued a mask when I moved along to the dressing room.

After about an hour on the floor, I still hadn't been able to track down someone to let me into the private performance rooms, and the bouncer on that end of the hall refused to let me walk down without a pass. Which I didn't have.

Something felt off. So I tried calling Minnie.

Voicemail.

I tried her second phone number, the one she said to only use in case of emergency.

A man I'd never heard before answered that one.

The only choice left was to go up to my old apartment and wait it out, because no way was I going back to the Guild this soon. Hell, Liam probably didn't even notice I was gone yet.

The apartment was safe. I would be fine there. And security downstairs took care of the access point to my apartment, too, so there would be double safety nets. The guys couldn't get mad at me when I was taking all these damn precautions.

Even the stairs up to the second floor felt eerily off, though. Still, I chalked it up to the whole vibe of the night being off and kept climbing. I was just keyed up, that was all. Liam had me off-kilter. Him and his bullshit asshole mouth?—

The second I typed in the code to the apartment, the air got still around me. Opening the door felt like an out-of-body experience. And when I spotted the men inside the room that I'd once called my living room, I knew I'd made a grave mistake.

Their eyes fell on me in quick succession, and one of them at the end looked a bit familiar—like I'd seen him before.

It snapped into place too late.

He was the asshole who kept me hostage at that dickface Tennicent's mansion as a pet.

And if Tennicent's men were in my apartment, that could only mean one thing.

The guys were right. I wasn't safe.

And after tonight, I might not be alive.

As I turned and fled down those stairs like my life depended on it, my last thought was to call the last person I'd talked to in my phone, and hope like hell they could find me before these men finished what they'd started.