Page 23 of Double Down

You will pay your debt to me one way or another, even if I have to take down every single one of your little Titans to get what's mine. Check your email.

Do I tell them? My thumb hovers over Atticus's name for a few seconds… I could just forward them. Let Atticus and the others deal with all of it. Conrad would blame me for this like everything else, but he’s going to do that, anyway.

I end up clicking the email icon instead.

Subject:Legacy Obligations — Account RC-4471

Dear Ms. Jones,

As successor-in-interest to certain novated instruments datedMarch 17of this year, we write regarding legacy obligations executed byR. Jones. Please contact our office to confirm delivery of the collateral schedule.

Sincerely,

Viceroy Capital Recoveries, LLC

Legacy obligations…whatthe hell did Dad himself get into?

My first reaction is to write it off as a spam email, but there are no links to click. Nothing but an attached and encrypted PDF for me to access.

Which means it can only be related to the increasingly creepy texts about my father’s debt and the pit that I’ve dragged all of us into.

I need to handle it myself. I’ve already dragged my shit to their doorstep, and I can’t ask Conrad to take on any more of myproblems. Not when he’s already about as likely to murder me as he is to keep me by his side.

I slide the phone under my pillow and try to stuff my anxiety away just as easily.

Conrad comes back into the room a few minutes later, a towel slung low on his hips, providing just the distraction I need. A line of water runs from his collarbone to the edge of the cotton terry cloth. My eyes track its progress despite my annoyance with him.

"Don't look at me like that, princess. I need to sleep, and you…" he says, “you are here because I can’t trust you, not because I want to fuck you.”

"What if I don't want to rest?" I ask, guilt gnawing. I need to do something.

I'm too much trouble, too much hassle. Maybe if I remind him why he wants me—why he's doing all of this—he won't realize I’m worthless. He won’t make me leave when he learns the truth.

From out of nowhere, my dad’s voice echoes in my head.Earn your keep. Make yourself useful.It was something he used to say when he held his hand out for the rent money every month.

I sit up and pull Storm's shirt off, leaving myself naked in Conrad's bed. Maybe I just need him to turn my mind off. If I'm consumed with him, I'm not thinking about how I'm still keeping secrets.

Still betraying him even though it’s been years since I left him.

His gaze travels up my body slowly. His tongue drags over his lower lip. I know he's tempted. But he only shakes his head and slides under the covers, just out of reach.

I shift to my knees, start to crawl down the bed so I can at least use my mouth?—

"Princess, if you try to touch me again, I will have another girl up here riding my cock just to force you to watch while she gets what you want so badly." He pulls me back up, his back to my chest, and wraps himself around me. There is no heat in his voice, but his words still send tears to my eyes. "Go to fucking sleep. Or else, Phoenix. I mean it.”

The truth is devastating.

I wasn't good enough for him then—and I'm not good enough now. The old scar is torn open and I feel sixteen again, standing outside the door after I told him goodbye and listening for footsteps that never came. Waiting for him to cross the floor and convince me that he wanted me. Convince me that I was enough, silence all those voices telling me otherwise.

He never did.

And even though I should keep my mouth shut, I can't help but say the words that have been clawing at my heart since that night so long ago.

“I’m so sorry, Conrad,” I whisper, the words barely a breath of sound. “I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted to save you from the trash that’s my life.”

There’s no response. Conrad's breathing evens out, his arm a heavy weight across my waist. I think I feel his fingers flex a tiny bit, but I can’t be sure.

I wait a little while, then ease the phone from under the pillow and slide from the bed. The mattress sighs, and I hold my breathlike it might snitch on me. When Conrad doesn’t stir, I tug Storm's shirt back on and pad barefoot to the kitchen.