Page 134 of Unspoken Lies

“Are you done with this job for good?” he asks.

“Nope,” I grunt, making a face. “The guy is in the wind. We’ll have to smoke him out somehow. His little operation took a huge hit, though. I’ll explain the rest later.”

“Maybe drinks once the club closes?” Jared suggests almost hopefully.

Liliana stomps on my foot with a tight smile and I wince in pain. Fuck, I bet that wouldn’t have hurt as much if it had been anyone else, but she seems to know where the weak spots in my boot are. Ouch.

“Yeah, that works,” I say, my voice strangled.

“I managed to get ahead of my school stuff this week so I’ll have some extra time to hang out,” Rachelle says hopefully.

I don’t really care what comes up with my father, I am taking Rachelle up on this.

“I am in,” I rumble, my voice low and raspy. I haven’t slept much and it’s showing. Liliana still managed to go to her classesand torture people. I think that shows how little she’s slept as well. “Whatever you want to do,querida.”

Rachelle gives me a brilliant smile that I soak up but also makes me feel like a dick. I couldn’t help leaving her, but it’s clear she missed us like crazy.

“I’d be jealous but tomorrow is Sunday,” Liliana says with an evil grin. “Can we sleep in and then have pancakes for breakfast?”

Rachelle chuckles as she nods. Jared stares at her as if she’s grown two heads and watches her leave once she’s called back to work.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he hisses. “Calvin, the guys, and I have been bending over backward to get her to eat, and she’s excited to have pancakes with you?”

“Don’t be a jealous husband. It’s not a good look for you,” Liliana says with a smirk. “Rachelle is a good girl and eats for me.”

The comment is a double entendre that makes Jared swallow hard.

“Liliana is her safe place,” I explain, deciding to give him some slack. I shouldn’t have to protect him from my girlfriend’s sharp tongue, but here we are. “I doubt Rachel would be the same if it was just me. Her anxiety is lower around Lili, because they were best friends first. There’s less pressure for them.”

“If I make it, there’s an even higher chance there won’t be an issue,” Lili adds. “Her stomach is very sensitive. She can’t handle much spice, but it has to have flavor.”

“Calvin has been pulling his damn hair out,” Jared grumbles. “Let’s leave Rachel to work.”

“She looked okay though,” Liliana says, following Jared to a wide mirror that looks like a dead end. He pushes a button before pulling the mirror to the side to reveal that it’s actually a door. That’s pretty cool.

Walking through it before Jared closes it up again, he nods.

“She had a rough period and really missed you,” he says. “It was hard to help her at times because she wouldn’t tell me anything.”

“Her vagina was trying to kill her by uterine shedding,” Liliana says sarcastically. We’re in some kind of lounge. This isn’t the best place for a conversation like this, but Lili is keen to have it out with Jared. Frankly, she’s not wrong. “She’s shy about her body. It would have been really difficult for her to talk about.”

“But how do we help if she won’t fucking talk to us,” Jared growls in frustration. “Instead, we had to drag it all out of her. Once we did, it was fine. Theo, Elijah, and I fixed things so we could be home with her for the three days that her period was the heaviest. We had an electric blanket, movies in bed, and smoothies or tea because food was not happening.”

“Oh, pain is another thing entirely,” Lili sighs. “I won’t eat much outside of chocolate during my period and I’ll sleep a lot.”

“Why is it so easy for you to tell me that?” he asks.

“I don’t give a shit what you think about my bloody pussy,” she says with a grin as he rolls his eyes.

Ugh, they’re like oil and vinegar over here. Polyamory is like a carefully crafted dance. I have no idea how people fucking manage it.

“Moving on, children,” I murmur, my chin jutting toward the club to remind them of where they are.

“Fine,” Jared grumbles. “The only way to gain entrance as a patron to the speakeasy is through the mirror we just came through.”

He gives me a tour through the speakeasy and then downstairs to the dungeon, which is basically a sex club. There’s so much planning that clearly went into this. I didn’t get to seeany of this when I picked up the piece of shit who drugged Liliana, so I’m enjoying the full tour.

Jared tells us about the lawyers they employ to be the face of the club since they’re not twenty-one until next year. We’ve grown up in a world where we’re expected to make adult decisions starting at fifteen years old or sooner.