Corrupt - Douglas Penelope - Страница 23

“I’m fine.”

He placed both hands on the bar, leaning in as he peered over at me. “What was she doing there today?”

I downed a third shot, starting to feel the burn in my stomach blanket my veins in a warm buzz. The edges were blurring, and the tips of my fingers hummed.

I shook my head, setting the glass down. Out of everyone in my life—my father, my brother, my friends—it ended up being her that drove me to drink. Her fucking eyes, going from defiant to mischievous to hurt to on fire, and then finally, to broken.

Don’t be alone with her.

“Michael?” Kai prompted.

I let out a hard sigh, running my fingers over the top of my head. “Could you just…” I gritted out, “fucking shut up for five minutes and let me get my head straight?”

“Why isn’t your head straight already?” he demanded. “Because you know, we had a plan. Take everything and then take her, but all I see you doing is dicking around.”

I immediately straightened and darted my hand out, grabbing his collar.

He shoved my arm to the side, shaking his head and sneering, “Don’t go there. I want our little monster, with her big doe eyes, kneeling at my feet, and I’m not waiting anymore. I’d like you in on this, but I don’t need you.”

Not waiting anymore. She just got here! She was in Meridian City because of me. At Delcour because of me. Isolated because of me.

And there were only a couple of more things to take from her. They hadn’t waited that long.

But then I looked away. Yeah, they had. They’d waited far too long.

I pushed the bottle and glass away. “Where are they?” I asked him.

Kai stayed silent, still looking pissed but turned around and led the way.

I followed, the hard bass of the music vibrating under my feet as we walked through the club toward the private areas in back.

Kai and I never fought in the past. I shouldn’t have taken that shot at him.

But for some reason, he kept challenging me, and I felt further away from him now than when he was in prison. What the hell was going on? I expected Damon and Will in my face. Not Kai.

In many ways, he was the same as he’d always been. The thinker, the reasonable one, the brother that always looked out for the rest of us…But in many ways he had changed beyond recognition. He never smiled anymore, he took courses of action he wouldn’t have in high school, even knowing the consequences, and not once did I see him do one thing for pleasure since he’d gotten out. Damon and Will partied, drank, smoked, and buried themselves in pussy the first two weeks they were free.

Kai, on the other hand, hadn’t had a single drink or a woman in his bed. Not that I knew of anyway. Hell, I didn’t even think he listened to music anymore.

He needed to lose control, because I was starting to get concerned about whatever he was bottling up.

Following him into a semi-private area with an L-shaped sofa and a table, I spotted the back of Will’s head, slouched against the couch, and Damon relaxing across the table from him with his hand resting between some girl’s thighs.

Damon was the exact opposite of Kai. He rarely thought about anything he did, and if someone put a wall in his way—justified or not—he came in swinging without hesitation or regret. This had been a useful quality on our high school basketball team. His reputation spread, and just the sight of him by the opposite team got them pissing themselves.

He also more than made up for all the vices Kai wasn’t indulging in.

I stopped next to the couch, jerking my chin at Damon to get rid of the girl. He shifted, taking his hand out from between her legs and nudged her thigh, sending her off.

Kai took a seat and Will sat up, all of them turning their eyes on me. Impatience and agitation were clear in their expressions, and I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling like there was a wall between them and me.

Because, after three years, they now had a bond that didn’t include me. Everything was fucked because of her.

I narrowed my eyes on Kai. “You okay to drive?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

I nodded, reaching into my pocket and taking out my keys. “Let’s do this then.” I told them. “You guys ready?”

Will perked up, looking at me, surprised. “The mother?”

I nodded again.

He shot Damon a look, smiling.

“How gone do we want her?” Kai inquired, standing up, suddenly back in the game.

“Buried,” I replied. “I want no Fanes for Rika to run to. We’ll go to Thunder Bay tonight.”

“You guys go,” Damon teased, leaning back and putting an arm behind his head. “I’ll stay and keep an eye on Rika. She’s more fun to look at.”

“Have you seen her mother?” I raised my eyebrows, amusement lifting the corners of my mouth. Christiane Fane was still young and fairly fucking gorgeous. She wasn’t Rika, but still beautiful. “You’re coming with us.”

There’s no way I trusted him alone here with Rika.

Reaching into the breast pocket of my black suit jacket and pulling out a small baggy, I tossed it to Damon. He shot up his free hand and caught the bag, glancing around to see if anyone was looking.

He then held it up, examining the contents, as Kai and Will took interest as well.

Suddenly, Damon’s lips spread in a wide smile and he looked over at me like I just made his night.

Yeah, I suspected Damon would know what that was. Sick fuck.

Rohypnol was known as a date rape drug, used to make its victims pliable and weak in no less than fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, I had little trouble getting ahold of it, too. A few of my teammates were on something or other illegal, be it recreational or body enhancing, and all I’d needed was to get in contact with their dealer to get the pills.

If we didn’t find Rika’s mother drunk as usual, one of those pills would help make her very agreeable.

“Give it to me.” Kai looked pointedly at Damon, holding out his hand for the baggy.

Damon arched an eyebrow, doing nothing.

“Now,” Kai insisted, still holding out his hand.

Damon smirked and opened the bag, tapping out a pill into Kai’s hand. “You only need one for the mom. These things are pretty effective.”

Will breathed out a laugh, shaking his head but not sounding the least bit amused with the joke. Even he had limits.

Not that Damon didn’t. We just didn’t know for sure. If we’d ever seen him use anything like that, we would’ve killed him, but he also never gave us the impression that he wasn’t just that fucked up.

For now, we’d adopted an “if we don’t see it, it’s not a problem” attitude.

Kai sat with the pill in his hand, staring at Damon, and then darted out, snatching the bag out of his hand.

Damon laughed, standing up and smoothing down his black jacket. “It was a joke,” he grumbled. “You really think I need to rape women?”

Kai stood up, slipping the bag into his breast pocket. “Well, you were in jail.”

“Oh, Jesus,” I breathed out, running my hand through my hair. “What the fuck is the matter with you?” I stared hard at Kai as Damon turned on him, as well, his jaw flexing and his black eyes ready to rip him apart.

But Kai didn’t back down. They stood head to head, both of them the same height, as they glared at each other.

“I didn’t rape her,” Damon gritted out.

I shook my head. Why the hell would Kai take a shot like that?

“We know that,” I answered for Kai, pushing Damon back.

The girl had been underage, and Damon had been nineteen. He shouldn’t have done it, but he hadn’t forced her, either.

Unfortunately, the law believed differently. Minors couldn’t consent to anything, and Damon had simply fucked up. But it wasn’t rape.

Kai stared at Damon and then faltered, dropping his eyes and taking shallow breaths. “Sorry,” he said under his breath. “I’m just on edge.”

I was glad he’d noticed.