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“Quentin, don’t do this.”
“Tell me what?” My voice had risen to an ear-shattering level, but Q continued to stare down Lake, who stood with her feet braced and her fists clenched. She looked ready to do battle. I was used to her running.
Q finally met my stare and steeled his jaw. “Lake didn’t kill Mitch. I did.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dash inch closer to me. Keenan pushed Lake and Sheldon behind him and braced, but I hadn’t moved.
“The fuck did you just say?”
“Kennedy is upstairs,” Keenan cautioned. I ignored him and grilled Q with only my gaze. It didn’t take him long to start talking when it became apparent Lake wouldn’t.
“The day you left with Fitzgerald to secure a deal, the hold on my leave was pushed through. I figured it was too late to call so I just dropped by. You were already gone, but I caught Lake leaving. She looked…off.” He cast a quick glance her way and rubbed a hand across his nape. “I followed her to campus and waited. She didn’t stay long, but she headed out of town right after so I followed her to Summit. I hung back at first and called you to give you a report, but I couldn’t get through to you.”
Fuck, I remembered the missed call that day. When I called him back later, he said nothing about Summit. He’d fucking lied to me.
“She snuck in the back. I followed. It took me a while to track her, but I got there just in time. She—she was going to kill him, man. I stopped her. Whatever he’d been feeding her had pissed her off enough to kill him.”
He was wrong. She had gone there to kill him. Whatever she learned while there was just an added bonus.
I focused on Lake now who stared back at me with unapologetic eyes. She knew I knew, and she didn’t seem to care. I counted the lies and promised to pay her back for every one of them.
“He’s who you were protecting all this time? He’s why you keep lying to me?” I hadn’t realized I was closing in on her until Keenan stepped in my path, completely blocking her from me. “Move.”
“You’re out of line.”
“I won’t ask you again.”
“Then I’ll put you down.”
I struggled over my next move because I could tell he was serious. The last thing Keenan and I needed was another reason to fight, but I wouldn’t let anyone keep me from her.
“No one’s fighting,” Dash ordered. He came to stand in front of me, blocking Keenan and Lake from my direct line of vision. “You need to talk this out, but only if Lake is willing.” He held my gaze until I nodded and then he turned. “Lake, do you want to go with him?”
“Yes.” Her voice was small and hesitant. I could tell she was grasping for strength, but her true nature was to submit and she would. I’d see to it if only to keep her safe.
Dash nodded and Keenan moved, also hesitantly. Lake was acting on her own, and my brother was taking orders from Dash now. I began to realize none of them trusted me to do the right thing—to stay rational and act in everyone’s best interest.
Did I even trust me?
Five years had passed, but my past was still very much a part of my present. Maybe it always would be. Maybe I was fighting a losing battle, I thought as Lake came to stand by my side.
She looked up at me with wary eyes, and I stared back down at her wondering what I would do to her before taking her hand and leading her to the stairs.
Before I disappeared with my secretive girlfriend, I met Q’s watchful gaze. I managed to refrain from killing him, but I wasn’t through with him. I knew when I was outnumbered, and Kennedy didn’t deserve another traumatic experience. She loved the lying motherfucker.
I dragged Lake back upstairs because I didn’t know what else to do. Once we were safely inside, I slammed the door and trapped her against it.
“What—”
I gripped her lips a little too roughly. Her skin would bruise, and I relished the idea of seeing her soft skin affected by me. “No more lies. I’m losing control.” It sounded like a plea because only she could keep me together, but if I broke… I wasn’t sure I could be pieced back together.
“You know it all.”
“Do I?”
She nodded and squealed when I slammed my forearms on the door on either side of her head. “You led me—you led everyone—to believe Mitch was still out there, all to feed your lie. I don’t even know who the fuck you are!” I breathed her in and stole her ragged breath. Her chest heaved against my own. I needed to get closer. I wanted to intimidate her. To make her yield so I wouldn’t feel as if I was losing her.
