Cruel Lies (Lies 4)

They look like a happy couple.

Phoenix smirks at me.

I know, you won. He’s yours. Take him, I don’t want him.

It’s all a lie. I’ve never wanted a man more than Langston. But even if Phoenix wasn’t in the picture, I could never really have him. I’m the huntress. I have to continue hunting. I’ve spent my whole life hunting for something that I’m not even sure can be found. And Langston, despite all his faults, is a good man. He doesn’t deserve to be dragged down into my despair.

I cut my eyes away from them and dash into the bathroom. I can breathe again as soon as I shut the door. But I know the feeling is only temporary. I relieve myself and am trying to comb through my hair when there’s a knock at the door.

“Stop hogging the bathroom. Some of us need to pee, you know,” Phoenix says.

Stop being such a pussy, I tell myself before I slap a smile on my face and walk out of the bathroom, past a waiting Phoenix.

“It’s all yours,” I say.

She steps inside, leaving Langston and me alone.

“Huntress, it’s not—”

“You were with your wife last night. I understand. I’m going to make some coffee.”

He frowns but doesn’t try to explain himself. It’s obvious he slept in her room last night instead of the untouched couch. I don’t need to know any more details than that.

I refuse to feel jealous as I make the coffee in the small kitchenette area. But the banging I’m making betrays me.

Finally, I finish pouring four cups of coffee.

“Four? Really?” Langston asks.

“Yes, Maxwell gets a cup too.”

Langston rolls his eyes.

“Go get him, now.”

His lips thin into a single line. For a moment, I think he’s going to argue with me, but then he turns and disappears into the bedroom.

He reappears with Maxwell still tied up. He sits him down in one of the living room chairs and then grabs a knife from the kitchen to release his bindings before handing him a cup of coffee.

Maxwell smiles at me as he takes the cup of coffee, knowing this was my doing.

Langston pulls a gun out from the waistband of his boxers.

“If you move, I’ll shoot you dead with pleasure,” Langston says, casually lifting his cup of coffee to his lips.

“Noted,” Maxwell says, drinking his own coffee.

We all sit in the living room in an awkward silence as we drink our coffees. Maxwell in a single chair. Langston and Phoenix are sharing the small loveseat. And me sitting in the other single chair.

“What did I miss?” Maxwell asks, looking between the three of us.

“Nothing. What’s the plan?” I look to Langston.

“Oh, now you’re going to discuss plans with me? I thought you just made plans on your own,” he shoots back.

I sigh. “I have no problem deciding, if you’d rather.”

“Will you two stop? The sooner we figure out how to work together, the sooner we can never see each other again,” Phoenix says.