Beautiful Liar (The Reed Rivers Trilogy 2)

“Reed, come on, man. You’re cock-blocking me.”

Damn straight, I am.

I lead him around a corner and into an empty hallway and whirl around.

“Do not hit on the Rock ‘n’ Roll reporter.”

He shakes me off him. “She’s hot as hell.”

“She’s hands-off.”

“Who says?”

I pause. Fuck. I promised Georgie. “She’s here to do a job. Not to get hit on. I promised her boss nobody would hit on her.”

He scoffs. “I think we should let her decide if she wants to get hit on or not.”

“Go find the other writer. Her name is Zasu. She’s been assigned to do your interview.”

“Georgie and I have great chemistry. And we already have the whole thing figured out.”

“You’re doing an interview with Zasu. It’s not a request.”

He leans his shoulder against the wall of the hallway. “You want Georgina for yourself, don’t you?”

“My motivations don’t matter. The only thing you need to know is the owner of your label is telling you she’s off-limits. Now, go find Zasu.”

He pulls out a cigarette and slips it into his mouth. “Got a light?”

“No.”

He pulls the cigarette out of his mouth, winks at me, and saunters out of the room, throwing over his shoulder. “You’re too old for her, anyway, man. She’s only twenty-one.”

Fuck.

I run my palm through my hair and take a deep breath and leave the hallway.

Quickly, I spot Henn at one of the bars with Hannah, Josh, and Kat, so I beeline over there.

“Old Man Rivers!” Josh calls out when he sees me. He’s been calling me that nickname since our college days, but, in this particular moment, I’m not amused.

“Don’t call me that tonight. And order me a shot of tequila.”

Not surprisingly, everyone but preggers Kat enthusiastically joins me in doing a shot. After which, I lean into Henn’s shoulder. “Have you gotten access to his devices yet?”

Henn rolls his eyes. “Not since you asked me about it at the pool this afternoon.”

“Why hasn’t the bastard clicked on any of your phishing emails yet?”

“Sometimes, these things take time. But don’t worry. There are other ways to skin this cat. I’ll focus on it first thing Monday morning, once Hazel’s party is behind me.”

“Can you work on it tomorrow before Hazel’s party? I’m going to explode if I don’t get the ball rolling on this as soon as possible, Henny. I need you to do this for my mental health.”

“Who is this guy?”

I pause, weighing how much I can divulge to my best friend without feeling like I’m betraying Georgina’s confidence. Henn is one of two people in the world—the other being Josh—I trust completely. One of two people who get me completely. And, besides all that, if I expect Henn, a white hat hacker, to use his superpowers to completely destroy someone, I’m going to have to convince him he’s using his superpowers for good.

“This is confidential.”

“Of course.”

“Not even Hannah, Henn.”

“I understand.”

I pause. “Gates was Georgie’s teacher in high school. Her senior year, he pinned her arms behind her back and kissed her against her will. He tried to rape her, but she ran away screaming.”

“Holy shit.”

My heart is pounding. My blood simmering. “It fucked her up, Henn. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but she’s traumatized.”

“Understandably. There’s so much that’s wrong about all that. I don’t even know where to begin.”

“I want to destroy him, Henny. Well, actually, what I really want to do is strangle the life out of him with my bare hands. But since I don’t want to go to prison, I’ll settle for ending life as he knows it.”

Henn’s jaw sets. “I’m on it. I’m pretty drunk right now, and I’ve got Hazel’s party to deal with tomorrow. But I’ll get access as soon as possible.”

“Thanks, brother. I don’t know how much longer I can keep myself from driving to the Valley and handling him myself.”

“Don’t do that.” He pats my shoulder. “Have a drink. Actually, have several.”

“I already have.”

“Have some more.”

He turns to the bartender and orders a gin and tonic for me, just as the Fantastic Four, as they call themselves—Aloha and her husband, Zander, and Keane Morgan and his wife, Maddy—reach the bar where my group is standing.

“No, I haven’t talked to Georgina yet,” Aloha says to me, before I’ve said a word. “We’ve been dancing.”

“Well, chop, chop.”

“Okay, okay.” But when the DJ starts playing “Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max, Aloha shrieks and pulls Maddy, Hannah, and Kat to the dance floor.

When the ladies are gone, Henn addresses Zander and Keane. “Hey, do either of you have any weed on you? Reed needs to take the edge off.”

“Are there dicks in gay porn?” Keane says, holding up a joint.

“Do me a favor and take Reed onto the patio to smoke that thing. He needs something more than a gin and tonic to keep some homicidal thoughts he’s having under wraps.”