Lies That Sinners Tell (The Klutch Duet 1)

“Get out your phone, and I’ll put my number in it,” I said.

She did as I asked, handing me a phone with a bright pink glitter case and a cracked screen. I put my number in before I handed it back to her.

“You can call me any time, okay?” I reached out to squeeze her hand. “If you need anything. Or if you just want to talk about Christmas movies.”

She grinned weakly.

“Time to go,” Karson said, interrupting the moment. I was glad, since I wasn’t sure how much longer I could look at Diane’s bruised face without bursting in to tears.

“Okay,” Diane replied, straightening her shoulders, gathering her strength. She turned her attention back to me. “Thank you, Stella. For everything. It means so much.”

Tears prickled the backs of my eyes, but I blinked them away. “Just remember you’re not alone.”

She nodded and then dutifully walked to Karson. “Thank you, Mr. Helmick,” she said quietly, not looking at him.

Jay didn’t respond. Didn’t give her his attention. Or any form of kindness. He just continued staring at me. I ignored him and watched Karson lead Diane out of the kitchen.

“Bedroom. Now,” Jay commanded the moment Karson and Diane left.

Though I should’ve fought that, fought him, I didn’t. I didn’t say anything, didn’t ask any kind of question. I just ... went.

My heartbeat increased rapidly with every step and was roaring in my ears by the time I made it to the bedroom.

“You didn’t listen to me,” Jay said quietly as he closed the door.

My entire body was shaking as he turned to face me. I didn’t speak. Instead, I retreated as he advanced on me, and didn’t stop until my back hit the wall. Jay didn’t stop until he caged me in. Fear crept over my skin, ice cold like the look in Jay’s eye. Like the situation I’d just been in.

Apart from the early years in my life, I hadn’t experienced any kind of violence. I’d been lucky. Sheltered. No boyfriends had hit me, even gotten a little too rough. I hadn’t got in so much as a catfight. Primarily because I was smart enough to know that I was never going to win a catfight.

It did not escape me that since Jay had come in to my life, I’d experienced more darkness and danger than I ever had. Despite the fact I knew nothing about him, not really, I knew his life was dangerous, violent. Because no matter how nice he dressed, no matter what kind of mansion he lived in, he was firmly planted in the underworld. Was never going to leave it. Not going to ascend in to some normal life for me. Or any woman. And he was going to drag me down in to it, the longer I stayed here.

I asked myself why I was still there, why I walked back to this room instead of out the front door. But no matter the answer, it was too late now that I was pressed against the wall by a man I was afraid of.

His lips hovered over the shell of my ear, his warm breath sending shivers down to my toes. “I told you what was going to happen if you tried to insert yourself in to my life. My business,” he murmured.

I jutted my chin up, refusing to look away from his intimidating stare. “I wasn’t aware that your business consisted of bleeding and beaten women,” I spat.

“You should’ve walked away,” he gritted out. “Now you’ve put yourself in danger.”

It wasn’t clear if I was in danger from whatever outside forces had created this situation or from the man in front of me. Or if those were one in the same.

“The world is a dangerous place,” I whispered. “Not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

Something moved in Jay’s eyes. Something minuscule. Yet something pivotal for him. Emotion. “Einstein. Smart man.” His fingers worked themselves around my neck. He didn’t exert any pressure, just laid them there, in warning. “You’re a smart woman, Stella. Yet compassion, goodness. Those are not things demonstrated by smart people. Because they know that such things could end in ruin.”

I swallowed, the movement tightening Jay’s fingers ever so slightly. “I would rather be ruined than do nothing,” I contended in a whisper.

He tilted his head ever so slightly. “You already are.”

I didn’t speak. Didn’t argue with him. He was right.

“I made it clear that this arrangement ended when you found out things I didn’t want you to know,” Jay continued after a long, heavy minute of silence.

“I don’t know anything,” I hissed at him. “All I know is that you have a job that involves terrified, bleeding women being in your kitchen at three in the morning. I know that that girl is going to be scarred for life. And that you were involved in that somehow. So your threats to end this aren’t really hitting hard because I don’t even know if I still want to be in this.”