Dulce

14

“Iwas sent undercover to gather as much information as I could on your father,” I tell them once we all get dressed.

Hunter sits beside me on the floor, our backs to the sofa as Griffen walks toward us.

“So, you are an informant?” Hunter frowns, his fingers running through his hair.

“No, I’m not. I’m not a good guy, so don’t sit here thinking I am. I mean, I don’t hurt innocent people, but—”

“But you do hurt people who aren’t,” Griff finishes before handing us each a bottle of water and sitting in the chair opposite.

“Yes. I’m sorry. I know I’m not who you thought I was. I’m not that girl. I never was.”

“Who are you then, exactly?” Hunter asks, trailing his fingers up my leg.

“I’m a lot of things, but I guess killer for hire is the most accurate.”

Hunter’s fingers pause near my knee for a moment before resuming their path.

“You kill people?” I’m not sure I like the sound of disbelief in Griff’s voice, which is stupid.

“Yes”

“You’ve killed people before.”

“That’s usually what being a killer means, Griff.” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

“How many?”

“Griff,” Hunter warns him, but Griff won’t be deterred.

“How many?”

“Are you asking me how many people I’ve fucked or how many people I’ve buried? Because I’ll be honest, you won’t like either answer.”

He stands and starts pacing. I watch him as Hunter presses a kiss to my shoulder.

“Just give him a minute. It’s a lot for him to take in.”

“You seem to be doing okay with it.” I’m surprised because of the two, he owes me nothing.

“I’m not the one you lied to. Not the one whose father you slept with, not the—”

“Yep, okay, I got it. Thank you.”

He chuckles as Griffen walks back over.

“I don’t want to know. I’ll lose my mind in the details, and none of it matters anymore. Did you plan to kill my father?” He swallows.

“No. I would have if I had to, and I wouldn’t have lost a wink of sleep over it, but that’s not what my primary aim was. I needed information. Your father was linked to a large sex trafficking ring. I’m sure you’ve figured out the kind of man he is now that he’s in prison, but what he went down for was a fraction of his crimes. A lot of girls are lost now because I failed to get the information from him.”

Griffen’s eyes close, a pained expression on his face. A frisson of worry passes through me.

“Oh God. Do you, I mean, are you and your dad still—”

He snarls at me. “If you’re asking if we still have a relationship, the answer is no. Fuck no. We barely had one before all this shit came out. It was all for show. I kept his secrets. He kept mine.”

My eyes widen. “What secrets?” I whisper.

“He doesn’t tell the world I like guys. That my own mother was so sickened by me that she tried to drown the demon out of me in the bathtub before slitting her wrists.”

“Griff,” I choke, reaching for him, but he pulls away.

“There is nothing wrong with me. I know that now, but back then…” He shakes his head.

“High school kids can be fucking monsters. I knew what they’d say, the shit they would pull. My parents should have told me everything would be okay, to love myself bullshit, but they just reinforced every shitty thing I felt about myself.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him softly, meaning it. My heart bleeds for what he went through.

He drops back into the chair and laughs, but it’s an ugly sound that hurts my heart.

It must hurt Hunter too because he gets to his feet and walks over to Griff.

“My mom tried to exorcise the demon out of me. My father tried to fuck it out of me.”

Hunter crowds him, not touching him but staying close, just in case.

Griff seems oblivious as he lifts his head, and his wet eyes connect with mine. “So yeah, there was no relationship between me and my dad. Nothing but the masks we wore as we coexisted inside the house of cards he built our lives upon.”

I get to my knees and crawl toward him, kneeling at his feet.

“It was the best day of my life when he got arrested. I’d gotten my GED online. I only went to classes because of you and Hunter. The day they arrested him, I never went back. I waited for you to come talk to me or break up with me or something. I don’t know. I was going to tell you everything, but you never came home.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t think you’d want me anymore. Not once you knew the truth. And well, you wanted Everly. Being her killed a little something inside me because the boy I was falling for was falling in love with another girl.”