Sweet Poisons (Pretty Lies, Ugly Truths Duets Book 1) Read online

  Another objection was about to spill from my mouth but one look at Em’s face had me hesitating. “You really want to go?”

  She lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, thumbing the blanket she’d placed over her legs. “I need a different scenery. Something out of the norm for once.”

  For once.

  It was just as I thought in the kitchen. I could do this same routine day in and day out for the rest of my life. Wanting more was irrelevant. My way of life served a purpose and I didn’t like change, which was probably half the reason I would never be more than what I was now.

  “You guys should go together.”

  “We want you to come too,” Annika stressed.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  I already knew I would be attending for Em’s sake. She wouldn’t go if I didn’t. I could be a good girl and suffer through one party for her.

  CHAPTER THREE

  RHETT

  My phone buzzed, the preview box showing a winking emoji from Annika. She seemed even more determined than usual to get my attention. After getting what I wanted out of her, I hadn’t replied to any of her other messages so who the fuck knows what kind of one-sided conversation she was having.

  “Uh, oh. She hit you with that triple-text,” Callum joked.

  “And that’s why she’s being ignored.” I deleted all the extra correspondences without bothering to read them, tossing my phone lightly onto the sandstone countertop.

  Had she not been a friend of the girl I was interested in I’d never have given her any of my attention at all. I already knew too much about her, none of it good.

  I could hear Evie, Angel, and Tripp fucking around by the lake, music floating up from the surround system that ran around the dock.

  “You gonna tell me what your plan is with Nova?”

  “Depends.”

  “On?” he asked, loading another bottle of liquor into the freezer.

  “The only reason I hit up Annika was because I had to. Nova would never willingly hand her number out.”

  “She gave you her name,” he countered, always trying to be the voice of reason. Something about positive energy or some shit.

  “We already knew her name.”

  “True. But now you’ve seen her. That must count for something. If shit else, we know her sense of fashion is slick.”

  “I know you’re not talking about those weird ass unicorn shorts.”

  He glanced at me feigning confusion. “What else would I be talking about?”

  I crossed my arms and stared at him. “Finish loading the fucking freezer.”

  He didn’t bother to hide his cool smirk as he turned back around. Yeah, he knew exactly what I was referring to. A blind man would. Nova was beautiful, blessed with the kind of beauty that couldn’t easily be put into words. She wasn’t overly tall, maybe five-four. Her skin was a pale bronze, straight, silk-like dark brown hair that hung almost to her waist. And she obviously had no issues showing off her body.

  Her nipples were damn near waving white flags and calling for everyone’s attention.

  That tank-top she’d had on was like a second skin on her, tucked into those strange shorts that hugged a perfectly round ass, it would have been impossible not to notice her. For a man like me, that would eventually be a problem.

  Scratch that, it was already a problem because I didn’t have the same way of thinking as everyone else and explaining my logic would get me smacked with a label of insanity. Before I worked myself up over literally fucking nothing, I took a page from Callum’s book and focused on the positive.

  She had told me her name. Already knowing it was irrelevant. There was a lot you could learn about someone the moment they told you their name. Most people didn’t realize that was all a guy like me needed. I traded that small piece of their identity for an entire profile within forty-eight hours.

  It was kind of my thing, piecing people together, uncovering all the shit they wanted to remain hidden.

  Nova wasn’t any different, but at the same time she was. It was complicated. A buzzing sound erupted through the kitchen, bringing me back to the present and sending my cell spinning in a circle.

  Callum and I both glanced down at the screen, sharing a look when we saw who it was.

  “Finally.” I grabbed the phone and walked to the other side of the kitchen. “Hey, what’s up?” I answered, flicking on the outside deck lights.

  “I got a name for ya. Someone I need you to go see.”

  “Give me a second.” I reached back and waved my hand to get Callum’s attention, placing the call on speaker. “Go head.”

  “Six-zero-seven-nine, Prescott Drive. The man inside is Martin Reedsy.”

  “Got it,” Callum said.

  I motioned for him to shut the freezer and headed for the front door, snagging my keys off the island. “What are we going for?”

  “There’s a laptop and a flash drive. Collect both.”

  “Alright.” I stepped outside, inhaling a deep breath of nature. “And Martin?”

  “Send him my best.”

  “Got it. We’re heading out now.”

  “Okay,” he murmured. “You alright out there? Ya need anything?”

  “Everything’s good, we’re all good.”

  When I didn’t hear anything, I imagined him nodding and stroking his chin. As far as parents went, I knew I’d been more fortunate than others. My father wasn’t a good man. His hands stayed dirty, as did most of the families, but he loved his kids and my mother his wife. I could be proud of who he was based on those facts alone.

  I turned slightly when a whoop rang out, just in time to see Tripp's naked, tattooed ass running down the dock and cannon balling into the air. I laughed under my breath, shaking my head.

  “I’ll call you when it’s done.” We said goodbye just as I reached my pick-up, Callum a few steps behind me.

  It took an hour to reach the side of town Martin Reedsy lived on. His nearest neighbor was a mile or so down the road, which worked out perfectly for us. I parked the truck a few yards away from his driveway and killed the engine.

  I was more than ready to go in and do what we did best.

  Sitting idle for long of periods of time always fucked with my mental. I needed to stay busy. My adrenaline was boiling, but you’d never know it.

  We pulled on ski masks, leather gloves, and made sure all our tats were covered. The facial disguise was cliché as fuck, an ode to all the criminals in movies and scare tactic that had yet to be outdated. Being seen was never a concern, not when we didn’t leave anyone alive.

  “You think he’s in there alone?” Callum asked, passing me my piece.

  I checked the chamber to ensure it was loaded, and then popped open my door. “We’re about to find out.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  RHETT

  We used the darkness to our advantage, creeping along with the shadows, past a sleek town car--straight up to the ranch style house.

  The television was on, I could hear it through the back door. Other than that, there wasn’t any sound coming from inside. I clutched my piece in one hand, motioning to Callum to move up so that he was in front of me. Angel was usually the one who broke us into wherever we needed to be, but our group had learned this skill years ago.

  “Yo, it’s not locked,” he said lowly.

  That surprised me. This guy lived in the middle of nowhere, which was even more reason to lock his damn door.

  Not to mention the people he was involved with. My father, for instance.

  “Go quietly.”

  He nodded, turning the doorknob slowly. There was a faint squeak, muffled by the TV. We stepped into a round mudroom, able to see all the way down a hall leading to where the sound was coming from.

  Callum took the lead. I shut the door and followed behind him, scanning the kitchen and dining area off to our left. Everything had a well-polished vintage look to it. You could tell that whoever lived here had done well for themselves. Well
enough that they wouldn’t forget to lock up at night. I knew something wasn’t right. My lifestyle gave me a certain awareness of things and shit being off was one of them.

  At the end of the hall the space expanded into a living area and the staircase that led upstairs.

  As per usual, my instincts didn’t disappoint.

  “Oh, this fucking sucks. He’s already dead.” Callum lowered his gun and walked around to the front of the sofa, nudging Martin’s body with his boot. I knew he was genuinely disappointed. Callum lived for the kill, whereas I did it as a necessary part of my job. He had a thing for taking lives. Giving him the opportunity to make a mess of someone was like telling a kid Christmas had come early.

  I went to stand beside him, studying Martin’s lopsided corpse. He had already gone stiff, which meant he’d been dead a couple of hours.

  “Man, look at him,” Callum laughed.

  “He definitely pissed someone off,” I agreed. “Someone other than my father.”

  I noted the bruising on his throat and the blood splattered all over what had once been a beige sofa.

  “What are you thinking?” Callum asked.

  I took another look at Martin’s face. Both sides were swollen and damn near disfigured. His left cheek had been split open entirely, leaving a gaping gash. And his head. The upper temple had been smashed in, exposing a piece of his skull.

  Stepping backward, I turned slowly so that I could take in the room. “There.” I pointed to a bag of golf clubs that were propped against the side of an entertainment center.

  “Set of twelve,” Callum stated.

  “Exactly. And as you see there’s only eleven.” I gestured towards the front door. “That’s not locked either. No sign of a struggle. Whoever got here before us, he knew em. Trusted them enough to let them in his house and not expect to be killed.”

  “Who, though? Look at him, bro.”

  “That’s the million-dollar question.”

  “Well, someone it was clearly someone that wasn’t happy with Mr. Reedsy. Wife maybe? She’s obviously not here.”

  The person responsible for this made sure he felt death breathing down the back of his neck. Bashing his head was how the suffering ended, not how it began. The way he’d been beaten guaranteed internal bleeding. As he bled out externally, he would have begun to lose oxygen, at the same time his lungs filling with blood.

  I glanced at a picture of him and his wife hanging on the wall and shook my head. “Nah, not her. She’s either dead upstairs somewhere or hasn’t been home yet, for whatever reason. Legacy Falls is a small town, we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, look for a laptop and some kind of flash drive. Let’s try not to be here when wifey comes home.”

  Callum took upstairs, I took down.

  Ten minutes into searching I found an office that ran off the dining room. Sitting right out in the open on what I assumed was Martin’s desk, was a laptop.

  A few quick keystrokes confirmed it was password protected. Since hacking was Tripp’s area of expertise digging through it would have to wait. I crouched and unplugged its power cord, pausing when I heard the engine of a car coming up the driveway.

  I pushed down the face of the screen and moved back towards the kitchen. The sound of a door slamming shut had me pressing my back against the wall.

  Callum’s boots thudded against the stairs, him returning to the living room.

  When I heard someone enter the same way we had, I knew Mrs. Reedsy had finally arrived. She breezed right past the dining room, not so much as glancing inside. I suppose I couldn’t fault her for that. Not too many people expected strangers to be inside their home. She was dragging a suitcase behind her, which explained why she’d been gone long enough for her husband to turn into a statue of rigor mortis.

  Her scream cut off Callum’s casual greeting. Seeing Martin’s disfigured form, and my cousin waiting on the stairs sent her running in the direction she’d come from, abandoning her suitcase. Brown eyes damn near popped out of their sockets when I moved from the dining room to block her path.

  She attempted to dart around me, still screaming at the top of her lungs.

  I slipped my gun into the back of my waistband and grabbed hold of her shoulders, slamming her into the nearest wall. I pinned her there with my forearm, pressing against her throat.

  “Please, don’t,” she choked out, trembling so badly that she lost control of her bladder. I smelled the piss before I saw it, running down her legs’ and drenching her skirt and stockings.

  “It’s nothing personal,” I assured her, pulling my gun back out. She began to struggle, pointlessly. When her mouth opened again, I jammed the butt of my Colt inside it and pulled the trigger.

  Her body jerked, the bullet tearing through the back of her throat, leaving skin in shredded flaps as it found a home in the drywall. I stepped back and watched her sink to the floor, smearing blood on the way down.

  “You find anything?” Callum asked, eyeing her body.

  I pocketed my gun. “The laptop. You?”

  “Nothing.”

  I’ll toss the office and search Martin for the flash drive. I don’t think we’ll have any more visitors. Do one last sweep upstairs, and then we can trash it.”

  He nodded and headed for the staircase, leaving me to handle the lower level.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  NOVA

  What the hell was I doing here?

  Why had I agreed to this?

  Parties weren’t fun for me. They were the induction to a new level of hell. On a Saturday night I’d have much rather been at home with a close friend and a drink, watching re-runs of The Walking Dead.

  It was too late to go back, though. Literally. Some dickhead in a Hummer parked right behind me, pulling so close to my rear bumper that if I let my car reverse an inch, I’d hit theirs.

  “You can do this Nova,” Emery soothed, patting my shoulder gently.

  “We’re going to a party, not off to war,” Annika scoffed.

  “Remind me why I let her ride with us?”

  “Because you’re a good person?”

  Yeah, I wasn’t going to respond to that. The flashy colors of a letterman jacket caught my attention as the person that had parked behind me past by my widow.

  “I had economics with him.”

  “Ian Winters?” Emery asked.

  “Yep.” I popped my lips on the p.

  He glanced at my car, doing a double take when it clicked whose it was.

  “If you wanted to sneak in here discreetly, we should’ve taken your Genesis.”

  I bit down on my inner cheek and thrust open my door, getting out before I dove in the back seat and strangled one of my best-friends despite her being right. Everyone in Legacy Falls knew this car. I was the only one who drove a restored 69 Z-Camaro.

  I looped the chain of my lip shaped purse across my chest and waited for the girls. Looking in the direction we’d have to walk I was glad I’d gone with my lace-y combat boots instead of the flats like Annika had suggested. She was going to have a hell of a time walking this long ass driveway in heels.

  “Ready?” Emery asked.

  “Let’s do this,” I said with forced enthusiasm. No matter how badly I didn’t want to be here, I wasn’t going to ruin their night.

  The three of us began walking up the smooth drive, passing a concerning number of cars. Some of them were double parked.

  “Jesus. Did he invite everyone in town?”

  “Do you know how many people have wanted to see this place?” Annika questioned.

  “Actually, I hadn’t really considered that.” Until now, I silently added.

  “You know how many people kiss ass in this town,” Emery stated. “And what this place was listed at.”

  They both had equally valid points. The Westfield Lodge was a 10-acre waterfront estate, sitting on what looked like a small island since it was surrounded by Legacy Lake. To buy it meant Rhett had money or came from money, basically the same thing
to people around here.

  Even I had to admit I was curious what the place looked like. It was private and secluded, no one had ever been allowed to venture onto the property without risking a hefty fine.

  Spill-lights positioned in between all the trees guided our way. We hit the halfway point and could hear the party was already in full swing. Pretty sure it was J Cole’s voice blasting through the air and disturbing the all the night critters’ peace.

  By time we reached the end I was biting at the inside of my lower lip and had crossed my arms in front of my chest.

  The cabin loomed up like a fortress, massive and shining from all interior and exterior lighting. On the far right of the drive was a three car garage the size of a small barn, both cars I’d seen the night before in front of it. People lingered everywhere. On the upper deck, down by the lake, around a raging fire-pit.

  Emery nudged my arm and gestured down her front. “How do I look?”

  She was wearing a simple pair of high-waisted shorts and a black crop top, hair in a flawless fishtail that I had no patience to try and achieve.

  “You look as amazing as you always do,” I reassured.

  “Thanks,” she beamed. “So, where to first? Inside, the dock, the fire…?”

  We came to a slow halt and I looked around. They both stared waiting for me to answer. I didn’t want to go to any of those places. I wanted to find an alcove and hide, remain on the outside as an observer like I always did. I was good at being that quiet girl in a corner. The one who seemed oblivious to her surroundings but was actually listening to every conversation going on around me.

  “After that drive I need to find a bathroom, stat.”

  “Okay, inside then.”

  “Em. I think I can manage using the restroom on my own. You have your phones on you? I’ll text when I’m done. Go have some fun. Drink as much as you want, I’m your D-D.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “She’ll be fine. Let’s go, you’re coming with me.” Annika grabbed her arm and began leading her away.

  I didn’t stand around to watch where they were going. I wandered into the house, right through the double wide front doors that had someone had propped open. The space was even bigger than as I expected, cedar ceilings so ridiculously high I couldn’t imagine changing the lightbulbs.