Page 100 of Rough Hard Fierce (Chicago Underground 1-3)
I looked up at Colin. He towered over me, chest heaving, eyes flashing.
“You still think I did this,” I whispered.
“I don’t care,” he said, the acid in his voice burning me anew. “It’s not safe for you. Just go.”
“Did you do this?” I stood and listed to the side, where he caught me. “Did you leave me in there to die?”
“Then why would I get you out?”
“I don’t know,” I asked, my voice breaking in fits and starts, like the worst case of puberty. “A change of heart, maybe?”
“I didn’t know it would be you,” he said, looking me straight in the eye. “When I called home and that neighbor picked up, I came here.” So he hadn’t meant to kill me, not exactly. It was a test, one I’d failed. Not for the reasons he thought, though. I’d come for him.
“Colin,” I said. “You have to believe me. I didn’t do it. I didn’t tell the cops about this—”
“Don’t.” He looked offended.
“I’m not lying! That money wasn’t from them. They were together—it was just a coincidence. They came around a couple times, but I just gave them a fake address.”
“Philip said someone broke into his study.”
I had to tell the truth. He’d know it if I lied. Besides, not telling Colin the truth was what had gotten me into this in the first place. I had to trust him. I’d trust him to keep me safe with the truth. If he wasn’t what I thought, I was fucked anyway. “I did that. I went into his study. The cops said they’d arrest me or take Bailey away if I didn’t help them. So I found out about this drop, but I didn’t tell the cop, I swear. And they were going to tell you about—well, I met with Andrew. That’s where I got the money. I wanted to ask him to leave Bailey and me alone, and he did. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just didn’t want to fuck it up, but that’s the truth. That’s the whole fucking truth. I swear it, okay?”
He said nothing.
“I swear it on Bailey’s life.”
I implored him with my eyes, hoping I didn’t look quite as out of my mind as I felt. It would also have helped if I could have made out his face, but my vision was still fuzzy for anything more than a foot away.
“Do you believe me?” My voice cracked.
Colin’s harsh breath sawed through the night. “Yes.”
“Forgive me?” I whispered.
He nodded shortly.
“How kind of him.” I heard Philip’s voice and looked over to see his leaning form against a concrete wall. “But that’s only fair, considering he was keeping secrets for far longer.”
Chapter Five
“Shut the fuck up,” Colin growled.
“I told you to tell her yourself,” Philip said, his tone bloated with pleasant inevitability.
“Another word and I’ll quit,” Colin said. “Don’t test me.”
Even though I knew it was in Philip’s best interest to stir up trouble between us, I couldn’t help but ask, “What are you talking about?”
Philip smiled, the cat got the cream. “Didn’t you ever wonder how you ended up with him that night? A man so ready to take on your baggage, almost as if he’d already known.”
Colin’s low, rumbling response reminded me of a dog I’d once seen chained to the front of a broken-down house. It sounded like fear.
“Colin?” I asked.
“Ignore him,” Colin ground out.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered, waiting for him to say Philip was crazy, that he was wrong, but Colin just stood there, glaring impotent wrath at his brother.
