Get Out

DARIAN

Luke snatched the phone from my hand and barked, “Don’t come,” before hanging up.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, furious. He hauled me back toward the desk and put distance between me and Belinda.

“Bro, it’s safer if she stays with you,” Luke said.

“Why the hell should she stay with me? Pay her debt and get lost!” I was ready to be rid of her. Better to pay and be done with it than invite trouble into my life.

“This might be bigger than we think. It’s not small money. The loan sharks have threatened — and she appears married to you. God forbid something happens to her, our name could get dragged into it. That won’t be good for business,” he tried to reason. Working for the state and higher-ups meant our operation required discretion. But what did a fake marriage have to do with any of this?

“And maybe this crazy woman hunting you will see she’s married and stop trying to trap you!”

Hearing him mention that psycho just made me angrier.

“Seems like all crazy people find me,” I snapped. “What the hell? Does some spyware live on me or what?”

I ran my fingers through my hair, tense.

While Luke kept feeding me lines meant to calm me, Belinda’s voice cut through.

“Also our husband is very handsome, Paspas!” she chirped.

I froze on the plural. Paspas? Who was Paspas?

I glanced toward the corner where the woman sat. When did she sneak a cat inside the building?

All three of us looked, and she reddened.

“My cat is Paspas!” she announced, pointing.

“Great name,” Marcus laughed.

“Fuck off,” I muttered, edgy.

“The cat even looks like you. Grumpy eyebrows,” Luke teased.

“I’ll fuck the cat up,” I shot back.

“My looks are fine!” she retorted, mocking me even as the tension clung to my skin.

“If I drew eyebrows on my ass it’d look better than you!” I snapped.

“True,” Belinda said without shame as she scanned me head to toe. What kind of lunatic was this?

I rubbed my face like I was trying to scrape it off.

“Will you shut up?” I snapped. She threatened me and jabbed at every subject. She seemed to have already dismissed the fake-husband thing and that made me even more suspicious.

“Look, if she files a case it’ll be trouble. Until your name is cleared, we’ll have problems,” Luke said in a low voice. “You know the things we’ve been tangled up in. Let’s not draw attention to ourselves for no reason. If people want to make our lives miserable, they’ll use her. It’ll be a disaster.”

The disaster was Belinda herself — if only they knew.

I pulled a chair with a snort and sat down. Belinda’s cat purred, asserting its presence.

“Where did the cat come from?” I asked, throwing her a look.

“It jumped in when the door was ajar!” she said.

“What’s it doing in the office?” I asked, impatient.

“I told you I was staying in a motel. Where else was I supposed to leave it?” She looked at me like I was an idiot.

God, give me patience.

I rubbed my face again like I was trying to remove it.

“Look,” she said with thin patience. “I’ve been waiting for minutes. I’m short, I get angry quickly. Will you make a decision already?”

She’d pushed my limit too. If she kept talking I’d throttle her.

I tried to calm down and find a middle ground.

“We’ll rent you a safe place to stay,” I offered. Better to keep her close so she wouldn’t cause trouble — and keep her away from our operation.

“I’m not going to die!” she sniffed, chin up, fingers stroking the cat. Watching her do that made me want to lose it.

“Is she trouble then?” I muttered. She was trouble: dangerously pretty and trouble in equal measure.

“The men want their money. I couldn’t even go to my friends to avoid dragging them into it. I’ve been living in a shitty motel,” she said.

Her lips — painted red — caught my eyes for a second.

“You won’t put your friends in danger, but you want to drag mine into it!” I snapped.

“You’re my husband!” she blurted, spinning my head like a top. Doubt gnawed deeper into me.

“You’re messing with me, huh? Or are you one of theirs? Did they send you in as a spy to trap us?”

“Are you insane? Who are you to threaten me? I wouldn’t volunteer to be threatened. I won’t marry a man I don’t know!”

“You don’t look like someone who married a stranger. You recovered from the shock quickly.”

“What do you want? Should I keep crying? Collapse? Will that fix everything?”

At least she wasn’t a constant sobber. That was something. I hated women who were always teary.

“If you’re involved, it’ll come out soon. Then no one will take you from me,” I threatened.

“It’s not like that,” she shrugged. “I don’t enjoy threatening people. I’m scared. The men pulled me off stage at my workplace,” she said, eyes huge. “I don’t feel safe.”

“What do you do for work?” I found myself asking. The word “stage” had caught my attention — and if she kept rambling about danger I’d personally throw her off the sixth floor.

“I sing. I’m the lead.”

For a fleeting second I pictured her singing on stage. It was ridiculous, but the image stuck. Irritating, and somehow… distracting.

“I can find you a gig,” I said, an idea forming. “I know a place — we can get you a job and a flat. Keep an eye on you.”

“No,” she said. “I can work, but I can’t live alone until those men are caught.”

“True,” Marcus agreed. “They won’t leave her alone.”

Were these two my enemies? What had gotten into them? Two hours ago they were defending a woman they barely knew.

“We’ll pay the debt, alright? What’s the problem?” I looked at my brothers who acted like my foes.

“Say we get her out of the loan shark’s hands. If we pursue this and the gang notices, they might come after the girl to silence her,” Luke said, always pragmatic.

He should keep his logic to himself. I didn’t need this trouble. I’d told her not to marry some unknown man — but what choice had she had?

“Only I’ll be in the flat with her,” Belinda said, displeased.

“Shut up, girl!” She kept jabbering my ear off for hours.

I turned back to Luke.

“I’ll stay with Marcus then — just until we track down the gang. Then she can get lost,” I said.

“I hear you,” Belinda said.

“Hear me, damn it,” I shouted. “So because of a fake marriage you become my wife, you want me to cradle you?”

“Do I look like someone looking for cuddles? Do you know how many people are after me? I won’t give myself to anyone who wants me!” she snapped.

“You seem pretty willing to give,” I replied.

Belinda scrunched her face and looked at Luke. “Does everything come out of his ass with him?”

“Mostly!” Luke laughed. “He’s not much of a listener.”

“Right,” she said and shot me a scowl.

“Can we get back to the problem?” I interjected, lightly pushing Luke’s neck. He was pulling me into a petty fight with a woman he’d known for two hours.

“Belinda could be our ace. She’s the only one who knows the man!” Luke said. What did she possibly know? I knew the man — I’d been married to him for three months! They’d slept together too, right? And with my name! I looked at Belinda and then at Luke.

“She knows nothing, damn it. If she’d at least known his full name… Who doesn’t know the name of the man they slept with?” I snapped.

“I thought your name and surname,” she burst out.

Just when I thought the Amanda mess was done, this bullshit emerged. A man had tricked her with a sham marriage and used my name.

“How can you marry without knowing someone?” I raged like a rabid dog. Someone would learn today.

“I knew him,” she said sharply. “Or so I thought.”

“But you didn’t. And you slept with him!”

“My husband and I slept together!” she insisted.

“He wasn’t your husband!” I shouted. Why was I so hung up on this? Goddamn it. “He was married to me!”

“So you admit you’re my husband!” she crowed, one brow raised.

I wanted to snap that eyebrow right off her face. I was losing it.

“Go get help. Police, prosecutor — whatever. But get out of my company now!” I pointed to the door.