Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,142
at this new ally.
“Okay, Ezra. I’ll bite. What is it, exactly, that you’re suggesting?”
Gabriel
“Wake up, Gabe. We’re almost to the damn house.”
An elbow slams into me, jarring me awake.
Son of a bitch, it feels like I haven’t slept in days, even though it’s only been twenty-four hours. I was doing fine for most of the day, but then a certain asshole decided it would be better to take his car to the Governor’s mansion after dropping mine off at my house.
The long drive put me to sleep.
Cracking my eyes open, I turn my head to scowl at Tanner. “Maybe if we’d driven straight from the office like I suggested, I wouldn’t be so damn tired.”
“Maybe if you slept last night, you wouldn’t be so tired. And that’s not my fault. That’s all on you for being an idiot.”
My scowl deepens, and I turn my head to stare out the side window. The sun is setting on the horizon, bands of red, orange and pink painting the sky. For some reason, Bob Ross comes to mind, but in the mood I’m in, I feel like ripping all the happy little trees out of the ground before setting the world on fire with happy little flames.
“She’s better off away from us, and you know it,” I argue, annoyed as shit that he won’t let this subject drop.
All fucking day, Tanner has been harassing me about Ivy. Several times I fantasized about stapling his mouth shut or stabbing his eyes out with a pencil from across the desk.
“That’s crap,” he says as he takes a sharp turn up a ramp to the highway.
My jaw tics. “Why won’t you drop it?”
“Because you didn’t drop it with Luca and me. And I’m glad you didn’t. I’m just returning the favor.”
“You can keep it.”
He laughs. “Says the guy who didn’t sleep last night because Ivy was at the twins’ house. But you’re right. I should shut up. I’m sure after the two of them double teamed her, she’s forgotten all about you.”
Teeth grinding, I slide my stare his way with the intent of ripping his head off. “It’s like you want the twins dead.”
“The fuck ever, Gabe. While watching you and Ivy go at each other for the past eighteen years has been fun, it’s about time you accept what the rest of us have known all along.”
“Stop stealing my lines, dick. I know you’re desperate to be like me, but you’ll have to write your own material.”
He grins at that. It was the same thing I told him when he was fighting a battle against Luca.
While everybody else could see he wanted her, Tanner was deluding himself into believing his only focus was on getting the servers.
It only pisses me off more that he’s absolutely correct about my feelings for Ivy. But that’s not the problem.
“If they apply, I’ll toss them right back at you.”
“I haven’t claimed I don’t want her. My issue is the fact that every shitty thing happening to her right now is because of me.”
He doesn’t react. Instead he keeps his eyes on the road and taps a thumb against the steering wheel. “A lot of shitty things happened to Luca because of me. It all worked out in the end.”
“Luca didn’t show up at your house with bruises on her face.”
His eyes cut my direction for a split second before returning to the road.
“That’s what this is about? You had your ass handed to you several times as a kid, Gabe. We all know it, and some of us...”
He gives me a pointed stare.
“...were there to witness it. Including Ivy. But that doesn’t mean she’s going through the same shit because of you. Her dad’s an asshole. Just like ours. Take your anger out on him, and leave her out of it.”
“She wouldn’t have been in that position-“
“Yeah, she’d still be trapped in a life where she’s nothing more than a brainless socialite, there to look pretty and nothing else,” he argues, cutting me off. “If you ask me, both of you have done more favors for each other than you’re willing to admit.”
“I didn’t ask you.”
“Too bad, I told you anyway.”
The car swings across two lanes so Tanner can take the exit leading into the wealthy suburbs. Thankfully, traffic is light, and his reckless driving doesn’t get us both killed.
Nothing else is said as he navigates his way to the Governor’s mansion, our arrival unexpected and unannounced.
We pull up to the main gate, the guard giving us side eye