Heathen: A Dark Enemies to Lovers Romance (Redwood Rebels Book 2) by Rachel Leigh (sight word readers .txt) 📕

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“My girl, Willa. I’m gonna need you to butter her up and pass her my way.”

Something sinister stirs inside of me. Is he really doing this shit again? Thought for sure I made it clear that she’s off-limits.

Tommy comes walking in wearing a salmon colored button-up shirt and a pair of gym shorts. He looks like he dressed himself when he was half-drunk and when he stumbles to the side, I realize that he is, in fact, more than half-drunk. ‘Why the hell aren’t you at school?” I bellow. Out of the four of us, Tommy is the one who takes school seriously. He’s an athlete, an artist, and has his future all mapped out. Lately, though, he’s been different. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s like he’s taken an emotional beating and he’s drowning his sorrows in the bottle. “Just do what he says, Lars. Let’s end this shit.”

“Can’t,” I deadpan.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Zed puffs out his chest like he expects it to intimidate me.

“I mean that I can’t. Willa left town last night. Had it out with her parents and fled the state. Looks like you need to find a different pawn in your little game.” I sidestep around the couch and walk into the kitchen where Talon is pacing the floor while he talks on the phone.

“Listen, babe. It’ll be over soon. Go stay at your dad’s for a bit. Lars mentioned that he was leaving town until after Christmas.”

His eyes land on mine and he raises a brow in question when he notices the displeasure in my expression. I shake my head, no.

Holding his hand over the speaker of the phone, he brings it to his waist. “Why’s that a problem?”

Zed comes flying into the kitchen and gets all up in my face again. “Where’d she go? You tell me right fucking now?”

There’s a sense of familiarity when I shove my hands into his chest. “How the fuck am I supposed to know?”

“I’ll call you back in a few minutes.” Talon ends the call and drops his phone on the counter. “Where’d who go?”

“Willa.” Zed huffs. “Lars said she took off and left Redwood last night.”

“How would you even know that?” Talon asks me.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I discern that I’m royally screwed. “Ok. You,” I point to Zed, “can find someone else to use. Willa is gone. Deal with it. You wanna piss off someone close to her, find another way. And you,” I point to Talon, “tell Marni that she can’t stay at her dad’s because he canceled his trip.” It’s a lie, but it’ll buy me some time. “Now, before we get started on everyone else’s fucking problems, let’s not forget that I’ve got a psychotic girl up my ass who knows what we did. We need to guarantee her silence before we can do anything for Zed.”

If I can get everyone to focus on Madison right now, it’ll give me enough time to get Willa out of here before anyone can toy with her emotions or use her in their game. I’m also pretty sure that Madison is the one who called Willa and left that fucked-up recording last night. It won’t be long until she’s on the hunt for blood if she does, in fact, know that Willa is pregnant with my child. She’s a loose cannon that needs to be disassembled.

“Not my fucking problem. You deal with that shit. Tommy, Talon, and I had a little chat last night and they’ve agreed to my terms. You find out where she went and tell me or else this entire deal goes up in flames and we all let Marni’s innocent dad take the fall.”

“He won’t fall far. He knows the truth.” There, I said it. He knows and there isn’t a damn thing they can do about it.

“What do you mean he knows the truth?” Tommy asks.

Talon and Zed share a look and I repeat myself. “I told him everything. You’ll have to find a new victim this time around.” I turn to walk away but stop myself and make a spontaneous decision on my own. I’ll probably regret this, but fuck it.  “Oh, and I’m out. You all can play your games and fight your demons on your own.” Flipping them the middle finger, I walk out feeling like the weight of the world was just lifted from my shoulders.

I just can’t do it anymore. None of it. It’s too much and I fucking quit this friendship if it means driving myself to insanity just to please everyone else. Hell, maybe I should just ditch this town with Willa and start over somewhere else.

Driving around town for a couple hours, I realized that I need help.

A call rings through the speaker and I take it as I turn onto Tommy’s road.

“Bradley, is it taken care of?” Bradley is one of Dad’s employees. He handles the nuts and bolts of the business, which means he takes care of the dirty work.

“She wants a lot, Lars. I’m talking ten-thousand dollars.”

“I don’t give a damn what it cost, you get someone in that office to run the test through the lab or I’ll make damn sure my father fires your ass.” I slam my finger into the dash screen and end the call.

It’s not that I think Willa is lying, but I’d be a goddamn fool if I didn’t make sure the baby is mine before handing her over thousands of dollars.

I’ve gotten quite attached to the modest violet, but as of right now, I don’t trust anyone. I barely even trust myself.

Pulling into Tommy’s driveway, I’m relieved to see that he’s here. I need to talk to him, one-on-one, without outside influences. He’s slightly intoxicated, but hopefully coherent enough to understand what I’m about to tell him. Tommy’s the most humane one of all