Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86751 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“Go ahead and sit,” Ana tells them. “Marissa and I are staying right here.”
Marissa sits back down next to me and watches the men expectantly as they take seats. I can barely stand to look at them, but when I do, I struggle to reconcile what I know about them now with everything I thought I knew.
Even though I haven’t known them long, at the wedding, they were my comfort in a crowd. They still look the same, but they’re actually strangers.
Max clears his throat. “As I mentioned yesterday, Miles and I are special agents for the State Bureau of Investigation. It’s like the FBI, but on a state level. We’ve been watching John Hargrove for quite some time. We can’t go into specifics, unfortunately, but we have evidence that he did a lot of bad things. We expect a criminal trial to find him guilty and that he’ll go to jail for quite some time.”
“What about Adam?” I ask.
“Adam isn’t involved,” Miles says, “and we have no reason to believe he was even aware of his father’s dealings.”
That’s a relief.
“The timing of the bust was extremely unfortunate, but we had to act when we did. The suspicious-looking man you saw in the hall the other day was a new supplier, eager to get in with Hargrove. We were listening in on both of them, and heard that the supplier wanted to pass off a sample to demonstrate the quality of his goods. The guy was so cocky, he brought the drugs right into the reception, wrapped as a gift. We couldn’t miss our opportunity.”
It’s a lot to take in. “You had no other way to go about this than to crash my sister’s wedding?”
“Opportunities can be few and far between,” Max says. “The sooner we take him down, the fewer drugs that are on the street.”
The tight edge to Max’s jaw as he says this reminds me of the story they told me about the friend they lost to drugs. Their motives may be just, but their methods certainly aren’t.
“And the only way you could get to him was to use me?”
Ana pats my back and whispers, “Good job. We’ve got you.”
Max opens his mouth, then closes it again, and I finally feel some small satisfaction.
Miles takes up the defense. “We could have found other ways, but when the opportunity presented itself to Max, he couldn’t pass it up. We didn’t know you then, Callie.”
“When the opportunity presented itself? You mean, when you were tracking me at both of my jobs?”
Max’s eyes are pleading. “We weren’t tracking you, Callie, I swear. I had no idea of your connection to Hargrove until the night we went out to eat after your battery died.”
“But you jumped on it then, didn’t you? Acting like a helpful boy scout, when all you wanted to do was use me.”
He scrubs his hand across his forehead, then hangs his head. He’s got nothing to say to that.
“You made such a fool of me. It’s so embarrassing.”
“You didn’t embarrass yourself,” Miles says, “and we’re so sorry you got caught up in this—”
“I didn’t get caught up. You caught me up in it. Don’t act like it just happened.”
“You’re right, but we had to,” Miles says.
“We had to do our jobs,” Max says. “Hargrove was recruiting new dealers, targeting schools, getting younger and younger people hooked. We had to use any means necessary.”
I stiffen my spine. “Any means necessary. I see.” I turn to Ana and Marissa. “Would you mind leaving me alone with them for a few minutes? I’ll be fine. They won’t be here much longer.”
Once my roommates leave the room, I draw in a deep breath. “I can’t decide what disgusts me most, your behavior, or how easily I bought into all of it.”
“Callie, we—”
“No, you’ve said enough. I just can’t believe I honestly thought we’d continue to see each other after the wedding. You had me completely deceived, and why? Why did you feel the need to pull me in like that when you’d already worked your way into the wedding?”
“We do want to keep seeing you—”
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“Callie, what went on between us was real.”
“How can you even say that? Nothing was real! That all became abundantly clear when you pulled out guns at my sister’s wedding.”
They have the decency to look stricken.
“You lied to me, and you used me.”
Miles shifts forward in his chair. “Callie, when we made plans to come to the wedding with you, we didn’t know we were going to fall in love with you.”
I’m knocked back against the couch cushions. Love me? Something in me softens, but then I stop myself. Damage has already been done, and I’m not going to make things even worse. Why would I let myself care for someone as easily as I did Rick, just because they tell me they love me? And when it comes to Miles and Max, I already know they’re liars.