Savage Little Lies by Eden O’Neill

Chapter One

Dorian

“Bru? Hold on. It’s so loud.” Sloane covered her phone after what she’d said, smiling at me. “It’s Bru. I’m assuming he wants an update. About you?” Her grin widened. “I’m just going to tell him how things turned out. That we got you out okay.”

Her reference, of course, was to my grandfather getting me out. He’d handled my bail, in the police precinct with us now.

His attention never left me.

And what a sight to be had, the old man with his motherfucking jewel-top cane. He stood in a crisp suit, mingling amongst Maywood Heights’s scum. The police were bringing people in and out of county lockup, but even with all the traffic, my grandfather’s attention stayed pointed on me.

As stated, it never left.

I watched, a twitch in my eye as my grandfather hovered a hand behind my girl’s back. My girl who looked cheesed to the fucking nines to be in his presence. Grandpa Prinze smiled at her. “Yes, tell him everything worked out.” He placed that smile on me. “He was quite worried once I told him everything. I was at the house with him when Sloane called me.”

I swallowed, saying nothing.

Grandpa Prinze nodded at Sloane. “Don’t worry about Dorian and myself. I’m sure we’ll find something to talk about while you’re gone.”

I was sure we would, my body stiff as a goddamn board in the old man’s presence.

I suddenly found myself very relieved to be in a police station. There were at least a dozen cops here, all fucking strapped.

Not that it would matter.

My grandfather stood in front of me resurrected, alive when he shouldn’t be.

I knew because I had stood over the body.

I’d been the grim reaper not long ago, and apparently, this old fuck had nine lives. Sloane touched my arm before she left, and it took all I had in me to not react to anything happening to me at the present. I didn’t want to show that I was thoroughly shaken, especially in front of the man I’d attempted to kill.

I couldn’t show my cards.

If Grandfather could tell I was thrown by his presence, he didn’t act like it. He simply watched Sloane go, as I did. She took a corner of the police station to continue with her call, one away from the doors and cops moving in and out of them with perps. Once there, she proceeded to take her call with her brother, and that was when my grandfather turned in my direction. His jeweled cane shifted under his hand, and when he made a step in my direction, I flinched.

The corners of his lips lifted, his smile a small one. It was almost coy as he lifted his chin. “Are you all right, son?” he questioned, his poker face a good one. He was acting as if him standing here was the most normal of occurrences. His head lowered. “You seem to have some nerves going about you.”

Well, that happened when one saw a fucking ghost.

I eyed the area, studied Sloane. She was waving at me now, grinning, but my reaction to that wasn’t much.

I was in too much fucking shock.

In any case, she went back to her call, and I faced the old man who’d called me son again. I pocketed my hands, my throat tight. “Nerves happen when you see ghosts.”

This man should be dead, point-blank, and though it shouldn’t have been, offing the fucker had been the hardest thing I’d had to do. I wasn’t a killer. I was a good son, an honorable one my father and mother raised, and as dark as some shit had been in my life, it’d never crossed my mind to kill someone. Even my worst enemies.

The old man had brought the devil out of me, the monster within. I’d done what needed to happen. I had to in order to protect my family.

He’d threatened my mother.

That very fact lingered between us now as we stood here today. The old man drew his fingers down a smooth jawline.

“Yes, well.” His hand returned to his cane. “My doctors assure me I have a clean bill of health.” His head tilted. “If anything, they tell me I’ve never been stronger after more recent events in my life. I am stronger, and you’d best know that, understand it.”

A threat laced there beyond his words, and not on the subtle side.

How was he alive?

I’d poisoned the old man’s tea in the end, a bitch move, but I’d never had to consider doing such a thing before.

Murder and darkness were only reserved for the most vile monsters in my world, ones like this man who stood before me today. In a single act, he’d made me a monster too, but I obviously hadn’t done the job well enough. Someone must have found him after I’d watched him choke on his own bile. He’d had another one of those funky-ass cigars in his hand when he’d fallen off his chair.

I’d left after he’d hit the floor, not staying for the final result. I’d just wanted to get the fuck out of there. His servants had had the day off that morning, a big reason I’d chosen it. I hadn’t needed anyone knowing what I was doing.

I’d even wiped the security cameras.

Upon leaving, I recalled wishing that cigar in his hand would burn down the house with him inside, and I wished I could say it was because I wanted him and the evidence of my presence in his home burned. That’d been far from the reason.

I’d wanted him to burn, and that was when I knew something had changed in me. I’d come full circle. I had crossed a line I couldn’t come back from when it came to my life. My grandfather had made me a murderer, as deep and as dark as some of the shit I’d heard he’d done in the past. The difference was I’d done what I had beyond purely selfish reasons.

At least, that was what I told myself.

In any case, I hadn’t even been able to do that fucking right, my grandfather standing here today.

He watched me watching him, and I bet if he had a cigar now, he’d be studying me from behind the thick smoke. He liked to do that, watch me during our time together. Like it gave him joy or contentment just to be in my presence.

Like he cared and had a soul.

Grandfather’s head lifted again, but soon he was passing his attention over to that corner again. The one with Sloane, my girl still on her phone.

My girl.

How did she know this fucker? None of this made sense.

“What is she to you?” Grandfather Prinze asked me, causing me to blink. I should be asking him that fucking question. His eyes narrowed. “Son?”

I was not this man’s son. I stayed silent, and his hand moved on his cane.

“You’re lucky, you know,” he said. “That I happened to call and she mentioned your situation? You were so sloppy, Dorian.”

I twitched.

His eyes narrowed. “Multiple witnesses saw you fleeing the very scene where the Mayberry woman’s body was ultimately recovered.” He tsked. “They found her in a warehouse and your car had been leaving the area. Like I said, spotted by multiple people, farmers who were up and doing their morning work.”

That was because I’d stayed longer than I should have, too long after my friends had already left.

I honestly didn’t know why really. The guys had all peeled off, but for some reason, I’d stayed by the door on my way out. I’d been angry, frustrated after we recorded Mayberry’s confession.

So much darkness.

I didn’t think I’d hurt our headmaster after my friends left, but what she’d said about her, about her and Charlie,had been so fresh. I’d also just come off the week from hell regarding what I’d done to my grandfather. I’d been in a really dark place.

I wouldn’t have hurt her. I wouldn’t have hurt her.

I believed I wouldn’t have. But it had taken a lot for me to leave after having an opportunity. I had left in the end, though. I had. I’d left.

I’m a good person. I’m not a monster.

My fist clenched, and my grandfather noticed.

His attention in my direction didn’t waver. “Like I said, you were sloppy.” He straightened. “It was a good thing I was around to get you out of that situation.”

My head shot up, my mouth dry.

And my grandfather didn’t even miss a beat.

“When Miss Sloane told me about your situation… told me about my grandson of all people, I was quite disappointed.” He passed a look around the area before finding me again. “Fortunately for you, your uncle’s old girlfriendcan’t seem to stay out of trouble.”

What the fuck?

“What…” I started, then swallowed. “You?”

Him.

It’d all make sense, though, him. I shook my head. “It was you? This was you?”

My grandfather’s laughter was light, laughing like there was anything to fucking laugh about.

He straightened. “Actually, it was one of the woman’s debt collectors. It seems her particular habits didn’t die just because she was back in town.” He shrugged. “I guess her being out in the warehouse just gave someone the opportunity.”

Just someone, huh?

And how convenient. How obvious that she’d happened to be there in a place of vulnerability for something to happen to her. My friends and I had left her in an abandoned factory, one of my father’s old businesses.

A business my grandfather used to own before that.

So much was convenient about all of this. The debt collector had just happened to know where Mayberry was.

Then Sloane calling my grandfather to fix the situation…

My grandpa definitely looked like the hero today. He looked like a hero because she called him.

The fuck…

My attention redirected to Sloane in that moment, my grandfather coming closer. Sloane was still on her call, but I didn’t move when my grandfather was in the same breath as me.

I was too busy looking at her.

I was too busy trying not to think shit and go to an even darker place, one of madness.

One of betrayal.

“What is she to you?” It was me to speak the words this time. I studied my grandfather. “What is all this?”

I didn’t think I needed to elaborate. There were just… too many convenient things. Not to mention the cops had known where to find me in the first place. Sloane had said up and down she hadn’t said anything.

I believed her.

I honest to fucking God did, even though everything within me told me I was naive.

I was going on faith.

I wanted to believe her. Still did.

Sloane had her back pressed against the wall now, and she was the only soft thing in his place, the only delicate thing. She had her hand all wrapped up in her dark hair, her body thick in all its perfect places. I’d wanted to shove my cock in her the moment I saw her after getting out. I’d wanted to take her out of his place and wrap myself up in her. I’d wanted to feel the security of her, and I was man enough to admit she’d been doing that for me.

That was why I’d called her in the first place today.

She’d been the first one I thought of when I’d been alone in that cabin, aching about all the shit with Charlie like a little bitch. I hadn’t even called my boys.

I’d just called her.

I shot in my grandfather’s direction, really happy I was in a police station now. If I had things my way, I’d have taken his cane and shattered his old fucking legs.

“What is she to you?” I gritted, needing some fucking answers. “What’s going on, and why do she and her brother call you by the name Montgomery?”

Callum was his first name. I knew that, but obviously not his last.

My grandfather’s blink was subtle, his attention focused. “You wouldn’t know, would you? The name Montgomery?”

My mouth dried as I watched him look at her again, my girl. Mine.

Grandfather stood tall. “As far as who I am to her, why don’t you ask Sloane herself? You two seem pretty close. Have to be since she pleaded to me about you. To fix things for you.” He smiled. “But then again, how close are you really?”

I blinked, my gut turning. Few people had known where I was today at that cabin, and she’d been one of them. She and my grandpa getting me out of jail together could have just been an act, this whole bailing-me-out thing a lie.

Sloane happened to choose that precise time to come back, and I must have looked fucking ghost white.

She had my arm, making me face her, and basically assaulted me with that softer-than-shit scent I’d wanted to drown in on more than one occasion.

Now, I just felt like I was drowning.

“Dorian?” She squeezed my arm, her lips parting. She pulled her hair out of her face. “Do you need to sit?”

I didn’t need to sit.

I needed to fucking run.

My grandfather’s hand on me kept me from going anywhere. He smiled. “I was just telling him how lucky he is.” He squeezed my shoulder. “The true assailant was apprehended before Sloane and I arrived at the precinct.” His smile stretched. “Your bail didn’t even have to be paid in the end.”

And how lucky for that.

I definitely noticed my grandfather’s hand didn’t loosen, Sloane smiling too.

“He is lucky,” she said, but then faced my grandpa. “And, Dorian, Callum was able to reach out to the right people.” Her eyes warmed in my direction. “Get you out quicker.”

“I simply made a few calls.” My grandpa’s hand left my shoulder, returning to his cane. “I lived here for a time. It’s been a while, but I’m still able to move things along. The right pieces and the people if I need to.”

I glanced between the pair of them, my back more than up.

My phone buzzed.

It quite possibly might have been doing that the whole time, but I hadn’t been paying attention.

Maybe in more than one way.

Wolf: Where are you? You need to come home. NOW.

NOW.

My phone had been going off before I’d been arrested, Wolf trying to get to me. My parents had been blowing up my phone before that.

Wolf wasn’t the only one to text.

I had missed messages from Thatcher and Wells too, and of course, my parents. They’d been trying to get to me before all this, but I also had missed messages and phone calls from my god dads.

In fact, they had all called.

I lifted my phone, answering one. It was from Ramses, Wolf’s dad.

“Where are you, kid?” he asked, sounding like he was moving. “We’re all out looking for you.”

What the fuck?

I ended the voicemail, and when I looked up, Sloane wasn’t where I’d left her.

In fact, she’d been hovering over me, close.

Too close.

I found myself stiffening in her presence, and when I did, she blinked.

“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked.

What was going on?

I exchanged a look between my grandfather and her again, my mouth dry. I looked at her. “I need to leave.”

I angled around them, not knowing what she was fucking playing.

It was all a lie, a lie, and I needed to get the fuck out of there.

I ended up outside, straight walking. I was aware of steps behind me, and considering how light they were, they had to be Sloane’s.

“Dorian, wait!”

She’d obviously just confirmed that, but I wasn’t turning around. The parking lot was a clusterfuck of cops and traffic, a great place to be. My grandfather wouldn’t be able to try anything here.

“Dorian, please wait. Your car?” She sounded like she’d stopped, her voice farther away. “It’s at the cabin, remember?”

She was right, of course. It’d been left at the cabin because I’d been arrested.

And you’re a fucking idiot.

I was at a standstill, completely giving Sloane an opportunity to come around me. She stood there in her high-top shoes and the shorts that gave me nothing but her ass cheeks when she flashed it at me. I was still drawn to her.

And I hated myself for it.

I’d been a complete dumbass to be fooled by her, and when she stopped in front of me, she had her hands up. Cheeks flushed, she appeared to be more panicked than winded.

As if she cared.

As if all of this shit wasn’t a fucking lie and presented by the devil himself, my grandfather.

It took all I had not to bowl through her at that moment, and it was a good thing she kept her distance. I didn’t want to do the opposite of what my father and mother had taught me.

Even if she had played my ass.

“Let Callum take you home,” she pleaded, and I winced at her referring to my grandpa in such a way. She said it so innocently. As if she didn’t know at all what my grandpa was to me. She raised a hand. “He can take you. You don’t have to…”

“She’s right, son.”

I swiveled around, my grandfather still on the steps of the precinct. He had his cane still in hand, his chin lifted. He appeared as nothing but the savior he’d clearly wanted to come across as.

He gestured to a man who came out of nowhere, right near Sloane and me. This was a big guy, wearing all black down to his gloves. He came off as nothing but a hit man, but the billed hat gave me an indication.

“My driver, Lucas,” Grandpa Prinze said to me, coming forward. “Just tell him where you want to go. He can take you anywhere.”

Lucas took off his hat, and I noticed right away where his hand went.

It settled right on his jacket.

“Is it home for you, then, sir?” he said to me, but his hand didn’t leave that area. The gesture was more than telling. This guy wasn’t merely a driver.

He was a fucking goon.

Odds were my grandpa wasn’t trying to tango with me, not after I’d tried to off his ass. This guy Lucas was no doubt strapped to the nines.

“Dorian.”

I fought myself from jumping, cringing when Sloane’s hand touched my shoulder. How crazy that earlier all I’d wanted to do was to hold her and just get a feel of her after being in this place. I thought she’d been my saving grace.

But as it turned out, the girl couldn’t be farther from my fucking salvation.