Fraud

And why does just the idea of it bother me more than it should?

“We didn’t talk much.”

About that subject at least...

Because it’s not a lie, I expect him to buy it and move on. Instead, he blinks, shifts his posture and taps his fingers against his arm.

“You fucked her,” he correctly assumes, his eyes meeting mine to see the truth of it. “Are you kidding me right now, Gabe? Are you really that stupid? We both know what that woman does to you.”

I can’t blame him for his frustration. Ivy has information we need. And I fucked around with our ability to get it. Only because Ivy has always tripped me up when it comes to the games we play.

For Ta

Until we have what we need, we have to continue playing puppets that march to their orders, but once we have enough to bring them down, the charade ends and we’re free.

Could we walk away now? Technically, yes. But that’s too simple a solution when we’ve spent a lifetime being pushed around.

We’ll rain down hell eventually. Yet, rather than cornering Ivy for something we suspect is important, I focused on another need. One I’ve had for years.

“You know what?” He throws up his hands. “Whatever. It is what it is. Just go wake her up because I’d like to get this over with. We need to pin this shit down before everything gets worse.”

“She’s not asleep,” I answer. “She was in the shower last I checked.”

He pulls out a chair at a small breakfast table and drops his weight into it.

“Then drag her out of it.”

I haven’t taken the first step when Ezra’s low laughter catches my attention.

Turning to him, I notice he’s looking up, his lips stretching apart into a weird grin.

Following the path of his gaze, I glance up, and my eyes widen as my teeth clench together. Pain shoots down my jaw as the rest of the guys look up and burst out laughing.

“Oh, shit,” Shane says, his hand flying to his mouth in a failed fucking attempt to hide his smile. “Ivy is so dead.”

A drop of water leaks from the large wet spot on the ceiling, and I bolt from the room without bothering to wait for that drop to splash the floor.

I’m ru

Ramming my shoulder against it, I break the frame to get in, my eyes shooting to an open window that I ignore as I storm through the room into the attached bathroom.

The shower is still ru

Stepping carefully across the floor so it doesn’t cave in, I turn the water off and move back into her room, looking at the window again and over to the bed.

My eyes shoot to her bags to see there are only fifteen of them.

“Fuck!”

Halfway down the stairs, my eyes meet Ta

“She’s gone.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” I growl as I rip the door open and run out onto the porch. Stopping in my tracks, my hands ball into fists to see the damage.

“This is exactly why she’s not allowed at my house. What the hell are you going to do now?”

I’m so angry I can’t think straight.

“I don’t know, Ta

He curses under his breath and follows me down to the driveway, the rest of the guys pouring out of the house to discover what we already know.

My car is gone, and the three they drove over are all sitting on flattened tires.

Ta

“I only have one thing to say about this.”

“What’s that?”

“She’s not allowed around my car either.”

“At least it’s not eggs,” I breathe out, my body flinching in place when I hear the muted sound of something crashing down in my house.

We all go silent for a brief second, my spine locked in place because I don’t want to rush back in to see what I already know.

From the doorway, Taylor calls out, “Think that was your ceiling caving in, Gabe.”

All the guys snort while trying to contain their laughter. My eye twitches, and I stare out at the forest because I need to step away from this before I choke one of them to death.

I’m going to kill Ivy when I get my hands on her next.

That and fuck her.

Obviously, not in that order, but definitely both.

It’s what I always want to do to her when she gets like this, only because her bullshit makes me hate her and respect her at the same time.

I love that she never bows to anybody.

That she never caves.

That she’ll sit there with a sweet smile on her face while fucking up your world without one shred of guilt for it.

It drives me insane that she can lie as well as me and make me forget that she’s never to be left alone or trusted.

When all is said and done, the most basic truth is that Ivy is a fraud as much as me.

I should have tied her to my damn bed and watched her all night. The only problem with that is I wouldn’t have been able to keep my hands off her.

Fucking one time? That was us working out the hatred.

Fucking twice would have been pushing us too close to the truth of how we feel about each other. Especially after she brought the possibility of a relationship into the equation.

“I can’t believe she did this to you again. I mean...again,” Ta

My jaw tics, and I roll my neck over my shoulders.

“It’s not that hard to say. Only four syllables.”

“Would you fuck off right now?”

He has a bad case of the chuckles, apparently, his lips pressed together as his shoulders shake, and he lifts his face to the sky.

I already know that the angrier I get at this moment, the fu

“Fine. You can say it to me later since I know you’re thinking it. What’s important now is how the hell do we get her back?”

Shane and the other guys come down the porch steps, most of them standing by Ta

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’ve always admired Ivy. I swear this girl has no fucks to give.”

His eyes lift to look over the hood of the car at me.

“She took out all of the tires. Side punctures, too, so we can’t patch them. If it had just been one or two tires, we could have worked it out. But this will take some time with it being all four.”

My brows shoot up. “How much time?”

“All day if you want all the cars done. A few hours to have one up and ru

While he walks off to do that, Ezra steps up beside me.