The Arrangement Anthology 2(139)

In a lethal voice, he lowers his head so we’re nose to nose. “Don’t you dare!”

“You can’t stop me.” Heart pounding, I hold my breath, ready to scream. The vein on the left side of Sean’s head looks like it’s going to pop it’s throbbing so fast. “You said yourself, whoever gets those documents wins. I have them. I win.”

“I have you, so you lose.”

“Mel will kill you if you hurt me.”

Sean laughs and backs away. The sound frightens me, because it’s so far removed from what he normally sounds like. It’s not a sound of joy, it’s a chime of something dark. “Don’t you get it? Everyone around you was a plant: cops, narcs, even assholes like me. Everyone around you wants to be first to get to your mom’s stashed documents. She made a fatal error, taking the documents with her. I’m sure she thought they’d be leverage, but in the end they just led to her early demise, and they will do the same to you. You can’t keep them. It’s not an option.”

“What are you saying?”

“Mel is playing you just like everyone else. There’s no one you can trust, Avery. There’s nowhere to go.”

Trystan’s name pops into my head. There’s no way he’s involved in all this. It’s as if Sean knows what I’m thinking and laughs that horrible sound again. “He can’t protect you, but I’m sure he’d give you what you want. A little house and a baby are right up Scott’s alley. He’ll get the family he never had. Go back to him. You’re perfect for each other. Just give me the documents first.”

His reaction to Trystan throws me off. My face scrunches together as I try to decipher his meaning. “Go back to him? You think I belong with Trystan? Is that why you’ve gone nuts?”

“You were already with him.” My body stiffens without meaning to and a chill runs over my skin. Sean glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. I don’t even know what happened that night, so how can you be so sure?” The memory of Trystan’s kisses lights up in my mind. I wanted him so badly, but I really just wanted him to be Sean. “Things didn’t progress very far.”

“Scott told me he’d steal you if I didn’t treat you better. Imagine, all it took was Mr. Big Shot dropping his pants and you fell at his knees like a cheap whore. Wait a second...” Sean smiles at me, as if he couldn’t care less.

My shoulders square off. “You told him to take care of me. He did.”

“I didn’t tell him to nail you.”

“He didn’t.”

“You two looked pretty cozy together.” The anger fades from his face. Sean runs his hand through his hair. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Just give me the documents and go back to Scott. It’ll ensure your survival and his.”

“Sean, I wanted you, you dumbass!” I’m so livid, so furious, and so afraid he’s going to walk out that door, ruining his life and mine. “I’ve always wanted you!”

The corner of his lip twitches up and then falls. He steps toward me. Gazing down into my face he breathes, “I want things that would make your skin crawl. What I want is so far past what you want, what you need, that you can’t even fathom it. The things I’d do to you,” he bites his lower lip and lowers his gaze to my chest and back to my eyes, “you’d never forgive me. That’s what I want. That’s what I need. We’re incompatible, so it’s time to stop pretending. You go on with your life and play the happy wife, while I do what I have to do.”

“Sean, it doesn’t have to be like this.”

“It does.” His jaw locks, as if he’s keeping himself from saying more. Sean walks out the door without another word.





Chapter 9

Peter stands next to his car, scanning the dunes for me. I have no idea what to tell him. Sean’s lost his mind. When Peter sees me, he runs over. “Are you hurt?”

I shake my head and tell him what Marty told me to say. “Sean’s fine. Marty took him because it was an easy way to get to me.” The lie tastes like acid in my mouth, burning my tongue as I speak it. Peter is a great guy and I don’t want him hurt because of me. Sean and Marty made sure that Sean’s brothers would be safe. Their plan provides safety for everyone if Sean is able to take over Campone’s criminal activities. Peter can’t know, and I won’t tell him. He’s been kind to me, and I don’t want him to get hurt.

“Where did he take you?” Peter opens the car door for me, waits for me to get in, then he shuts it gently behind me, ever the gentleman.