Page 56 of King of Liars

I should have known. King was calculated, not sloppy. He knew goddamn well what he’d done. He knew the night he purchased the sling exactly how this would play out.

Ryan looked at me like he wanted to explain, but King shouted, “Out!”

Ryan slid out of King and rushed to the door, stopping just long enough to glance back at me.

Defeat, hurt, pain.

I wanted to soothe him the same way I’d wanted to when King had pushed him too damn far. But before I knew it, he was gone.

King turned to me, his body still sparkling with sweat, some his, some ours. “That’s what happens when you break the rules, Boss. That’s what happens to them all when they break the rules. And they always do. My merry band of liars.”

Hole and One looked ashamed, as though they could feel King’s judgment, not just of Ryan, but of them too, as though they were waiting for their number to be up.

“He cared about you…”

“And what’s the rule? Let that be a lesson.” He turned his head away from me.

In that moment, I wasn’t sure there was a way for me to give a shit about King and his knights when he had been such a heartless bastard to Ryan.

This was wrong.

If anything, Ryan had shown me that once again tonight, when he’d been forced to push past his limits to satisfy King’s perverse needs.

“Come on, Boss. Now you have more of me all to yourself.” King leaned up in the seat, his hypnotic gaze captivating my attention. “Isn’t that what you want?”

Of course I lusted after King. He made it impossible for me not to. But that didn’t take away what I felt for Ryan, which was…something more.

“Let’s clean up,” King continued. “We’re better off without a traitor.”

How dare he call Ryan that?

The three of them collected condoms and wrappers before King turned to me. “Boss, is there a problem?”

“You just let him go? No warning? No second chances?”

“That’s how this works. You all know what you signed up for.” King didn’t flinch as a little more blood trailed down from his nose.

Heartless bastard!

How could he have spent even more time with Ryan than I had and be so goddamn heinous to him?

“It’s a choice to play by these rules or not. But if you choose to play, then you must obey.”

His comment was sobering.

Considering how King had fucking mesmerized me into playing his sick games, I wouldn’t have thought I could walk away. However, as much as he had seized my attention in the beginning, now I knew who I was really hooked on.

“Then I guess I don’t want to play anymore. Because this—whatever just happened here—isn’t fun. It’s sick.”

“Then fucking leave,” King said through his teeth.

I didn’t hesitate. Didn’t think twice. I dashed out the door, heading upstairs to fetch my belongings.

As King had pointed out, I always had a choice.

And now it was time to make the right one.

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