Page 30 of Cruel Shame

“What part of catching you in bed with another woman and leaving you don’t you understand?” I snapped.

“Boys will be boys, won’t they?” Billy gave Sammy a hearty clap on the back.

Kendrick turned to me and frowned. “This is your ex?”

“I only stayed with him because I had nowhere else to go,” I lied.

Up until the day I found him in bed with Nichelle, Sammy and I had a great life. He hadn’t cared about my age, hadn’t cared that everyone suspected me of being an informant, and he supported me through my exams. He even helped me set up a sewing room in his house. Then he ruined it all by jumping into bed with one of my friends.

Nichelle teetered across the room in my red snakeskin Manolo Blahniks that Sammy bought for me the previous Christmas. I pressed my lips together to hide a scowl. The bitch was two sizes bigger than me and had probably distorted the leather. She stood at the edge of the sofa, waiting for Sammy to move up. When he didn’t, Nishelle shuffled around Sammy and settled between him and Billy Hancock.

“Lila…” Sammy’s constipated expression told me everything. He was tiring of Nichelle. He really wanted to make things work with Billy Hancock because he practically ruled Richley’s underworld.

I shook my head. If he thought I was the key to climbing up the ranks of organized crime, he should have been faithful and less free with his fists. Billy Hancock ogled Nichelle’s breasts as she shifted on the sofa, and I cringed at the thought of Sammy only keeping her around so he could hand Nichelle over to Billy as a gift.

“Lilah,” Sammy whined. “Look at me.”

I met his pathetic face with a scowl. “If I’d known visiting my own mother would turn out to be an ambush, I’d have waited for her in McDonalds.”

Kendrick stood. “Let’s find a hotel and wait for her when she’s free.”

As I rose, both Sammy and Billy Hancock shot to their feet.

“Leave this house,” Billy snarled through clenched teeth, “And I will keep Abby busy for weeks. Don’t think I won’t.”

My heart sank. Billy was Mother’s supplier, but he also rationed her drugs and alcohol, so she never took too much. He also withheld it to keep her under his control. I turned to Kendrick and sighed. “He means it.”

Kendrick wrapped an arm around my waist and guided me back on the sofa. “The lady has rejected your attention. I suggest you respect her wishes.”

Sammy leaned forward and bared his teeth. “And I told you to take your filthy hands off my girl.”

Kendrick scoffed. “Why would I listen to the words of a lowlife?”

“You listened well enough when I pummeled you in that cell.”

I sucked in a deep breath, hoping Kendrick wouldn’t work out that it was Sammy who had attacked Maxwell from behind and Sammy who had bruised his face. Of course he would. Orlando was the one who told me my ex had attacked Maxwell. He would also have told Kendrick.

Kendrick’s nostrils flared. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.” Sammy rocked forward on his heels.

Billy raised his palms. “If you two are going to fight, take it outside.”

Kendrick raised his chin. “Challenge accepted.”

“Ha. This time, I’ll drown you in the pond.”

No matter what I said to Kendrick, he wouldn’t back down. Nichelle didn’t do a damn thing to calm Sammy, either, but she loved a brawl and never gave a shit about anything but herself.

Anxiety rippled through my insides. While Kendrick was fighting for his honor or avenging his twin, Sammy was fighting to impress Billy Hancock. Sammy also wanted to show off that he was more of a man than Kendrick, and was desperate to secure himself a position within Billy’s organization. With all his cannabis plants and growing equipment seized by the police, he couldn't immediately return to growing weed.

Kendrick would get pummeled by the mad bastard.

Billy crossed the room and opened the door that led back to the hallway. “Come on, boys.”

Sammy trotted after Billy like an obedient dog with Nichelle trailing after him like a poodle. The door swung shut behind us, and I whirled on Kendrick.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I hissed.