Page 9 of Ash and Poison

Did I want to kill him? I didn’t know. Did I want Detective Knight to come crawling back into my life again? No.

With a sigh, I slid them back into the safe. A part of me burned for the liberation that came with death, the control, but for now, my only priority was to stay out of prison.

I reached for the brown envelope tucked in the corner of the safe. Ripping it open, I grabbed the small trackers. If I couldn’t kill him, I had to stay one step ahead of him at all times.

I couldn’t afford to let him catch me off guard. Never again would Asher find me at a disadvantage.

Closing the safe, I grabbed my phone and called Layne.

“Dee?” Layne picked up after the third ring. “What’s up, babe? It’s late.”

“I messed up,” I grumbled, sitting down on the couch.

“Just a sec. Let me conference call Trina.”

There was a long pause, and then I heard Trina on the other end. “Do you want my help to bury a body?” she asked with a chuckle, yawning as she did.

Trina and Layne Montagna. My foster sisters. My best friends. My only family.

“No. I witnessed a murder, and the killer knows it,” I said, rubbing my brows.

“So what are you waiting for?” Trina’s voice was drowned out by a loud cheer. “Where the hell are you, Layne? It’s so fucking loud for midnight,” Trina said.

“I’m at an art festival. Artists are so good with their hands,” Layne said, and I could almost see her winking at an unsuspecting man right about now. “The champagne is cheap, though, and the sandwich tastes like toothpaste. Oh, and Dee, just poison him. The headache of keeping him alive won’t be worth it.”

“I can’t kill him, Lay. I barely got away the last time, remember?” I said with a frown. “If Knight hears even a whisper of suspicious death, and my patient in the same sentence… I’m done. He was like a dog with a bone the last time.”

“Oh, fuck Detective Knight,” Trina grunted.

I missed them both, and some days, when life was too much, when everything felt too overwhelming, I wanted to beg them to come live with me in this prison, but I knew they would hate it.

“Yeah, fuck him,” Layne said. “He’s not smart enough to catch us.”

“He almost caught me,” I said with a sigh.

I met Trina and Layne when we were all sent to live with Max and Martha Stills.

Layne and I were fourteen, and Trina was twelve, and we were too young to understand the full weight of the world, but old enough to know we were on our own.

We formed a bond that went beyond friendship—it was survival. We had to become each other’s lifelines. We had to fight each other’s battles, and kill our monsters together.

“Do you know who he is?” Trina asked.

“Yes. Asher Maddox.”

“That the one who gave you an orgasm without even touching you?” Layne asked, voice high-pitched. “Oh my monsters!”

“Oh, interesting. Tell me more,” Trina said, her voice filled with laughter.

“I’m going to...” I said with a grunt. “I don’t know. Pretend?”

“Or you can blackmail him to fuck you to keep your silence. Well, you’ll obviously scream when he fucks you…” Layne trailed off.

“I get it, Lay. I get it. You’re as funny as a dead clown.”

“That’s so accurate.” Trina snorted.

After enduring another twenty minutes of Layne and Trina throwing out ridiculous ideas about how I could blackmail Asher for sexual favors, I finally hung up and made my way to the bedroom, rubbing my tired eyes, and smiling despite everything.