A Dose of Pretty Poison: A Brother’s Best Friend Romance (Pretty Poison Trilogy Book 1)

The moment was perfect. Not that I thought Hayes was hooking up with anyone other than me. Every chance we get, we seem to be together. But there was always that thought in the back of my mind. So, hearing him confirm that I’m the only one, it made me come alive in more ways than I thought it would.

We were in our own little bubble, and the crowd of people walking all around us didn’t exist.

And then Monty popped the bubble.

He stands there, looking at us like he just cracked the case. I’m half expecting Hayes to back away—not wanting us to get caught and all that. But instead, he puts his arm around my waist and pulls me into him.

“Can we help you, Rollins?” he asks.

Monty snickers. “You know, I thought there was something up between you two at the party, but I wasn’t sure until now.”

“That’s why you couldn’t stop checking her out, right?” Hayes counters.

I turn to glare at him. The attitude is uncalled for. But what Monty says next catches me even more off guard.

“Does Cam know you’re stabbing him in the back?” he spits. “I’m guessing not, since you keep your hands to yourself while he’s around. Though that’s probably better for her sake. Wouldn’t want people to find out she’s slumming it with you.”

Hayes releases me and takes a step toward him. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

I jump into action, getting myself in front of Hayes before he gets to Monty. Right now, it’s a situation I can control. Monty is my friend, and I can try talking some sense into him. But if Hayes gets his hands on him, we’re going to have a lot worse things to deal with than my brother finding out.

“Stop,” I tell him. “You don’t want to do this.”

“You should listen to her,” Monty sneers.

Hayes goes to move toward him again as I whip my head around. “Will you shut the fuck up?”

Monty rolls his eyes and looks away, but my attention is on Hayes. I move my hands to his face in an attempt to calm him down.

“Let me handle this,” I say softly. “Go. I’ll meet you in the truck. Okay?”

The expression on his face and the death glare he’s shooting in Monty’s direction tells me he wants to argue it. He’d love nothing more than to rough him up a bit. But he knows he can’t.

There would be no probation for him like Cam got. Monty’s dad wouldn’t stop until Hayes was behind bars.

Without saying anything, he bends down and presses his lips to mine. I know better to think this kiss has anything to do with me. It’s all for Monty’s benefit. But no good will come from me pushing him away right now.

Not when he’s all enraged and full of possessive testosterone.

Breaking the kiss, he gives Monty one more dark look and then heads toward the parking lot. I watch as he pushes his way through the crowd, and once I know it’s not just a way for him to get to Monty without risking hurting me in the process, I exhale.

“Let’s go,” I growl at Monty, grabbing his wrist and pulling him with me over to a spot less busy than the exit.

He may be my friend, but no part of what just happened was acceptable. And if it came down to a choice, between him and Hayes, it would be Hayes. Hands down. Every single day.

“Well, that explains why he hates me,” he jokes.

I run my fingers through my hair as I scoff. “Can you blame him? What the fuck was that?”

“Oh, come on,” Monty argues. “He started that shit. And I wasn’t checking you out. When you grow up the way I have, you learn to watch everyone around you. It’s a way of keeping my guard up.”

“Even so, the remark you made about Cam was not fucking cool! You have no idea what’s going on between us.”

He snorts. “Yeah, I do. Laiken, he treats you like you’re his property. Why else would he murder me with his eyes every time I’m around? He genuinely believes no other guy is even allowed to look at you.”

“You’ve been around him all of like twice,” I sass. “That’s hardly enough to judge, so don’t talk about him like you know him.”

Seeing how worked up I am, he sighs. “Okay, fine. But what’s the plan here? You’re just going to stay in Calder Bay? Be Hayes’s dirty little secret for the rest of your life? That’s never going to be enough for you, and it shouldn’t be. You’re so much better than that.”

It’s not something I haven’t thought of before. Hell, sometimes it keeps me up at night. The more I fall for him, the more I know it’ll hurt when it ends. But that doesn’t mean a part of me isn’t holding out hope that he’ll change his mind and want to be with me like I want to be with him.

Out in the open, not hiding in the shadows.

Kissing me as we pass each other in between work and hockey practice, without worrying about who might be able to see us.

Just him wanting me to be his, no matter what it takes.

“I know,” I agree. “But I need you to trust me and stay out of this. I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you, though? Do you really?” he presses. “What happens if this doesn’t go the way you want? What if it ends badly? Are you going to be able to handle seeing him all the time after he breaks your heart?”

“I don’t know!” I snap. “I don’t know what will happen or how I will feel if or when this ends. What I do know is that he makes me happy. Now you can either accept that and keep what you saw today to yourself, or you can tell Cam and we’ll deny it.” His face drops, but I’m not done. “I’ll have Mali back me up, and Cam will think you’re just a bored rich kid who wanted to cause some drama.”

“Laiken,” he breathes.

I shrug. “Go ahead. But if you tell him, just know that I will never speak to you again.”

The pain in his eyes is evident, but I’m not about to back down. And the second he realizes that, he softens. He drops his head and nods.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t realize things were that serious. I thought he was just someone who was taking advantage of you. But you’re right. You know what you’re doing, and if you say you have a handle on this, I believe you. Your secret is safe with me.”

Relief floods through me. “Thank you.”

I wasn’t bluffing. If he had told Cam, we would instantly go into damage control mode. And chances are, we would get away with it. But it would effectively end things between Hayes and me. Cam would start paying too much attention and Hayes wouldn’t refuse to risk it.

“Should I, uh…” He winces. “Should I go apologize to Hayes?”

“Not unless you want to become roadkill,” I tell him, only half kidding. “If I know him like I think I do, he’ll run you over before you even open your mouth.”

Monty chuckles nervously. “Fair enough. I guess I deserve that.”

“You think?”

A smile forces its way through, and the two of us laugh—lightening the mood. I’m sure Monty has taken self-defense classes his entire life, but I’ve seen Hayes get into fights during hockey games. And that’s on skates.

I can only imagine the damage he would do without having to worry about the ice beneath his feet.

“I hope he’s good to you,” Monty tells me.

My grin widens as I nod, thinking about how much I loved having his arms wrapped around me as we watched Thomas Rhett perform. “He is. He really is.”

“Good,” he says happily, but there’s a hint of sadness there. “That’s really good.”

As we head toward the exit, I nudge him with my elbow. “Don’t worry. There’s a guy out there for you, too.”

His brows furrow, and I realize I probably shouldn’t have said anything until he came out to me. For all I know, he hasn’t come out to anyone yet. But at least this way, he knows I’m not judging him for it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” I ask as it comes time to head in different directions.

He nods. “You bet. You’re going to love this place. It has the best mimosas.”

“Sweet. I’ll make sure to bring my fake ID.”

“Don’t bother. No one is going to card you when you’re with me.”

I chuckle. “Lifestyle of the rich and the famous, right?”

He pulls his sunglasses off his head and puts them on his face. “You know it.”

Just like that, he’s gone—walking over to the blacked-out SUV that has been waiting for him in a VIP area. I take a deep breath and head over to Hayes’s truck. He’s sitting on the tailgate when I get there, smoking a cigarette.

“It’s all good,” I tell him. “He isn’t going to say anything.”

He hops down and drops the cigarette, putting it out with his foot. As he exhales the smoke into the air, he pulls me in and kisses me in a way that takes my breath away.

Maybe he was just as nervous as I was—knowing this could be the end of us and not wanting it to end. Maybe there’s really a part of him that wants me just as much as I want him.

I break the kiss and pull my head back to look at him. “You’re such a caveman.”

“You know it, baby,” he says, pecking my lips once more. “Me, Tarzan. You, Jane.”

Snorting, I scrunch my nose. “I’m not sure if being the king of the jungle makes him a caveman.”

“Wouldn’t know. I never watched it.”

My jaw drops as he kisses the tip of my nose and releases me, closing the tailgate.

“Okay,” I say decisively. “I know what we’re doing the next chance we get.”

We climb into the truck, and he turns the key in the ignition. “You mean, as long as Moneybags keeps his mouth shut.”

“He will,” I assure him, but he doesn’t look convinced.

As he pulls out into the traffic all waiting to leave, he looks over at me. “He still wants you.”

I can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of me. “He’s gay!”

“Yeah, okay,” he says sarcastically. “And I’m becoming a monk.”

“Are you?” I tease. “That’s great. I’m sure your mom will be really proud of you.” Turning to look at him, I smirk deviously. “Though, I guess that means I can’t give you road head on the way home.”

And the way his head whips over in my direction and he almost rear-ends the car in front of us has me laughing until my stomach hurts.

HAYES DROPS ME OFF at Mali’s so I can get my car, but I decide to go inside first. She may have pissed me off earlier, with her whole I need to get a picture bullshit, but she also spent the whole day cooped up inside so no one knew she wasn’t with me at the concert.

Besides, now I have a picture of Hayes and me.

Walking through the door, I say hello to Mali’s mom and head upstairs. Mali is in her room, lying on her bed and scrolling on her computer. She looks up and smiles as I come in.

“You’re back. How was the concert?”

“Amazing,” I grumble, falling face first onto her bed.

She snorts. “Well damn, babe. Try not to sound too thrilled. I may get jealous.”

I roll over and rest my arm on my forehead. “No, the concert was great. It was after the concert that sucked.”

Her brows furrow as she stops what she’s doing to look at me. “Do I need to hurt him?”

“If the him you’re referring to is Hayes, then no.”

“Who else would I be referring to?”

“Montgomery.” I sigh heavily. “He caught us kissing at the concert and threatened to tell Cam.”

“No!” she gasps. “Did Hayes slaughter him? Did anyone see him do it? Hold on, let me change and I’ll help you hide the body.”

I giggle as she actually starts to get up from her bed. “Mal, stop. No one died. Though, I can’t promise someone won’t if he outs us to Cam.”

“Do you think he will?”

“I don’t know,” I shrug. “He said he won’t, but I don’t really know him well enough to trust him.”

She hums as she thinks about it. “You should be fine. He’s from the high society world. They don’t care about the bullshit we deal with.”

I nod, knowing she’s right, but he really seemed to care while we were standing there. It was wrong of me to threaten him the way I did. He was only trying to look out for me. But when it comes to what I have with Hayes, there are no lengths I won’t go to in order to protect it.

Besides, Monty hasn’t been in my life long enough to talk some sense into me or whatever he was attempting to do.

“Yeah,” I exhale. “You’re right. I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.”

Mali shuts her laptop and rolls over, resting her head on my shoulder. “And if there is, I have your back. I don’t care how much money he has. You’re my girl.”

“Way to not sound like a total gold-digger,” I tease.

She groans and pushes herself away from me. “It’s not like I’m dating him. And if spoiling his friends is his idea of a good time, who am I to stop him?”

Chuckling, I grab the nearest pillow and hit her with it.

Lord help the man that ends up with her.