I planned on letting off a little bit of steam when I got home and fucking myself several times on the couch, but it wasn't gonna happen. Ashley was singing something from the kitchen as I closed the door behind me.

"Fuck," I mumbled. Where I could spend the night fucking Jenna, no problem, it would have been nice to take the edge off of my lust for the girl with some self-love. That being my only problem would have been bliss. Now I had to figure out how to get away from Ash too.

"That you, baby?"

"Don't call me that." I dropped my keys on the table and walked toward the kitchen. My mood went from light and almost good to dark and moody in a flash.

"Uh oh. Someone is pissy." She walked out of the kitchen in a tank top and a pair of tight shorts. No bra and she were the kind of girl who needed one unless she was working some poor fool.

"Ashley, you know you being over here is a bad idea. It's the only place we have that no one knows about but the two of us." I reached out and grabbed her shoulders as she sauntered up to me. I wasn't in the mood to even try and placate her ass.

"Mikey knows about it." She reached out and brushed the back of her fingers against my cock. "Come on, Nate. Shit. We did it. The money is in the bank, and we're days away from this thing being ruled as a suicide. The guy was alone and I have an alibi." Her smile widened. "Fuck me in the shower, on the kitchen table, on the stove tonight. Hard and fast like you like it. Titty fuck me and let me lap at your cock."

"No. Stop it. Shit." I pulled away from her and ran my fingers through my hair. I had to change the fucking locks on my door. We weren't a couple and yet Ash couldn't seem to get that through her head. Funny enough, it hadn't been imperative that she did until now. Until Jenna.

"So, let me guess." She stopped at the edge of the living room and smiled wickedly.

Not good. "Let you guess what?"

"This is about Jenna, isn't it?"

"Jenna who, Ash? I'm really not in the mood right now. Shit at work is piling up and-"

"Jenna Webb, Nathaniel." She pulled her hair into a messy bun and walked toward me. "I know you took her upstairs at Kadia. Did you know who she was? Don't lie to me. I've known you all my life."

"No. I didn't." I gripped her chin and held her in place. "I'm not into her like you think I am. She was a piece of ass I wanted to ruin and walk away from. A game."

"Good. Then this should be fun." She reached up and dug her nails into my wrist.

I hissed and jerked my hand back. "Ouch. That shit hurt." I glanced up and growled low in my chest. "Tonight is not the night."

"No? Then I'll try another night but just know this... I've got all the evidence I need to put you at the scene of my last husband's death, your fingers wrapped around his throat."

"No, you don't." I stiffened, knowing good and damn well that she probably did. This day was coming soon, I just hadn't expected it to be this soon.

"Yeah, I do, and you know I do." She ran her hand down my chest, her eyes growing wide as she slipped her fingers into the top of my jeans and stroked my dick. "And I would never use it against you." She squeezed my cock tightly. "Because I love you, and because I love you, I'm done marrying these assholes. I'm not going to be with anyone but you from now on."

"That's not how this works." I wrapped my hand around her wrist, ready to pull her fingers from my tender bits if she got aggressive. Bitch was about to get thrown down a flight of stairs if she didn't watch herself.

"Yes, it is. I have evidence to put you away for life."

"You just said that you would never use that against me. Changed your mind already?" I tilted my head to the side and ignored my growing erection as she petted my dick. The sorry bastard had a mind of his own.

"Nope, but I need insurance that if I'm going to take care of you, you're going to take care of me." She smiled and rolled her thumb over the swollen head, smearing my pre-cum as I growled again. "She's going to find a way to pin Darek's death on me, and when she does... I'll bring you down right beside me. So the way I see it, to save your own ass, which is all you've ever cared about, you gotta take her out."

"Not happening."

"Because you care about her." Her grip tightened.

"No. Because it would be too fucking obvious. You just introduced me as your goddamn friend, genius." I pulled her hand from my pants and walked toward the balcony. "Why do you think Jenna is going to try and pin Darek's death on you?"

"She told me she was."

I laughed and glanced over my shoulder. "Liar. This girl is a total pushover. Completely innocent. A daddy's girl who wants to grow up, but doesn't know how."

"Agreed, but she's always got fire in her belly, Nate. Take her out."

"Or?" I turned to face the woman I hated more than myself, which was saying something.

"Or I'll do it, and you're going down right beside her. I'm not living my life with something held over my head." She shrugged and sat down on the couch, crossing her long legs and licking at her fingernail. "Marry her and let's get something out of it when she ODs like her brother did."

I turned back toward the setting sun and held my breath. Jenna knew that Ashley was connected to the murder somehow. It would be a matter of time until she connected me to it as well. We'd been covering our tracks so well, and it would seem we were at the end of our good luck.

The woman I'd fallen in love with at the coffee shop for the last year was the one that was going to bring it all down on top of us.

"It's you or me, Nate. Someone has to kill the whore."

I nodded. "You're right. It's me. I'll take care of it."

"Good. You marry her, and I'll poison her with Zandra."

"No. She knows it's toxic. I told her. I didn't know there was a connection when I let her in on the little secret." I opened the sliding glass door. "Be gone when I get back. I'm not in the mood for company."

"That hurts."

"Yep. Suck it up." I walked out into the afternoon sun and closed the door behind me. Life wasn't going to cut me any slack anytime soon.

Jenna or Ashley. That was my choice, and where it seemed easy, it wasn't. I was attached to Ashley, tied to her side, and all of her money from our latest hit would remain untouchable until she granted me my half. She'd have to trust me to do that.

The money from our last kill was running out fast. I needed her more than I needed Jenna, but I wanted Jenna a million times more.

"So it's not really Ash or Jenna." I pressed my forearms to the balcony in front of me. "It's Jenna or poverty."

I closed my eyes as my heart broke in my chest. Life would fuck me once again. It was simply the way of things. I just hated it like hell for my sweet girl. She didn't deserve what was coming her way.

* * *

"What? No. Dude. No. I told you this shit was going to happen." Mikey chucked the basketball at me with aggression. "I like this girl."

"Yeah, I do too, dimwit. Fuck." I chucked it back and walked toward him aggressively. "What would you do? Hm?"

"I don't know. I don't get into these crazy, fucked up situations like you do. Shit." He threw the ball at me and turned and ran toward the fence.

"Hey, bitch. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" A behemoth of a guy stepped onto the court.

I chuckled and chucked the ball at Mikey before giving my attention to the guy. "I'm not nearly as fucking fat as you are, man. That's an insult and I'm gonna take a pound of flesh from your face for that shit. You'll thank me later."

"Oh shit. Nathaniel. No, man. I was just being dramatic. Hey, Mr. Big Dude, thanks for the help, but he's my best friend." Mikey ran toward us as I turned to face him and lifted my hand.

The giant answered for me. "Your best friend is a fucking bully. He needs to be taught a lesson. Stay back, man."

"Bully?" I glanced over at the guy. "I'm having to decide if I'm going to kill my childhood friend or the girl that leaves my dick hard and my heart fluttering all day long. Excuse the fuck out of me for being a little loud about it."

I moved toward him with speed I'm not quite sure he was expecting. I'd laid three punches on him before he socked me once in the side pretty good. All the air in my lungs rushed out, and I moved back and gulped for air.

Mikey ran toward the guy, but I moved in his way and pushed him back, which of course resulted in him landing on his fat ass.

"See? Fucking bully. I hate bitches like you." The guy growled and moved toward me.

"Let me guess. You didn't get your first growth spurt until senior year and everyone beat your ass until then?" I moved out of his way as he reached for me and knelt down, punching him twice in the nuts before he could drop to the ground and roll on his side. I moved in front of him and kicked him once in the chest and again in the face. "Did I get it right, bitch? Join the goddamn club. Mind your own fucking business."

"Nate, come on, man. Don't do that." Mikey pulled at my arm and forced me to move back. "Stop that shit. People are starting to gather."

"Whatever." I jerked from his hold and grabbed my ball as I walked back toward my apartment. First Ashley and now Mikey. What else the fuck could go wrong?

I almost made it to the apartment when Mikey jogged up and moved in front of me. He pressed his hand in the center of my chest and gasped for air.

"Wait. Please. Please. Just let me-"

I glanced down at his hand and back up to him, my expression menacing at best. "Get your hand off of me, Mikey. I needed a friend today, and you were anything but that."

"I'm your best friend. You want me to off one of the girls? I'll do it. Give me a fucking pillow and I'll just snuff them out." He pressed his hand into my chest harder and let his head drop. "Fucking running. We could just run them to death. I swear to God, I'm going to have a fucking heart attack."

"You should jog more, you fat bastard." I pulled his hand from my chest and turned my back to him. "I've been with Ashley since we were kids, Mikey. I was there the day her momma died and I held her while she lost her shit. She's a cruel bitch, but how can anyone blame her for that shit? Life's been cruel."

"But you're in love with Jenna Webb, aren't you?"

I jerked around and let my eyes scan the street. "Don't ever say that again, Mikey. I'm serious."

"Love wins out here, Nate. Turn Ash in and give her a different life."

"One behind bars? You don't know what you're asking of me."

"I'm asking you to choose what's best for everyone involved. She killed Darek. You didn't. You can't even be linked to this shit."

"Of course I can. It was my Zandra she gave him. She could make it look like I was the fucking dealer. It's an easy pin." I rolled my shoulders and bounced on the balls of my feet. "I have to kill one of them. That's the only way out of this. Or kill myself."

"No." His voice was deep, strong. "No. That's not happening. Fuck them both. Let them kill each other. Let's get the money and run."

"No way." I pursed my lips and let my eyes move across the sky toward the sunset. "I gotta take a quick shower. I'm spending the night with Jenna."

"That's not a good idea."

I patted his chest as I moved past him. "Yeah, who the fuck said it was? I'm not usually the kinda guy who does what's safe. I need a night with her."

"And then?" he called after me, his voice filled with hard emotions.

"I don't know, buddy. We'll see what happens." I shrugged and walked into the darkness of the hallway to my apartment. "We'll just see what happens."