Page 90 of Crawl

I count them all—this time, it’s thirty-nine, only a few years older than my real age—and by the time she comes back, her expression has changed. Her shoulders drop, her mouth loose and sullen.

“You all right?” I ask.

She nods to herself, but I can tell she’s trying to play it off like it’s nothing. I move the hair out of her green eyes.

“I feel bad,” she says.

I know it’s about her stepdad. Her mother hasn’t taken his disappearance well, even though they had been divorced for years. I guess they kept in contact anyway, and now, she thinks he’s ghosted her.

“You shouldn’t,” I say.

“I know, but my mom, she’s so—”

Remedy stops and the words disintegrate in her mouth.

“You did what you had to do,” I say. “For all you knew, I would’ve killedyouif you didn’t kill him.”

She huffs through her nose, her nostrils flaring. “You wouldn’t have killed me.” She rolls her eyes, a sassy grin on her plump lips.

“You don’t know that.”

She laughs. I wrap my arms around her, stuffing my mouth with her neck, biting down until she squeals. “Cash!” she shouts. “Oh! By the way,” she lifts her burner phone, “Jenna’s got a new boyfriend.”

Remedy catches up with Jenna by making fake social media profiles and searching her pages for new information. If anything bugs her about leaving Key West, it’s losing her best friend. But we both agreed that this is the best way to keep Jenna safe.

“Do we need to take care of this one too?” I ask. Her last abusive ex was Remedy’s number three.

“No,” she says, feigning reluctance like she’s disappointed that we can’t kill him. “As long as he doesn’t hit her, I honestly don’t care.”

A few months after we left, we mailed Jenna a picture of a very dead-looking Mr. Winstone.Movie Props,Remedy wrote on the back. She left it unsigned and without a return address.

I swing Remedy around until she’s leaning on the counter, pinned between my arms. I press my lips to hers, growling as her tongue searches for mine. Her lips are like satin, and I know I don’t deserve her. I can’t give her back her best friend or her mom, but I can give her a life like this. We’re traveling the world, one place at a time, meeting and destroying people we meet. We even have matching onyx wedding rings to symbolize our union. We can’t get legally married without leaving a paper trail, but we know we are ourchosenfamily. That’s what matters.

I bend her over the counter, pulling up her thin black dress. She stands on her tiptoes, waiting for me to strike. I take out my gun, still faintly warm from the last bullet, and rub the barrel against her pussy. She grinds back onto it like it’s a dick, and fuck, I hold my cock in my other hand, ready to trade it for the gun. I love playing games with her, but I want inside of her now.

One day, our love is going to kill us. But I’ve never been scared of death, and Remedy isn’t afraid anymore. We’re in this together.

THE END