Page 5

Shade looks away. ‘Don’t play dumb. You already know. I’ll bet you did your digging the first day she was here.’

I shrug. ‘Yeah, I did. And I’ve heard some rumors, seen some old newspaper articles, too. But you Novelles did a great job of hiding it. Maybe I want the full story. Maybe I want you to tell me.’

‘Maybe you should ask her , since you guys are so damn close,’ Shade snorts, stepping back.

I chuckle. ‘Keep the green-eyed monster at bay, would you?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ he spits back.

I laugh darkly as I hear the shower stop and Shade goes into his room, leaving the door open so that he can watch me take Daisy back to her room.

I roll my eyes. There’s something up with him, and it’s not just about the semi-secret feelings he’s harboring for Daisy. He was trying to find Sark at the party last night. Maybe he’s getting pressured because the pills aren’t ready yet. I grit my teeth. This was only meant to be a side project. I take my phone out to message Mav quickly. Maybe his brother, Dom, will tell us if Shade is keeping something back.

I see I have a message from Jolie, and I delete it absently without even reading it as I knock and open the door to the now steamy bathroom.

‘Are you done?’ I ask Daisy.

I look straight at her, eyes roaming her body. I know it’s not the right time. I know I shouldn’t watch her, but I can’t help myself. Whatever was stopping me before is gone after my little chat with Shade just now.

But what I see has me clenching my hands and wanting to bury my fist in a wall. I keep my anger in check, not wanting to scare her again, but she’s covered in scrapes and bruises. Jesus, that girl went to Hell and back last night.

‘How many times did you trip out there?’ I blurt before I consider my words.

She looks over her shoulder at me and shrugs, but as she turns around and I help her out of the tub, I see even more that couldn’t be from just falling over.

I put a towel around her and pick her up gently, carrying her to my room and ignoring her protests. It’s not because I know it’ll piss Shade off.

Okay, it’s a little bit because I know it’ll piss Shade off, but mostly I want her where I know she’s safe, and I have some work to do.

I sit her down on my bed and grab the bandage from her room.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘A little better, I think,’ she says with a yawn.

‘Are you hungry yet?’

She shakes her head, and I rewrap her ankle, wincing a little when I hear her pained gasp.

‘Sorry,’ I mutter. ‘Do you want me to grab you some clothes?’

She glances up at me. ‘Can I just have the robe back?’

I’m rising to go get it from where I hung it in the bathroom when Shade saunters in. He’s carrying it.

‘Here,’ he says.

She stands up carefully, her bad foot only just resting on the floor to give her balance. She loses the towel, and I see Shade’s jaw tighten.

‘What else happened to you last night?’ he asks, holding the robe out of reach as he looks at the black and blue canvas of her body.

‘Give me the robe and I’ll tell you.’

Shade raises a brow and steps close, putting it around her shoulders and tying it together.

‘Go on.’

She sits down, not looking at us. ‘After I left the house, it’s a little hazy for a while. They...made me drink something and I felt like I did before, after that first party.’

I nod and hide my clenched fists, so she doesn’t notice them. I want her to keep talking.

‘I think I hurt my ankle around then,’ she continues after a moment, ‘but I don’t remember. I spent some time outside Lu’s dorm in the bushes because it was locked. I don’t know how long though. When I got to her room, she wasn’t there, but Mich and Travis were on their way out and saw me in the hall. They took me into their room to wait for Lu since she didn’t answer when they called her.’

Shade and I share a look.

‘Did they...Were they nice to you?’ Shade asks.

I frown at Shade, and he averts his gaze a little sheepishly.

‘Nice to me?’ Daisy asks. ‘Um, well Mich was okay. He was trying to be helpful. He made Travis get me something to drink, I think I fell asleep on his bed for a little while.’

‘Did either of them do anything?’ I ask, wondering how to put it so she’ll understand what we’re asking.

She looks up at me and then at Shade with a confused look on her face. ‘Well, they were talking to each other.’

I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes on a sigh. ‘He means did they touch you...like Marcus and the others, sweetheart.’

‘Oh!’

She shakes her head, looking away again and then clenching her eyes shut.

‘No, Mich was trying to help me. He was afraid I was concussed, or something, I think. But his roommate wasn’t very nice. Travis. He wanted to send me back outside, but Mich vetoed, so he called the campus police and told them I was drunk and wouldn’t leave their room.’

Shade’s eyes lock with mine and I nod. I haven’t done anything about Travis yet because I wanted the full story, but he’ll be gone by the start of the week, just like the rent-a-cops. When I’m done with him, he’ll be out of Richmond, and probably on his way to jail. In fact, I’ll make sure of it.

‘And what happened after the officers got there?’

‘They thought I was drunk too, and then Travis told them my name and they cuffed me.’

‘Your name?’ Shade asks.

‘Yeah, he said it was Daisy Novelle and they knew it, of course. One of them threw me on the bed and put his knee in the middle of my back. It hurt, and then he pulled my arms behind me and cuffed me.’

I side-eye Shade. Simply making sure those two officers get fired definitely isn’t enough. I can see he agrees by the way the vein in his neck pulses. Good thing I’ve started wrecking their credit, and had the bank begin foreclosure on their homes. By the time I’m finished, they’ll be living out of boxes and lucky to get work as bus boys.

‘They took me down the stairs and put me in the back of the car,’ Daisy continues. ‘The seats were hard plastic, and I kept sliding around.’

My eyes narrow, remembering the time or two that I was picked up as a teen. ‘Did they seem like they were swerving around a lot, stopping suddenly?’

She nods, looking at me in clear surprise. ‘I was in the car for a while. I was surprised when the office was so near the science building and KIP. I thought we’d gone further. I think most of the bruises came from the car. I couldn’t hold onto anything because my hands were cuffed behind me.’

Shade and I share another speaking glance.

‘And after that?’ Shade urges.

‘They told me they were calling Richmond PD to come get me, but they were going to make sure I was lost in the system for a while. They had me write my name, but it isn’t Daisy Novelle. I’m enrolled here as Marguerite Evans.’

‘Evans?’ I ask.

‘My dad’s last name. My real dad.’

‘Where’s he?’ I can’t help but ask, wondering if he’s a deadbeat, life-ruining, motherfucker like mine.

‘He’s dead. A fire.’

‘I’m sorry.’

She shrugs and I get the impression she doesn’t talk about him if she can help it.

‘Anyway, they looked me up and then they both got scared of something and that’s when they called John, or his secretary, I guess, instead of the real police.’

I’m standing up before Shade even asks.

‘Yeah, I’ll figure out what they saw that made them change their minds,’ I say before he can ask.

I frown and my eyes flick to Daisy. ‘It’s weird that it wasn’t when they thought your name was Novelle, though.’

I go to the computer and bring up the database of all the college students and faculty. I find Daisy, or rather Marguerite Evans’ profile and read through it. I’m a slow reader, so it doesn’t surprise me when Daisy, who’s reading over my shoulder from the bed, finds it first.

‘There. On the left at the bottom.’ She points at a nondescript box that says, ‘Severely mentally challenged. Call guardian immediately.’

She breathes out slowly. ‘Can everyone see this?’ she asks in a small voice.

‘No, only the campus cops and the highest administrators in the Dean’s office.’

‘But they could just look me up and see that ?’

I delete what’s in the box. ‘Not anymore.’

When I turn around, she’s giving me a small, relieved smile. ‘Thanks.’

‘No problem, beautiful.’

Shade’s phone rings and he gets up, mumbling about needing to take it. He leaves the room, closing my door, and I hear him mumbling out in the hallway.

‘Want to watch a movie, or something?’

She perks up, nodding her head and pulling herself up the bed to put her head on one of my pillows, facing the TV.

I like that she feels comfortable enough to relax in my room like this, I realize, as I put on a comedy from where I’m sitting.

After a few minutes of watching it, I feel her eyes on me.

‘What is it?’ I ask.

‘Will you lay on the bed with me?’ she asks in a small voice.

If it were any other girl, I’d probably assume she meant something else, but this one, I’ve come to understand, means exactly what she says. She just wants me to lay on the bed with her, so that’s what I do.

I settle in behind her, breathing in her scent. I put my arm around her middle and cuddle her a little, ready to move away if she doesn’t want me so close, but instead she simply breathes out a long sigh and snuggles closer to me, fitting her body into mine.

I’m spooning with Shade’s step-sister. I don’t know why but this is different. It seems a lot more intimate than what I’ve done with her before, what I’ve done with any girl before. It should feel weird. I’m not close to many people. In fact, there are only Shade and Mav.

And now, Daisy, my mind supplies.

I find myself dozing with her and I jump a little when I feel my phone. I crack an eye and look at it lazily, waking up instantly when I see who it’s from.

‘Got called out?’ Shade asks in a low voice.

I realize he’s sitting at my desk, watching me and Daisy cuddling with a look on his face that isn’t angry, but isn’t quite happy either.

‘Yeah.’ I ease my body away from Daisy’s, making sure I don’t wake her.

I grab my jacket and take the gun from my waistband, putting it in my pocket.

‘Think you’ll need that?’

‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ I shrug. ‘Better safe than sorry.’

‘How much more do you have on your debt?’

I slip on some sneakers. ‘A few grand.’

‘Still?’

I let out a low, mirthless laugh. ‘My pop is a little like yours, I guess. Doesn’t do shit in half-measures. Guess that’s why he’s doing life.’

‘If I could help?—’

I put up a hand to stop my friend’s well-meaning words. ‘I know you’d do something if you could, but I’d rather just work off the money owed and be done with it. It’s not your problem, bro.’

Shade nods, resigned, and I turn to go.

‘Blake.’

I swing back and incline my head at him.

‘I’m sorry. About before.’

‘We’re cool,’ I say, glancing at Daisy. ‘I know you care about her, but you’re not the only one who does, Shade. Remember that.’

‘I know,’ he murmurs.

‘Tell her I had to... Just tell her I’ll be back later, okay?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And ask Mav to pick her up a burger from that spot near Richmond proper. She hasn’t eaten anything all day.’

‘Never thought I’d see you like this,’ Shade chuckles.

‘Giving a shit about Daisy?’

‘Giving a shit about any girl.’

I regard the small figure in the black robe who’s still sleeping in my bed. ‘Never met one who I thought was worth it before.’

I leave the house quickly, going to the parking lot and hot wiring one of the older models in the lot. I grew up jacking cars to go joyriding, so this is child’s play. I leave Richmond U and drive thirty minutes to a bar just off the interstate in the next town over. I back into a space, so I can leave in a hurry if I need to and grab a few things out of my bag. A ski mask goes over my face and Eric Blake is no more.

I walk around the building slowly, but I already know the cameras are just for show. None of them are connected. I was here a few months back to give them their first warning. Sliding on some brass knuckles, I stretch a little as I make my way across the yard, getting ready for the inevitable.

At the back of the bar, I go in through an unlocked door. I can hear low music and some chatter at the end of the narrow corridor. I touch my gun in the pocket of my black jacket as I tap out a quick text with my other hand, just to make double sure it’s there if I need it.

Here.

Past a dingy kitchen and a bathroom that stinks of more than just shit, my neck prickles, but I keep going. I get to the bar. Three dirty-looking rednecks sit at a table playing cards in the dim light emitted by a couple of neon signs. There are a few handguns on the table across the room and some shotguns by the window. I roll my eyes. Who do they think is coming for them, a whole militia?

No, assholes, it’s just me today, but you’re gonna wish it wasn’t.

Smiling to myself, I lean against the wall to wait for them to learn I’m here from the boss, since not one of the jackasses has noticed me yet.

I hear a beep and the scraggly one with the longest beard picks up what looks to me like a burner phone. He frowns as he reads the message, and I get ready for my big reveal. But ten seconds later and he’s still reading it.

Jesus fucking Christ.

One of the others finally looks up.

‘Holy shit! Where’d he come from?’

Finally!

I pick myself off the wall and saunter toward the table like I don’t have a care in the world.

‘He sent you?’ the leader asks.

I nod once. I don’t speak. I never speak. No one knows who I am. The rumors are just that, rumors.

The guys at the table don’t move.

‘You don’t have to do this,’ the leader snarls. ‘I have… a have a girl. Take her. She’s yours.’

I let out a theatrical sigh and make a gesture to ask where she is, mostly because I want to know how many girls they have here. It was one of the questions I’ve been told to find answers to.

‘Okay,’ the leader grunts. ‘Okay.’ He gets up slowly and goes through another door, coming back a few seconds later with a thin woman in tow. He has her by her dark hair, but she’s not complaining.

He pushes her forward and she comes over to me slowly. It’s like she’s willing, but I already know what these guys are into and she’s not. She’s just aware of what’ll happen if she doesn’t do what she’s told. I look up at her face and my eyes widen behind my ski mask. She looks a little like Daisy. The thought has me jerking back as she touches me.

‘You don’t like her?’ he asks, chuckling. ‘Well, she’s the only one we got as of this morning. On your knees, bitch.’

She drops to the floor in front of me, unzipping my pants deftly.

All eyes are watching what’s she’s doing, and though I’m meant to be delivering a final warning, not killing anyone yet, I’ve found what I need, and I won’t get in trouble for ridding the world of these bottom feeders.

I pull out my gun and shoot the two guys at the table first. Both headshots though one is a little wide and the dude thuds to the floor, floundering like a fish. The leader has his hands up, the girl is flat on the floor in front of me with her eyes closed. It’s clearly not her first time.

‘You ain’t supposed to kill us! You were just here for the money!’ he screams, eyeing his friends, and then the guns on the bar. He lunges for one and I grab him, hitting him a few times just because I can before I shoot him in the forehead without a speck of regret.

The girl on the ground stays where she is.

The survivor is also on the floor, writhing around. I kill him with a second bullet to the chest.

I go into the back where the girl was brought from. I find some more guns and ammo. I also find a bag of money, the cash they’ve been holding back. I tut to myself as I grab it. I wipe my gun and leave it next to one of the guys I killed. I can easily get another one that doesn’t tie me to a crime.

The girl is still on the floor.

‘You from Richmond?’ I ask.

She shakes her head.

I grab a few of the bills from the bag and let them flutter to the floor next to her.

‘I’ll tell my boss there were no girls here. Go back to where you came from and don’t make trouble.’

With a vigorous nod, she grabs the cash and gets to her feet. She runs into the back room, probably to grab the drugs I saw back there, but what do I care? That’s not what I’m here for.

I break some bottles of liquor and light a match, setting the bar ablaze. On the way out, I see the bathroom door is open and the girl is standing next to a naked blonde who’s propped up against the wall. Her eyes are open and unseeing.

I move past quickly, wanting to be out of here before anyone notices the fire.

I get in the car and leave slowly, getting back on the road and pulling off my ski mask. I get a cigarette out of my jacket and light up, noticing belatedly that there’s blood on me.

Afterward, I drive around for a while before I drop off the cash at a warehouse by the river. As usual, I’m filled with what ifs, anger toward my father, and disgust at the person I am. But I feel no remorse for what I did. Maybe that’s what scares me the most. I kill and feel nothing.

Who am I?

Who am I going to taint with my black soul next?