Page 130 of Dirty Hearts

They didn’t say anything. They just smiled, then they turned and walked in the opposite direction.

“Let’s go home, Doll.” Claudius took my hands and ran his finger over my ring.

I leaned into him and smiled. “Yes.”

Home.

Home for me had always felt like the place I was whenever I was with him.

It was a good place to live.

* * *

Claudius

* * *

My body still felt broken.

The sting of the truth still felt like venomous poison working itself into my soul.

I was still trying to get to grips on all that happened. All of it.

Jude, Alex, everyone and everything.

I wished I could have taken the time to savor the excitement a normal guy would feel after getting engaged to the woman of his dreams.

I wished I could, but confliction still filled me from the rawness of everything.

I tried to push it aside when I was around Ava. I did it too when everyone was congratulating us, and I guess I did when I took a moment to acknowledge that I was finally happy. I had my angel. I lived to see her again, and I got the girl.

We had a second chance to do what we wanted to do, and she wanted to be with me. That was a door I’d never expected to open again.

However the confliction was still there, and I was sure everyone could feel it in their own way. They knew Jude, and those Like Ava who’d just met him understood how I must have felt.

I’d left her about an hour ago, and I went to the park across from the garage. I just needed to think about what I was going to do next.

I sat on the hill now looking over the city lights against the night sky. Jude was at the forefront of my mind. The depth of his level of treachery spanned over the last eight years. Right back to Henry.

His greed caused me so much pain. His greed caused me to carry the guilt of Marissa’s death. No, I would never stop blaming myself for what happened to her. It was just that knowing the truth didn’t exactly help either.

It didn’t have to be that way. He didn’t need to involve her.

The man was an opportunist who had wormed his way into every bad situation that had affected our lives and made it a hundred times worse. Working for Joe Manello.

Then there was Alex.

No one had seen, nor heard from him. We didn’t know where he went or if we’d see him again.

A week had passed since the incident took place. A week of us searching for him, and scouring the place for Joe, Barabbas, or anyone else that had been part of the crew.

We’d come up with nothing. I had Cora check everywhere before she went back to LA. Joe, Barabbas and company had become ghosts again. Disappearing and going off grid like nothing ever happened.

Footsteps sounded behind me, and I turned on instinct, ready to whip out my gun, but stilled when I saw Alex.

He stood paces away and held my gaze for a few seconds then came over and lowered next to me. I faced him, looking at the sullen expression on his face. He looked awful. Unkempt and emotionally battered.

We sat in silence, in more awkwardness. Me looking at him. Him staring ahead.