Page 12

Jason

I’ve never driven so fast in my life.

I was still at the club when I got the call from Eve, and couldn’t understand what she meant. Did she find a body in her yard? Was it a DEAD body?

As I speed down the highway, every scenario is racing through my mind. I had JUST seen her at Clover tonight, and she was fine when she left. I hadn’t gotten a phone call, no concerning updates or anything: just a kiss, a hug, and a promise to call me tomorrow. I glance down to check the address Ace had given me, courtesy of his damn tracker, and look up to see the exit sign approaching.

God I hope she’s ok.

I pull off the exit and in a few minutes I turn down her street. It is dark, quiet, the houses all spaced apart pretty decently and not a sound is heard, save for my engine rumbling as I approach her driveway. I’m not prepared for what I see.

As I drive up slowly to the front of her house, I see Eve is sitting on the ground at the top of her driveway, a large tarp laid out in front of her. She is holding something in her hand, and her face is covered in what looks like…dirt? It’s too dark to make it out from the street, so I pull to the curb and turn off my engine, stepping out and walking around my car towards her.

It isn’t until I’m halfway up her driveway that I sense something incredibly wrong. The energy in the air isn’t right, and as I walk past her car, I notice the door still open and keys in the ignition. Shutting the door gently as I pass, I turn my attention to Eve, my eyes widening in sudden realization. The light of the moon catches on a crowbar laid across her lap, her hand clutching it for dear life as she stares ahead at the tarp.

I approach slowly, extending a hand in caution and care.

“Eve….Eve, are you ok?”

I inhale sharply as I squat down across from her, kneeling beside the tarp that she can’t seem to take her eyes off of.

“Eve…Princess, what happened?”

My voice is soft, and she finally tears herself away from the tarp and looks at me. It takes me half a heartbeat to realize that it isn’t dirt on her face..

It’s blood.

There’s blood everywhere.

Her face is painted with it, the red liquid binding her hands to the crowbar as I drag my gaze up to her face in shock. Her eyes are glazed over, processing an emotion that I recognize all too well: an emotion I haven’t felt since I was back in college, when I first started enforcing for the gang. I pray to God that I’m mistaken, that Eve isn’t experiencing what I experienced all those years ago, but right now, with what I’m sure is lying next to me under that tarp, I can’t afford to make assumptions.

“Eve, tell me what happened. What is under that tarp?”

Her fingers curl slightly as her grip on the crowbar tightens. Despite the absolute silence around us, her voice is so low and breathless I can barely hear her.

“I forgot my wallet at Clover. I was leaving to get it. I saw them outside,” she looks off across the street, as if replaying the events in her head. “They beat me to my car. Dragged me from it. I broke one of their legs. The other one….”

She pauses for a moment, her gaze moving slowly down to the tarp in front of her.

“The other one wouldn’t let me go. So I broke his nose and tried to run. He chased me….then I broke him again…”

Grasping the corner of the tarp, I lift it slowly, exposing a pool of blood scattered with bits of bone and brain matter. I look up at Eve, my face full of shock as I lift the corner a little more and behold the aftermath of her fury.

I’m no stranger to the sight of blood, of violence. That’s not what has me unsettled. What I’m concerned about is the level of rage that had to have gone into an attack like this. This is the kind of aggression you see when somebody snaps, when they really lose it. And right now, dropping the tarp and looking back at Eve…that void in her face…the slightest tug at the corner of her lips….

She enjoyed this. She reveled in losing control, in retaliating against someone who threatened her life.

She has no regret, no remorse.

I almost feel proud.

“Eve, you were protecting yourself,” I say as I move towards her, her eyes following me as a snake would follow a mouse before a strike. “Don’t feel badly about that. It was you or him.”

I can’t let her see that I recognize that look in her, that post-kill satisfaction. She’s too observant, and she would have too many questions.

“I don’t feel bad, that’s the thing,” she whispers absently, cocking her head slightly. “I…I enjoyed it. Fighting back, defending myself, punishing someone who would’ve done me harm…I felt…strong. Empowered.”

A strand of her hair clings to her cheek, moored by the drying blood on her face. She brushes it back, and as I sit and stare, I can’t help but to admire her. Her jawline, her perfectly pale skin flecked by blood and sweat, the way the moonlight catches on her profile as she looks down at her kill in front of her, almost lovingly.

She’s never been more beautiful.

“Eve, we need to get this off of your driveway, right now,” I say as I stand, reaching my hand down to Eve. She looks up at me, then down to her shoulder and sighs.

“I think my shoulder is dislocated. I can’t move my arm.”

My brows furrow as I reach down to gently assess her shoulder, and I feel her wince slightly at my touch. The joint is definitely out of the socket. As I silently thank Jack for teaching me how to reset bones, I move behind her and sit down, putting each of my legs on either side of her so that her back is pressing against my chest.

“Eve, we need to take care of this here,” I whisper in her ear, gently grasping her arm and feeling her inhale sharply against me. “I know it’s gonna hurt, but it will be over quickly. Just breathe.”

Taking her arm in mine, it takes me all of 5 seconds to maneuver her arm back in place. With a quick pop, she yelps and I plant soft kisses on her cheek, tasting copper as the warmth of my breath brings life to the dried blood that rests there.

Holding her arm to her body, she shifts between my legs, turning slightly to look at me. Her eyes offer a wordless ‘thank you,’ and I close my eyes and nod at her in return.

“So what do we do about…that?” She motions to the tarp and uncrosses her legs, placing the crowbar next to her before rising to stand. I follow suit, and I take a moment to look around her yard, seeing what she has at our disposal. A few tarps, a few tools, and a bunch of sandbags: not a lot to work with, but enough to give me an idea.

“Ok Eve, grab that square shovel leaning against your garage…we’re going to wrap the tarp around him, shovel up the pieces and then double wrap him in that extra tarp,” I point to the new, folded pile of plastic nearby.

“I’ll carry him to my car, and while I do that I need you to take the sand and dump it on the driveway to cover the stains. Don’t dump all the bags, though, leave a bag or two unopened and set them next to the pile.”

Eve doesn’t hesitate before moving to grab the items I’d mentioned. After handing me the shovel, she goes and starts dragging sandbags over staging them nearby so she can be quick with opening them once the body is moved.

“Jason, what are we going to do with the body, though? And what about the stains on the driveway? The sand might mask them and absorb some of it, but I can’t be seen scrubbing blood off of the concrete. Especially that much.”

She has a point. I’m sure her neighbors heard screaming and shuffling, and just because they hadn’t come out of their houses at midnight doesn’t mean they won’t be out during the day, asking questions and checking on Eve.

Luckily, I know some people.

“I know some guys who do roadkill removal for a living,” I huff as I work the tarp around the carcass, rolling it up and using the shovel to quickly scrape up the remains and pile them inside. “Pressure washing, stain removal, the works. Let me phone them and see if they can come by first thing in the morning.”

I know the Jokers will be more than willing to lend a hand, and they never ask questions. I’ll give them a call when we’re done here, but first thing’s first: we need to get this body out of here.

Grunting in an attempt to hide the soreness of her shoulder, Eve tears at a bag, dumping sand over the stains before looking at me in confusion.

“Won’t they ask questions? Like why there is such a HUGE blood stain on my driveway? I mean, it’s not like I’m a hunter out here cleaning deer or some shit. If I were them, I’d be reporting it to the cops.”

I chuckle to myself as I wrap the new tarp around the body, rolling and shifting until I’m convinced there won’t be any leakage in my car.

“Eve, trust me. These guys and I go way back, I wouldn’t call them if I didn’t trust them.”

The blood on the driveway disappears under a pile of sand: when she’s done, we both lift the body and move it to my car, placing it in the trunk and shutting the door. Our breathing heavy, hands sore, we both look at each other with a sense of accomplishment, before I notice Eve’s eyes filling with tears. She leans forward and drops her head onto my chest, her arms falling to her sides as she sobs silently for a moment.

I bring my arms up and around her, cradling her to me and kissing the top of her head.

“Everything is ok, Princess. Everything is ok…” I rest my cheek on her hair, stroking the matted strands gently until I feel the sobbing cease.

“Thank you, Jason. For everything,” she says, wiping her tears away and smearing the now-moistened blood across her face. She looks like she had just fought in some gladiator pit, covered in the evidence of her victory, tears drying as she looks up at me expectantly.

My little warrior.

“Alright, I need you to get in the car now, Eve. We’re going to head to Everlast, and we need to get there as soon as possible.”

I wipe my hands on my pants and pull out my phone, scrolling quickly through my contacts list until I reach the M’s.

I hardly ever have a reason to call Maya, but right now I need backup, and I know she’ll drop anything at any time to help a member of the Suits.

She picks up after one ring.

“Jason, sweetheart, what’s going on?”

She sounds out of breath, the sound of metal and movement behind her as I realize where she is.

Oh fuck, she’s at Clover.

“Hey…are you…free right now?”

Eve glances over at me with a raised brow, and her eyes darken as she stares in concern. She can’t hear Maya’s words, just mine, so I make sure to keep my conversation cryptic.

“I just finished up with a client twenty minutes ago, I’m just cleaning up. Why, what’s wrong?”

“Meet me at Everlast, as soon as you can. Fire up the retort. I’ll explain everything when we get there.”

“WE? Jason, what is going on?”

“Maya, please. I’ve never asked you for anything, and right now I’m asking for your help.”

She goes silent, and I curse under my breath. Using her real name when she’s working is one thing, but in front of Eve…

I look over at Eve, who is still staring at me, her face scrunched in concern and contemplation. I can feel the wheels turning in her head as she tries to put pieces together.

“Ok, I’ll see you there.” Her voice is short, irritated, and I know better than to stay on the phone longer than necessary.

“Thank you so much. And will you do me one more favor? Will you tell the guys that we have a cleanup on Aisle One that needs attention? I’ll send you the address.”

“Will do,” she says as I hear her repeating my request to the Jokers, who are undoubtedly cleaning up with her.

She hangs up the line and I walk to the driver's seat, Eve following my cue and sliding into the passenger side. As I start the car and pull away, she buckles and glances backwards towards the trunk.

“Why do we need to get there soon? Don’t you own the place? And why in God’s name did you call Maya?,” she asks, and I grind my teeth. SO curious. I want to answer her questions, but I have to tread carefully. Helping her is one thing, but revealing too much about myself right now is out of the question.

“It’s already nearly 2am,” I reply as we get on the freeway, Everlast just a short couple miles away. “Cremation takes a couple hours, as you well remember. We need to have his body disposed of before too many people are awake and driving by, noticing the smoke. And I don’t want to keep his body in our morgue for longer than necessary.”

She nods silently, chewing on her lip and getting lost in thought for a moment.

“As for Maya…well, I trust her. She would empathize with your situation right now, and I need her help, providing an alibi for you and me just in case things blow back on us.”

Eve remains silent for a moment, looking straight ahead as we approach the exit to Everlast, until finally she dips her chin in my direction.

“Jason…why are you helping me with this?”

Her big green eyes are clear now, as if knowing that she is safe. The high that she was riding after her first kill is subsiding, and for a moment I see the old Eve looking at me: inquisitive and always searching for an answer. We pull into Everlast, parking around back where the entrance to the crematorium is, and as I turn the car off I turn to look at her.

“Because, Eve…” I taper off, unsure of how to explain to her that she means the world to me. That she illuminates the parts of me that have long lay dormant, parts of me I swore had withered away and ceased to exist entirely. That in the complicated tapestry that is my existence, she is the thread that is weaving new purpose into my life.

Instead, I just stare, captivated by the woman before me. Her strength, her faith in me…her darkness…everything about her has me entranced, and after the events of tonight, I feel like we’ve grown even closer.

She smiles at me briefly, but what she says next immediately causes the color to drain from my face.

“Jason…how did you know where I live?”