Page 61 of Raine

“Me?”

“What the fuck, Raine?” he says, his voice softer than I expected.

“She wanted to dance, Justyce. I was only helping out a friend.”

“Since you lost that tail, I’ve been a ball of fucking anxiety. I know you’re more than capable, but I need eyes on her when I can’t have my own.”

“I won’t apologize, but I get it.”

“Oh, you definitely will,” he grins, and my walls start piling high.

“What does that mean?”

“That means, little sister, that you have volunteered to head to Clara’s tonight with Acheron.”

“What? I thought we were all going?” I rush out, irritated and flustered at the thought.

“Can’t he take Arrow?”

“Arrow is… indisposed,” he answers, the lie coming out like he just stabbed a fork in my fucking arm.

“Is…is he ok?”

“Don’t worry about Arrow; he’s a big boy. Get yourself cleaned up and meet us up top. And Raine, hurry the fuck up; I have a punishment to dole out.”

I want to cuss him out and refuse to go with Acheron, but I know I’ll lose, so there isn’t any use in arguing with him. Groaning, I head to my dressing room and strip out of the costume, throwing it in the basket in the corner.

Standing naked, I look through the clothes I have in the dresser and pick out a black skirt, stockings, and a white tank. I leave my bra off and grab a pair of white and black Converse, figuring I need comfortable shoes for the next part of my night.

I move to grab a wipe from my dresser to clean my face of makeup. My eyes snag on the pills littering it and I count them in my head.One, two, three. Hmm.

The effects from the earlier coke are waning, and although I can still feel the effects, I can also feel myself coming back. The refusal sits heavy in my gut because tonight I’ll do anything to keep my mind quiet.

Acting on impulse, I snatch the palette of eyeshadow and place it over the pills, applying pressure and hearing them crush underneath. Looking over my shoulder to make sure no one is there, I grab a credit card out of my purse and pile it together.

Looking around the room, I spot a half-bottle of vodka on the small table and walk over to grab it.

I bring it back to the dresser and place the bottle at the lip of it, then I use my credit card to slide the pills over the mirror and into the bottle.

Ever so slowly, I make sure I don’t lose a grain of the powder as I scrape every speck of it into the bottle. Once it’s all gone, I lean down beside the dresser and open the fridge. Rummaging around inside it until I find a bottle of orange juice and dump the contents into the vodka bottle.

Grabbing my black leather cuff, I fix it into place around my wrist, then strap my gun to my thigh and my knife to my hip.

Swiping the bottle, my bag, and phone off the dresser, I head out of the dressing room and toward the hidden staircase. My thoughts drift away, the bottle in my hand calling to me, but I stave it off and make my way to the meeting room.

When I reach the top of the stairs, I hear Acheron and Justyce talking but I can’t make out what they’re saying. I enter the room, and they stop talking, their eyes fixed on me.

“Finally,” Acheron grouses. “Let’s get this shit over with.”

“Fine by me.”

“Play nice, kids,” Justyce teases, and heads toward the door at the back of the room that leads to his private space.

“Gross. Couldn’t you wait until you got home?”

“Fuck off, Raine,” he says, laughter evident in his voice.

The door opens and closes, and Acheron chuckles.