Page 125 of X's and O's

He didn’t need to ask me twice.

I ran the blade across the man’s throat.

He slumped onto the rotting porch boards, blood flowing freely from the second smile I’d given him, right across his neck. His eyes went wide, and he clutched at his throat, the blood spilling beautifully over his fingers in a crimson river that made my insides sing.

Whip leaned down, so his mouth was right next to George’s ear as he choked on his own life force. “That’s for the women you raped and murdered, you piece of shit.”

“And for butchering Celine.” I shoved him with mytoe, and the man’s dead body rolled onto his back, his eyes staring wide open.

George was dead.

I grinned at Whip and channeled my inner Celine. “I guess his heart didn’t go on after all.”

31

X

It was late when Whip and I pulled up behind Levi, parked outside Violet’s apartment. He had his boots planted firmly on the road either side of his bike, and he stared up at Violet’s place like she might appear on the balcony at any moment so they could reenactRomeo and Juliet. He glanced over his shoulder as I turned the engine off, the bike rocking slightly beneath his weight.

Whip rolled down his window and waved him over.

Levi swung his leg off his bike and strode our way, leaning folded arms on the van’s windowsill. “What’s up?”

I answered with a question. “Why aren’t you upstairs taking care of my wife?”

Levi squinted at me across the van. “Because it’s nearly midnight and she needs to sleep. She’s been working all day, between her two jobs.”

“You could be up there rubbing her feet.”

“I would if she would let me without kicking me in the face. Or calling the police to file a restraining order.”

Whip narrowed his eyes at him. “What did you do now?”

“Nothing good.”

I undid my seat belt, letting it slide back into the holder. “You can’t blame her. Your face is pretty kickable. Zero excuse for leaving her unprotected though.”

Levi flipped me the bird. “I’ve been watching the entrance from the street, and there’s no external fire escape. At least not a working one. That thing is rusted solid. She’s safe upstairs. No one has come in or out for the past hour.”

I was already halfway out of the van and striding toward Violet’s apartment. “Whip will fill you in on our night. It’s my time with Violet.”

Levi threw up his hands. “Did you not hear what I said about her needing sleep?”

I spun around and walked backward. “I heard. But I think she’ll be happy to forego sleep when she hears my offer.” I thrust my hips at Levi. “If you get my drift.”

Both of them looked like they wanted to rush across the lawn and throttle me.

I grinned, mostly at Whip. Just a little payback for all the bragging he’d done about how good she tasted. Asshole.

I skirted the building, while Levi shouted again that there wasn’t a fire escape.

Clearly breaking and entering wasn’t what he’d gone to prison for.

There were balconies on all four sides of the building, each one belonging to a different apartment. And unlikeLevi, who clearly had no idea which apartment she actually lived in, I knew her balcony was on the side of the building, not the front.

Then again, Levi wasn’t exactly built for climbing. He was solid, a wall of thick muscle. He probably had fifty pounds on me, and the idea of him hoisting himself up three floors of balconies was about as likely as me giving up killing.

I.e, not very.