Page 49 of X's and O's

She didn’t know the half of it. I really hoped X hadn’t told her about the vibrator incident though. God, how mortifying.

“Do you want to talk about it? I’ll bet you haven’t told anyone else, right?”

I nodded.

She patted my hand gently. “Safe space if you need it.”

Suddenly, I was blurting out everything I’d been keeping inside for far too long. “He keeps showing up! Everywhere I am! I can’t escape him. I should go to the police, shouldn’t I? Get a restraining order? That’s what any normal person would do, isn’t it? Why haven’t I?”

Bliss cocked her head, studying me while bouncing the baby on her knee. “I can’t answer that for you. But I can tell you why I didn’t. And trust me, the very first time I met Scythe, he drove me through the McDonald’s drive-through while we were both covered in blood and asked me if I wanted chicken nuggets, like I could even think about food after what I’d watched him do…”

She’d walked in my shoes then.

“I didn’t go to the police because Scythe never hurt me. Only protected me.” The corner of her mouth lifted into a wistful smile. “I think maybe you didn’t go to the police because something deep inside you recognizes that X isn’t going to hurt you either.”

I breathed out a long breath. “He’s had every opportunity,” I admitted. “But he’s just used them to tell me he’s in love with me.”

Bliss laughed at that.

After a moment, I burst out laughing too. “This is so ridiculous. I have a psychopath in love with me, don’t I?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. But, Violet, can I tell you something? If you don’t like what he’s doing, just tell him. I don’t know him that well, his friendship with Scythe is fairly new, but even I can see the two of them are alike. And I think one of the biggest ways they’re similar is when they care about someone, they care aboutthem a lot. I know he’s probably going about that in a really over-the-top way, but just know his brain doesn’t process social cues and situations the same way you or I might.” She grinned. “Just think of him as a puppy. One that needs training.”

“A murder puppy,” I muttered.

She laughed. “I like that. Seems pretty fitting for X.”

It really did. He was all golden retriever energy.

Except for the whole ability to brutally murder someone thing.

Ridge had gotten bored while we talked and was currently trying to crawl over Bliss’s shoulder.

She gripped the back of his shirt and hauled him back. “How did you end up here at Psychos this morning? I assume you didn’t actually come here for a drink at this time?”

I shook my head. “No, actually. I work across the road, at Clean Sweep, but I’m the newest hire, so when they have slow weeks, I don’t get full-time hours. One of the guys I work with told me there was a job available here.” Though now, knowing X hung out here, I was pretty sure I didn’t want the job at all.

Bliss’s eyes lit up. “Really? We’ve had no applicants, and I’m getting so desperate. Can you work a bar?”

I shrugged. “I was just applying for the cleaning position but—”

“Well, the position would involve cleaning too, but also bartending. I pay well above minimum wage since this club…has a few peculiarities.”

“Like the psychopaths who linger in the back office? Wait, is that why you named the bar Psychos?”

Bliss shook her head. “No, it used to be my brother’splace. It was named long before any psychopaths started hanging out here. Nothing to do with Scythe or X, though Scythe does work here, and X has started hanging out with him on shift. But we pay more because we run sex club parties here a few times a month.”

I did a double take, because that was about the last thing I expected her to say. “Sorry, what?”

She laughed. “I know, the place doesn’t look like much, but those doors over there lead to the other side of the club. And it’s…different. Cages for performances. Private rooms filled with toys and mirrors and peepholes. And the main floor for whatever people like…couples, threesomes, group sex. Anything goes as long as it’s consensual.”

I gaped at her. “Like, people just have sex in front of each other?”

She nodded. “Yep. It’s pretty popular. Some friends of ours own a similar club over in Providence called Sinners.”

My mouth dropped open. “Seriously? There’s a sex club in ‘I’ve got a stick up my ass’ Providence?”

“Yep.” She winked at me. “I pay better than they do though, so you don’t want to work over there. But we’d love to have you here. If the sex club stuff isn’t too much for you?”