Page 86 of X's and O's

VIOLET

The man had caught a duck just so I could pet it.

Of course, that hadn’t ended very well, and I now had a Band-Aid covering the small cut on my finger.

But the effort? A-plus.

I was less thrilled about the offer to wring the poor duck’s neck, but X had been easily distracted from that idea. And honestly, I’d seen him do worse.

Much, much worse.

Paul Jeddersen’s mutilated body still lived rent-free in my head, and I suspected it always would.

And yet Bliss’s words were mixed around them. Her asking if I knew X was deadly, but that maybe he wasn’t actually deadly to me.

It felt like a slippery slope to be sliding down. One that could end badly if I was wrong, and X was actually just dangerous to everyone, and I wasn’t the special snowflake I thought I was.

I scrubbed at a stain on the bathroom counter. “That’smuch smarter, Violet. Keep a healthy dose of fear in your heart.”

But I couldn’t help the way my mouth flickered up in a smile every time I thought about him loping across the park with that damn duck tucked beneath his arm and his big, dopey grin stretching across his too-handsome face.

Why were the hot ones always crazy?

X and Levi were prime examples. And Whip? He’d seemed so normal, but maybe I should have realized a man who made his living going down on women or teaching them how to give better blow jobs was maybe not all there in the head too. It probably shouldn’t have surprised me he was part of X’s murder posse and that Levi seemed to be their newest recruit.

This was exactly why I shouldn’t date. Even without the help of the apps, I’d managed to attract three complete psychopaths. What were the odds? Did I have a flashing sign over my head that read:Into the Crazy Ones?

My gut instinct was if there was a flashing sign, it probably more likely read:Desperate.

I sighed and scrubbed down the countertop viciously. “Right, Violet. No more dates with crazy men. You clearly need to be alone until you can choose more wisely.”

I picked up my phone and texted X.

Violet:

Change of plans. Won’t be needing that ride home after all. Thanks anyway.

I gave myself a solid nod in the mirror and then packed up my caddy, ready for yet another night on thecouch with Toby. Maybe I’d get a little crazy and get an Indian takeout instead of Chinese.

God, my life was so exciting.

I let myself out of my client’s house, making sure I locked the door behind me so everything inside would be safe until the owners got home from work.

I looked around the darkened road for X, but neither he nor his ridiculous ice cream truck were anywhere to be seen.

I wanted to kick myself for the insane shot of disappointment that speared through me.

“You literally told him not to come and now you’re disappointed he didn’t? What is wrong with you?” I shook my head and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The streetlights were on, and this was a nice enough area, quite deep into Providence. Far enough from home that I was going to have to get a bus or fork out for an Uber.

“Could have decided to have better taste in men after he gave you a ride home, Vi,” I muttered to myself, struggling along with my heavy caddy of cleaning supplies and already aching muscles from a day of hard, manual labor.

I passed beneath lights, but the long patches of dark shadows in between and the eerily quiet street around me had me hurrying from lamppost to lamppost.

A twig snapped somewhere to my right, and I froze. My eyes flickered side to side, taking in my surroundings, but a minute later, when nothing else had moved, I carried on toward the bus stop.

A crash of noise came from behind me, along with the screeching yowl of a cat, but that was enough for me. With my already increased heart rate jumping up into thedanger zone, I sprinted, grateful the bus was on time, its headlights rounding the corner just as I got to the shelter.

I boarded hastily, throwing my card toward the payment scanner, and hustled straight to the back, peering out the window from the perceived safety of the vehicle.