Honesty (Mark of Nexus)

by Butler, Carrie

  “I meant, when do you sleep?”

  “Oh.” A soft, humorless laugh escaped her lips. “I usually try to sleep for a couple of hours before the ten o’clock service.”

  I frowned at the yellow lines disappearing in a regular rhythm beneath my headlights. “Why don’t you just switch shifts?”

  “I’m not exactly in a position to turn down hours, Cole.” She leaned against the passenger door, rubbing her forehead. “Especially now.”

  Well, shit. How many times could I possibly stick my foot in my mouth around her? Maybe it was the universe’s way of mocking me, since I’d tentatively chosen to see where things went.

  I’d spent all afternoon and evening hashing it out. The steam tunnel backup plan wasn’t necessary, so long as I kept up a decent human charade. If questions arose, I’d do what I do best—lie. It’d keep Rachel safe and both of us happy. Plus, if we kept our little flirtationship under wraps, Faye wouldn’t perceive her as a means of leverage.

  Dynari issues aside, I didn’t foresee many problems. We’d already jumped the vigilante hurdle without so much as a skinned knee, so the rest of our getting-to-know-you sessions should be gravy. Unless she specifically asked whether or not I’d falsified a sex tape to blackmail my boss.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  Holy shit. She reads minds.

  “Shoot.”

  Rachel turned to me, her brows angled in thought. “When you used to patrol your neighborhood, how did you keep from getting caught?”

  “That’s a good question,” I said, wringing my hands forward on the wheel. “I, uh, actually have a mask with little lights on it to blind security cameras.”

  “Wow. I guess Wallace was right about you being smart. I didn’t even know things like that existed.”

  So much for having jumped this hurdle. “Just a research thing.”

  “Ah.”

  Car sounds filled the silence, and I held my breath, hoping she’d drop the subject.

  “What about people with cameras? I mean, couldn’t you have gone to jail for assault or something?”

  No, I’m actually too fast to be detected by the human eye. “Well…”

  Okay, maybe I couldn’t swing this dating thing, after all. Usually, I just had to buy a few dinners and then settle in for a two-to-five week series of booty calls. Talking was new—and unnerving.

  “There’s rarely anyone around when I…intervene,” I explained on the fly. “Besides, would you stick around to take pictures if you saw two guys getting into a fight in some back alley?”

  “I guess not.”

  “Well, there you go.”

  I took the exit for Wilcox, and we rode the rest of the way in contemplative silence. Maybe the hurdle assumption had been a little premature. She hadn’t really had a chance to process the fact that Saint Wallace’s brother had a violent streak—even though it only arose in the presence of bad guys.

  Oh well. We had time.

  I’d already figured out that this thing between us wouldn’t fit into a neat, two-to-five week box. Rachel took things slow, and from the time I’d spent with her, I got the feeling her affection would be worth the wait. Damn, my shrink would be proud.

  “So, you’re retiring the mask, then?” she asked, feigning casual interest.

  I smiled. “Yeah.”

  Her shoulders dropped in what I could only assume to be relief. “Cool.”

  Such nonchalance. I almost rolled my eyes. I really needed to teach that girl the art of deception.

  We pulled up in front of the convenience store in her former, less than desirable neighborhood, and I considered never unlocking the doors. Between the flickering lights and the bars on the windows, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be dropping her off. Hell, in any other circumstance, I wouldn’t even let her run in to buy milk. The place was downright shady.

  She nipped at her bottom lip. “I guess I’d better get inside.”

  “Back here at seven, right?” I asked her, peering at the store through the windshield.

  “Mhm.” She leaned over, hesitated, and brushed a barely there kiss against my cheek. “Thank you for the ride.”

  In the millisecond it took her to get her nerve up, I could’ve turned my head and caught that kiss head-on, but I was a gentlemen—everyone who assumed otherwise could suck it.

  “You’re welcome,” I told her. “Will I get one of those when I come back, too?”

  She laughed under her breath as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Maybe.”

  “Good. Hey, Rach?”

  When she turned to face me, I kissed her, negating all accumulated gentleman points. “Be safe, okay?”

  Her lips pulled back in a grin. “Sure.”

  And with that, my prospective girlfriend hurried across the parking lot, disappearing into the snack-filled hell. I blew out a deep breath and put the Jeep back in drive. Now to kill eight hours…

  I turned back onto the street a half second before a gold, older model car pulled in. Something tickled the back of my mind when I caught it in my rearview mirror, but I chalked it up to newfound anxiety. If this is how normal people develop feelings for others, I am not a fan.

  A half mile closer to campus, radio blaring, I caught a flash of a memory. I had seen a car like that before—parked on the street near Rachel’s place. It’d been dark then, too, but I recognized the off color. What’d started as a tickle escalated into an alarm that jarred me so violently, I jerked a U-turn in front of the interstate ramp.

  That was Gene’s car. It had to be. That prick knew where and when she worked, so it only made sense for him to show up after what had happened. How the hell did I miss that?

  I picked up speed and passed two cars on a double line, not giving a shit if they honked or not. When the 1-Stop came into view, I wheeled into a side alley and cut the engine by a dumpster. It could be nothing. Really, he could’ve just stopped by to get gas. But just in case…

  I reached over and popped the glove compartment. “Looks like the mask is coming out of retirement.”

  CHAPTER 30

  I didn’t want to scare Rachel, so I picked the back lock. A quick trip down a dim hallway brought me to the storefront door, led by the steaming scent of hot dogs and nacho cheese on the other side. I eased it open and slipped behind a cutout display.

  “—ust tell me where you’re staying,” Gene gritted out. “I’ll come get you and bring you two home. We don’t even have to talk about what happened this morning.”

  “No.”

  “Then I’ll wait for you to get off work.”

  “You’re not supposed to be here.” Rachel’s soft reply was barely audible over the music being piped in. “I think you should leave.”

  He retreated a few steps, his teeth clenched and his hands on his head. “I cannot believe this is happening. You’re really going to treat me this way after everything I’ve done for you? How ungrateful can you be? I’m just trying to take care of you.”

  My hands twitched into gloved fists at my sides. If I rushed him now, when things were still conversational, she’d be mortified. Plus, she’d think I didn’t trust her to take care of herself. I leaned around the display. But if I wait too long…

  “I’m sorry.” She busied herself stocking snack bags onto a shelf, a box at her hip. “I don’t know what else I can say.”

  “You know your mother was happy at home,” he spat, leaning in to intimidate her. “Then you filled her head with lies about me, so you could run off with your boyfriend. Same thing, different day. A few months from now, you’ll come crawling back, begging for a place to stay when he rejects you and your next bastard son. You don’t lear—”

  The box fell to the ground, and a slap resonated around the room.

  Holy…

  “Don’t you dare bring Kyler into this.” Even from fifteen feet away, I could see tears shining in her narrowed eyes. Her hand shook, frozen between them. “Just…don’t.”

  Gene’s face contorted int
o something heinous. “You better watch that, little girl. I’m not your fat mama. I will take you over my knee, if I have to.”

  Rachel reacted in the way he’d wanted her to, goaded by his cheap shots. Her shoulders shook. “Don’t talk about my mom like that, either.”

  “Or what?”

  She reached down and reclaimed the box, carefully straightening her spine. “Like I said, you can’t stay here. I’ll call the police if I have to.”

  “You’d call the cops on your own family?”

  Her teeth sank into her lip, and she started shoving bags onto the already too crowded shelf.

  “Well?” He dared a step closer, jaw clenched in indignant fury.

  “You’re not family,” she managed to grit out in a shaky voice. “And I will call the police. You’re making a scene.”

  Pride swelled in my chest. Atta girl. The declaration rocked him.

  “Is that so?” Gene finally answered after a five-second delay, his wild gaze raking the room. “Then, maybe I should show you what it’s like having no family to look out for you. Give you a little taste of the world I’ve been shielding you from…”

  I bent at the knees, ready to jump in at the slightest sign of violence.

  He stormed over to the counter and grabbed a broom before turning to the security camera. “You see this?” The first crack forced it down at an awkward angle but the second scattered pieces all over the floor. He wailed on it with a war cry, relentlessly bashing the few pieces still suspended by the ceiling. “This is a scene!”

  Rachel shrieked and covered her face. “Stop!”

  “Not until I get back what’s mine,” he yelled, spinning with the broom. “If this is what it takes to make my point, then so be it.”

  He jabbed the broom handle into the display counter and littered the floor with green-tinged glass. “Who knows, maybe you’ll get fired for this. Then how would you take care of yourself, big girl?”

  “I’m calling now.” She crammed her box onto a shelf and edged toward the phone on the wall behind him. “I suggest you get out of here before they arrive.”

  Gene smashed out the rest of the case, fluorescents reflecting in his glasses as he fished out a decorative knife. “You know what? I wouldn’t.”

  “Y-You’re crazy.” Her voice trembled, and I didn’t care whether or not she saw my entrance as an intrusion. I was done here.

  “Guess I’m gonna have to do something about that smart little mouth of yours, after all.” He flicked the blade out. “You brought this upon yourself, Rachel.”

  I knocked the cutout over and threw myself in front of her—a breath before a fiery slash seeped across my shoulder blades.

  Rachel’s mouth stretched wide in a scream, but the sound muffled in my ears.

  “Are you okay?” I demanded, latching onto her arms. “Look at me.”

  “He—”

  “You!”

  The blade found a home in my side, buried to the hilt, as I turned in slow motion. My breath caught in my lungs. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck…

  His wrathful gaze went round at the sight of whatever expression my anger had conjured, before I caught a fistful of his collar. I didn’t even feel the sting in my knuckles as my punch slammed against his temple. Blood pounded in my ears.

  “Cole?” Rachel’s voice sounded so far away, I barely recognized it as behind me.

  I ripped the heavy blade from my waist, going against everything common sense dictated, in hopes that my Dynari blood would kick into hyper drive. The slick, crimson-splattered handle pressed a groove into my palm as I marched Gene backward, still clutching his shirt with my other hand. “What did I say about going after her?”

  Gene held up his hands. “H-Hey, let’s just take a breath here.”

  “Better savor it. You don’t have too many of those left.”

  “I didn’t touch her.”

  “You tried to!” I yelled through my mask, throwing him off to the side. He careened through a display and landed in a heap of upturned cardboard. Tins of mints scattered across the linoleum.

  Rachel caught up with us, the phone cord stretched as far as it would go. “Cole, stop! We have to call an ambulance.”

  “It’s just a scrape,” I told her, never taking my eyes off the bastard who’d intended the knife for her. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine.” She spun me around to face her, tears streaking down her reddened cheeks. “You’re bleeding!”

  Of course, Gene took that opportunity to scramble to his feet and make a run for the back. Preternatural impatience twisted my nerves as he disappeared behind the door. “Now I have to chase him.”

  “Just let him go.” Her grasp slid down my arm, squeezing my free hand for emphasis. “Please. The police will sort everything out. We need to get you patched up.”

  Pretty sure I’m doing that as we speak.

  I shook my head. “It’s too late for them to sort this out. He needs to understand the line he’s crossed.”

  The small intestine is like four times longer than the large intestine, so that’s what I should go after. I doubt it can hold his weight, but I can definitely get that sucker around his neck before—

  “I’m so sorry you got caught up in this. I don’t even know how you knew to come back. I mean, I’m grateful, but…”

  “But what?”

  Her bottom lip trembled, and she bit it to look me in the eyes. “I don’t want you to kill him.”

  I wanted to jerk my hand back—to grab the burning skin weaving together beneath my ribs, to get away from her guilt trip—but her watery gaze held me there. “Rach, if I don’t do something now, he’ll just wait and make another move later. I might not be around when that happens. Then what?”

  “I don’t know, but if you take his life for my benefit, it’s the same as me killing him—and I can’t live with that. I appreciate your concern, but it’s my problem. I’ll find a way to reason with him.”

  Shit’s sake. The man was beyond reason. “What if I make it my problem? Look, I won’t kill him, but I will make sure he leaves you alone.”

  “How?”

  “Creative persuasion.” I led her back to the counter, my mind racing with scenarios. “But in order to do that, I’ll need you to do three things for me, okay?”

  She nodded without protest.

  “First, I want you to wait ten minutes before you call the police. I need to ditch my Jeep and get a head start.” I dropped her hand to close the knife and shove it into my back pocket. “Second, I need you to forget I was here. Just say your mom’s ex-boyfriend busted up the place to make a point, and then he ran off with the knife and”—I gestured to the cash register—”a wad of cash.”

  “Cole, I don’t know if I feel comfortable—”

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, imagining every direction Gene could have run, “but it’s the only way to do this without bloodshed.”

  She frowned as she edged around the glass to access the register. “Would six hundred be enough to look like a robbery? We just had a shift change.”

  “It’s perfect,” I praised her, taking the odd assortment of bills she’d handed over. “Last thing, if you get a chance, could you clean up any little specks of blood you see? I don’t want ‘em thinking I knocked the place off.”

  “If I hurry…”

  I leaned across the counter to kiss her forehead. “You did great earlier. Don’t worry about any of this. I’ll take care of it.”

  Her brows met. “You sure you’re not going to…?”

  “I won’t hurt him, I promise. I’m just gonna show him some of that discipline he’s so fond of.”

  She ran a hand through her hair and drew an uneasy breath. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Just say goodbye,” I told her. “‘Cause after this, Gene’s never going to bother you or your mother again.”

  ~

  Catching up with him was a joke.

  Not only had he not gone far, he’d chosen to hide in
the dumpster beside my Jeep. Words could not describe what a buzz kill that was, after I’d geared myself up for a manhunt. Oh well.

  “C’mere,” I grumbled, pulling him over the edge. “We’re going for a ride.”

  He tried to fight me off, but I was in no mood for it. In less than two minutes, he was tied up in the trunk of his car, and I was on my way back from stashing the Jeep at a Laundromat. Thankfully, I’d had the foresight to grab one more essential before I took off on foot—the unregistered 9mm under my seat.

  “Here we go!” I announced in a cheerful tone, banging on the trunk as I rounded the back of the car. “Ready for a field trip?”

  An answer came in the form of muffled shouts and thumps. I paused.

  Despite our need to get the hell outta Dodge, I couldn’t resist the temptation to savor his panic. I popped the trunk and ripped the duct tape halfway off his mouth, leaving a web of adhesive still in place. “Pardon?”

  “I said you’ll never get away with kidnapping me. There were cameras all over that store.”

  “Yeah, about that…” I leaned on the edge. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this isn’t exactly the nicest part of town. The only working camera was on the register—you know, the one you smashed. Those other ones were decoys.”

  His nostrils flared. “There’s still a tape.”

  “You mean the one I snatched from the office and threw in my Jeep? Somehow, I doubt they’ll find it. That does remind me, though…” I pulled the wad of bills from my pocket and crammed them in his. “You made some decent bank tonight. Congrats.”

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Sparing your life, in a technical sense.” I shrugged and forced the duct tape back over his mouth. “Sadly, I have a feeling the universe has something else in mind.”

  “Mmmphmm!”

  Thud!

  The trunk latched shut, and I got into the driver’s seat without so much as a second thought. Sure, the drive was a huge pain in the ass, but it’d keep my promise to Rachel. That was all that mattered.

  Two hours and twenty-six minutes later, we rolled up to the less-than-friendly neighborhood I’d wandered into during my rage bender—the outlying area between Scion and Columbus. It felt like an eternity had passed since I’d last visited, but in reality, it’d been less than twenty-four hours. Funny how change screws with your perception of time.