Chapter 5
TYLER
I dragged Eddie out the back, far away from the crime scene, before I pulled out my phone.
The battery was at two percent, but I trusted the charge was enough to call Ari.
I’d seen him a couple of times since the incident a year ago—a.k.a.
he and his boyfriend had killed my boss, who’d treated me like shit.
Ari had trusted me enough that night to let me go. He’d have my back if I called.
The cold air whistled around us in the narrow alleyway. The sun was starting to fade because it was cloudy and the time of year when it got dark not long after four o’clock in the afternoon. The Christmas lights in the connected street burned bright enough that we got some light from them.
I turned toward Eddie and hesitated. When he’d given me back my list, I hadn’t considered he could’ve taken a photo of it and gone to visit these people.
He’d never been the type to stick his nose in other people’s business.
I supposed his idiotic good-guy quest made sense if he felt guilty for leaving me.
Sorry was the last thing I wanted to hear him say. I was still too furious. Or was I? I didn’t know. Something new had unfurled in my chest.
He’d killed Mike for me.
I gawked at him for a moment, then down at my phone, before I flung myself toward him. He jerked in surprise as I hit his chest and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. An emotion I hadn’t felt in a long time crashed through me.
Happiness. It was a foreign feeling but one I welcomed.
“Thank you.” I pressed my face against the soft skin of his neck and breathed him in. He smelled tangy from the blood splattered on him, but it was nice mixed with the fresh rain scent that clung to him. “Thank you for killing him for me.”
He froze. “Wha—”
“Thank you.” I kissed him on the cheek, hard, not giving a damn about the blood.
He let out an “eep” before taking a step back, dragging me with him. His foot hit something, and I yelled as he went flying backward onto his ass, me on top of him as we crashed to the ground.
I blinked down at him, and he gave me a wide-eyed look. I started cackling. A bubble of joy filled my chest and expanded my lungs. I could take on the world. “You are such a klutz. How did you survive this long?”
He quirked a grin at me and tightened his hold, even though it was his back on the filthy ground in a disgusting alleyway. “Luck, I guess.”
I snorted and gave him another kiss on the cheek, my lips scraping against his stubble. He was the second person to murder for me, and I was cruising on a high that left me breathless and free. He had no idea what his gruesome gift meant to me, what he’d done for me.
I rolled off him and shuffled closer, my hip nudging his when he sat up. I tilted my head, smiling. “Seriously, Eddie. Thank you. It isn’t every day a guy commits murder for you.”
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
I found Ari’s contact in my phone and tapped it. The thump of my heartbeat was deafening until Ari’s voice filled the line.
“Tyler? What’s wrong?” His tone was hard and sharp, but most of all, despite the words indicating he was worried, they were emotionless.
Void of fear and concern and every other feeling in the dictionary.
Others thought he was cold, but I knew better.
He hadn’t outright said it to me, but I knew what he was—a psychopath.
He didn’t think the way most people did, yet he’d still found love with his boyfriend, Jules.
“I need your help. If I send through an address, can you and Jules come? You can’t ask me questions, especially over the phone.”
“Give it to me.” He didn’t hesitate. Not even a little.
The line went dead, and I messaged him immediately to head to the place where I used to get cash when I was in the homeless shelter.
He’d know where to go. He’d had run-ins with Mike, and neither of us liked him.
Although, he didn’t know the extent of what Mike had done to me. No one but me and Mike did.
My phone screen went black right after I sent the text, and I sighed, leaning against a wall behind us.
I didn’t want to think about this cold, lonely street.
I used to do all kinds of things to get money.
Blowjobs. Fingering. Fucking. I’d been desperate.
I knew this place well and it came with horrible memories I didn’t want to relive.
The two years after I’d turned eighteen were the worst ones of my life.
“What did Mike do to you? He said a few things. Why was he on that list? What is that list?” Eddie leaned against the wall, too, snagging my hand with his, and I didn’t pull away as he threaded our fingers together.
No one knew about these names, not even Ari or my ex-roommate.
They were for me and only me so I could dream about getting rich and making them regret what they’d done.
I killed them in my fantasies, too. Made them wish they’d never heard my name, but I hadn’t actually expected it to come to this—death.
But they deserved it.
Every.
Single.
One.
“They’re people who hurt me, who did unforgivable things.
” I breathed in deep through my nose, sucking in the horrible stench of dried cum, which was probably all in my head, but I couldn’t shake it away.
The air was chilly around us, and I shivered.
I dipped my hand into the front of my coat and grabbed my necklace, holding it tight.
At least I didn’t have to sell the last sentimental thing I owned.
He curled an arm around my shoulders and dragged me closer, and I took the protection he offered. Or comfort. I wasn’t sure which one he was trying to give me.
Did Eddie deserve the truth? He’d killed for me, hadn’t he? That meant a lot. The gun had his fingerprints and Mike’s blood on it, but I didn’t want him to regret this later.
“I’ll need to get my stuff before we leave here.” My attention caught on an ice-crusted puddle forming nearby. Water dripped there from a massive icicle hanging off the building. “Can’t leave behind evidence.”
Not that I had anything important in the bags.
“I’ve said it before but thank you.” I wrapped my arm around his middle and squeezed him before burrowing my face against his shoulder.
His cologne tickled my nose, and the joy growing in my chest exploded again until I was laughing.
The sensation of insanity crept up on me until every fiber of my being was buzzing and alert.
Mike was dead. Fucking dead.
And Eddie? He gaped at me with shock and confusion.
I needed to show him how much this meant to me. A crazy urge surged up inside me. Something wild I’d never felt for anyone.
I seized his face and dragged him down, slamming my lips on his. My mouth melded against his. At first, he was soft and pliant.
Eddie grasped my cheeks and took control. He kissed me hard, tongue searching out mine, and while I was surprised by the passionate response, I fell into it.
I hadn’t meant for the kiss to become this frantic jumble of tongue and teeth and lips, but excitement weaved around my bones and held me tight. My fingertips tingled and goose bumps jumped out of my skin along my arms and legs.
It was Eddie who tore away from me, eyes widening until they were the size of saucers. “Oh.”
I smiled. The fact that he was my ex-stepbrother didn’t scare me. Fuck it, right? We weren’t related.
“Thanks, Eddie.” Being mad at him was difficult when he’d just killed one of the biggest tormentors from my past. He deserved whatever he wanted. Hell, I’d bend over against this wall for him right now. “You’re the best.”
“So . . . you forgive me?” He blinked at me.
Even in the falling darkness, it was easy to see how handsome he’d become during the years he’d been away.
The stubble was sexy. He’d had a baby face growing up, and while his features were still rounded and a little soft, the point of his jaw stood out more than I remembered.
There was wisdom in those royal blue eyes that drew me in.
He’d always been smart, but he seemed like he’d become a more thoughtful person. I liked it.
The tattoo on his neck was new. I’d never thought he’d be the kind of person to get ink, but the cursive words “Live Your Life” swirled upward, positioned more toward the back. I brushed my finger over the letters, and he ducked his head, leaning into me.
I hesitated. I hadn’t thought this far ahead. Could I forgive him for leaving me behind? I wasn’t sure, but right now I was too happy to care. “I guess so.”
He grinned and inched toward my lips again.
Two sharp lines of light cut across the alleyway. I blinked at the brightness as it blinded me, and I squinted as a shadow of a person broke through the glare. I tensed, ready to run, but relaxed immediately when the face of the man became visible as the headlights were switched off.
Ari. He got out of the car.
“Where were you? You got here quick.” I hopped to my feet, ignoring the way my knees wobbled and the back of my head pulsed with pain. I wasn’t sure if the sudden surge of anxiety that clogged my throat was from the fear of what we’d left in the pawnshop or what Ari might say.
“I was picking Jules up from work.” Ari’s suspicious glance cut to Eddie and he stepped forward to grab my arm. “Come with me. I want to talk.” He began to lead me to the car, but when Eddie started to follow, he shook his head sharply. “Not you.”
Eddie froze, eyes wide. “Uh, Tyler? You okay with that?”
“Yeah, I called him.”
He backed away again but didn’t look happy about it. But he’d proven he cared about me already tonight, so that tracked. There went that good feeling again, blooming in my chest.
Ari practically dragged me to the car and shoved me in the front seat.
I grunted when he shut the door behind me and slipped into the back seat.
The interior light switched on, and Jules stared at me seriously from the driver’s seat.
He hadn’t changed much since I’d last seen him.
Still the same old cop with his stern expression.
His dark hair was cut short in a military style and he wore his uniform, the navy blue material clinging to solid muscles.
Ari was exactly the same, too. His dark hair was an artful mess that fell almost to his shoulders and a dangerous glint filled his deep brown eyes.
Ari didn’t try to be attractive, it just happened on its own.
He’d always been a wild card. From the moment I’d met him when he’d come into our joint room at the homeless shelter, I’d known there was something different about him.
“Who is that?” Ari nodded toward Eddie, who shifted his weight between his feet awkwardly. At least he hadn’t fallen over again. Chuck, Eddie’s asshole father, had constantly been on him to act like a man and keep on his feet.
“My ex-stepbrother.” I chuckled, the high of seeing Mike’s very dead body still bouncing around in my head. It was hard to be annoyed when I was so fucking happy. “He killed Mike. He’s dead. Very dead. In his shop.”
“Why?” Jules grunted out, his grip on the steering wheel tightening enough that I could see his knuckles turning white. Jules clearly wasn’t happy about this situation. I didn’t blame him. He owed me nothing. Ari was my . . . friend, not him.
“He went to see Mike to ask him questions about me. Whatever Mike said was probably horrible, terrible enough to get Eddie, who was always really nice, to off him with his own gun. That big one he always kept behind the counter to flash at people when he was pissed off.” I shook my head. “I’m not sorry it happened.”
Ari leaned between the front seats. “What did Mike do?”
We hadn’t talked a lot about Mike when Ari shared a room with me, other than what I was able to pawn to him. He didn’t know the full story, and I wasn’t in the mood to divulge the extortion Mike laid on me.
“All you need to know is that he was a predator. The worst kind.”
Ari’s eyes darkened and a sick pleasure twisted his mouth, curling the corner of his lips. “Enough said.” He shot a look at Jules. “I can help him clean up, Master. Let me.”
Jules frowned. “No. This wasn’t your mess. I’m here to make sure no one finds the body. We’ll do this together. Come on.”
He didn’t give us a choice. In seconds, he was out of the car and stalking past Eddie, who stared in horrified confusion. Ari and I followed.
“Guess I should’ve mentioned that there might be a cop.” I smirked.
“You think?” Eddie squeaked, then slapped a hand over his mouth.