Does This Mean I’m Your Wife?
DOES THIS MEAN I’M YOUR WIFE?
Hazel
It turns out the only thing you need to do after you commit a murder is stay out of sight, so Flynn and I spend the next couple of days hiding out at Lachlan’s.
We pass most of the time in bed, me trying to convince him to rest and him trying to convince me to partake in other activities. I’m not sleeping much but other than that I’m weirdly okay.
At least, I am until I see the news.
It’s been three days since what happened at the clinic and I’m sitting on the couch in Lachlan’s living room eating one of the pastries he brought back from the bakery.
Flynn comes in from his shower, his dark curls still damp and a fresh bandage wrapped around his waist. He goes to grab a Danish and Lachlan, without even looking up from his newspaper (yes, an actual physical paper), says, “Touch my pastries and die.”
Flynn’s mouth drops open. “No fair, Hazel gets one.”
I freeze midway through taking a bite out of the delicious, flaky pastry.
Lachlan gives Flynn a look drier than the Sahara. “Hazel saved your idiot ass life. She can have as many pastries as she likes.”
I grin.
The two of them keep bickering but I lose focus when the image on the TV changes, the reporter now standing in front of a cordoned off crime scene. My stomach shifts, like a snake coiling in my gut. I find the remote and turn up the volume.
“Early this morning the body of a young man named Tommy Skater was found by a group of joggers. This comes just twenty-four hours after Senator Claren and police captain Derek Pierce were found murdered in the free clinic the senator was building. While details of the case are still unfolding, we can confirm the police are treating Tommy’s death as suspicious. ”
The TV switches off, the screen going black. I turn around to find Flynn standing behind the couch with the remote. “You don’t need to be watching that, Lilac.”
I look back at the blank TV, Flynn’s silhouette reflected on the glass. “He was already dead, wasn’t he? When you broke his neck. I’d already killed him.”
Flynn tugs on my hair, tilting my head back till I’m looking up at him. “He signed his death warrant the second he laid a finger on you.”
My stomach squirms, the snake heavy and dark. “That’s not a no.”
We’ve already gone over what happened at the clinic and Olivia’s discovery that Derek was Hope’s boyfriend, but we didn’t talk about Tommy. I’d actually almost forgotten it even happened. But it did happen and now Tommy’s body has been found.
I push up from the couch, crossing my arms over my tummy as I pace across the rug. “I need to turn myself in,” I say.
“Hazel—”
“It was self-defense, he broke into my house and tried to kidnap me.”
“He did,” Flynn says slowly. “And if that’s what you want to do, then that’s what we’ll do. Lachlan will represent you, he’ll claim self-defense. The video they found on Claren, along with my blood, means they already think what happened in the clinic was the work of the Vigilante Choker.”
My breathing quickens and I look at Flynn. “You won’t try to stop me?”
The Adam’s apple in his throat bobs, his jaw feathering. “No. Not if that’s what you want to do.” He takes a breath. “There is another option though.”
I stop pacing.
Flynn walks over to the island and opens a drawer. Lachlan must have left at some point because it’s just the two of us now. Flynn takes out a large brown envelope and my feet draw me towards him.
He hands the envelope to me. There are two passports inside, along with some other documents. I open one of the passports to find a photo of myself beside the name Hazel Olive Taylor. My heart hammers my ribcage.
I open the other passport. Flynn Taylor.
I close the small booklet, my mind firing as I process what it means. That’s when I see the word Canada on the front of the passports. I gasp.
“Canada?”
Flynn lifts a shoulder, a flash of vulnerability across his face. “You said you’ve always wanted to go there. The paperwork’s all sorted. There’s a house waiting for us on Vancouver Island.”
I bring my hand to my mouth, tears stinging my eyes. Could it really be that easy? Flynn and I living our happy ever after?
I shake my head, pushing away from the island and the forged documents that would let me live my dream. I can’t take them. I don’t deserve them.
“I killed two people, Flynn. There should be consequences.”
“No,” Flynn says, his denial sharp and firm. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to feel guilty. You can choose to stay here if you want, but I won’t let you do it out of guilt.”
I spin to face him, throwing out my arms. “It doesn’t work like that,” I argue. “You can’t stop me from feeling guilty.”
Flynn’s arm shoots out, his hand circling my throat as he drags me into him. “Watch me.”
I swallow against his palm, his touch grounding me and ebbing away the panic.
“Claren was a rapist and a murderer and Tommy was just as bad. If you hadn’t ended them, I would have, so you have nothing to feel guilty for. Do you understand?” His question brokers no answer, and I let myself fall into his words.
Flynn shifts his hand to the nape of my neck, his other coming to my hip as he drops his forehead against mine. His soft, tumbling curls brush my skin and I breathe in his calming scent.
“Come to Canada with me, Lilac” he whispers. “Let me love you, because I do love you. And maybe my love is a little different than normal, but I know without a doubt that it’s real. I love you, Hazel.”
I purse my lips together, cradling his face in my hands as tears slip from my eyes. “I love you too. Like, a stupid amount.”
He laughs, his breath warm on my face, and I go up on tip toes to press my lips to his, the salt from my tears falling into the kiss.
“Just think about it, okay?” Flynn says when we draw apart. “I won’t force your hand on this. You have to decide.”
I nod, brushing my fingers over the Canadian passport. The one that’s mine, if I want it. My mom had a Canadian passport. I always said I’d go, I just never imagined it would be like this.
“You’re going,” Wright declares from where she’s standing on the low wall of the roof top terrace.
I glance over at Livi but she just shrugs. “Don’t look at me, I’m with Wright,” she signs.
I lean back in the deck chair, slipping my hands into the sleeves of Flynn’s hoodie that I stole to come out here. “Should I be offended that you both want to get rid of me so easily?”
Wright hops down off the wall, pointing at me with one of the virgin mojitos we found in the fridge. “Don’t deflect. We love you, Haze, but you’ve wanted to go to Vancouver Island since you were old enough to understand that’s where your mom grew up.”
“Plus having a friend in prison would be just as awkward as having one in hiding.” Livi keeps a blank face as she signs, like we’re talking about our weekend plans and not whether I turn myself in for murder.
“I’d have to leave my house,” I say. “There’s all my gran’s stuff there still and—” I break off, a wave of grief swelling through my chest.
Wright sits down across from me and takes my hand in hers. “Hazel, don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s just a house.” She holds up a hand when I open my mouth to protest. “I know it’s more than that, I do, but your gran is gone and that woman was a fierce motherfucker.”
I snort a half sob half laugh.
“She made you promise not to get stuck but before Flynn came along, that’s what you were. Do you know how mad she’d be if you turned down the chance to go with the man you love to the place you’ve always dreamed of?”
I rub my hand over my face and stare up at the gray clouds. “Pretty fucking mad,” I say.
“Pretty fucking mad.”
I look back down, watching my two best friends. Maybe the world isn’t as black and white as I thought because I told them everything, exactly what happened, everything I did, and they’re still here. Some of my guilt drifts away, the weight lifting off my chest.
“So that’s it? I just go?”
Hazel Halloway can’t come to the phone anymore. She’s dead.
“Flynn says we can stay in touch, we just need to be careful,” Wright says.
Lachlan taps on the glass doors to the terrace and steps outside. His jaw clenches as he looks at Wright then his serious gaze finds mine. “It’s time. If you’re going, you’ve got to go now.”
I take a breath and look back at Wright.
She nods, a soft smile on her lips.
I turn back to Lachlan. “Let’s go to Canada.”
Flynn is waiting for me downstairs. My cheeks are still damp from saying goodbye to Livi and Wright but the second he wraps me up in his arms I feel at home.
“You ready?” he murmurs against the top of my head.
“Yes.” I catch Lachlan’s gaze and pull away from Flynn. “Just one last thing. Keep an eye on Wright for me, will you?” I ask Lachlan. “Trouble has a tendency of finding her.”
Lachlan grunts. “More like she has a tendency to find trouble,” he grumbles, but he dips his head. “I’ll watch out for her.”
Flynn pulls my back to his front, his lips brushing my ear. “Are you playing matchmaker, Little Lilac?”
“Shh,” I say, spinning back to face him.
He grins and hands me my new Canadian passport.
I open it. “Flynn and Hazel Taylor.” I smirk up at him. “Does that make me your wife?”
Flynn’s eyes flare with molten heat. “Fuck, yes. Definitely yes.”
I laugh and he stamps his lips against mine.
He leads me to the garage and holds open the door. “After you, Mrs. Flynn.”
I take another deep breath.
Hey Mom, I married a serial killer and we’re coming home.