THE VOLUNTEER
She had three bartenders working with her. Probably because it was packed. I had to fight my way through a ridiculous crowd to get to the bar. She saw me right away, and gave me the universal sign for I’m going to be a minute—though, I imagined she was probably going to be multiple minutes.
I fought my way back out of the crowd and looked for anywhere I might be able to grab a bit of space. A hand grabbed my wrist; I turned to find a guy about the same age as me.
“Hey there, beautiful. Come here often?” he yelled above the music.
“That’s your line? Try something original next time.”
I tried to pull my arm free but his grip was like iron. He grinned, revealing crooked and yellow teeth. Ew, dentists are a thing, dude.
“Let me buy you a drink.”
I think the fuck not.
“No thanks.”
“Come on.”
“No. Let go of me.”
“Or what?”
I punched him in the nose with my free hand—my left wasn’t as strong but it did the job—stomped on his foot, kneed him in the balls, and then elbowed him in the jaw, just for fun.
“Don’t touch women without consent, asshole.”
He hit the ground, so I threw in an abdominal kick for good measure.
“Damn.” I turned to find Avalanche grinning at me. “I was coming to lend a hand, but clearly you got it handled.”
“Sure, now you want to be Prince Charming.”
His grin widened. I rolled my eyes. He couldn’t help me with all the muggers that crossed me while he insisted on walking me home but now he wanted to play hero? Sounded about right.
“I have a table, if you want to join me.”
Okay, so maybe he was my hero.
I nodded for him to lead the way—the crowd was already engulfing the asshole on the ground, his cries drowned out by the music.
Avalanche’s high-top table was in the back corner.
Everyone was steering clear, so it was the only place in the whole bar that had breathing room.
He had a drink that looked like coke on one side and some kind of blue drink on the other.
“Cozy.”
“I got you a blue raspberry margarita. I knew you liked tequila, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted shots again. Figured this was a safer bet.”
He needed to stop doing nice things for me. This was so far past falling in love territory. I was going to end up with a shattered heart.
“Why blue raspberry?”
He shrugged. “For a girl whose name is purple, you have a suspicious amount of blue.”
Case in point, the blouse I was wearing under all the layers I was working off now that I was inside.
“Very observant. Careful there, Av, or I might think you have a crush on me.”
“Av?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Eva called you that last night, thought I would try it out. Didn’t feel right. Probably won’t be doing that again. But I’ll need something to call you when we’re out in the world, since you insist on spending so much time with me.”
I paused to study him while I sat and took a drink. His hair was still shaggy, falling into his eyes to keep the general public from noticing how blue they were. He wore a white t-shirt, dark-blue jeans, and combat boots. Something in the back of my mind was saying Austin, but I ignored it.
“I think I’ll go with Blondie, since you love it so much.”
He rolled his eyes, sliding into his seat across from me.
“I’m not blond.”
“What do you have against blonds? Did one break your heart?” I was teasing, but he didn’t seem to like that very much. Subject change. “Anyway, what brings you here? I was only supposed to meet Eva.”
“I’m here every night. You seem to forget that this is my hang-out spot.”
“You seem to forget that I followed you around for weeks. You’re never here this early.”
“Oh, right.” His grin was wicked as he took a sip of his drink. “My biggest fan.”
“You wish.” I scoffed.
His eyes twinkled, but he didn’t get a chance to open his mouth before Eva bounced over.
“Hey! Sorry about that. I’m on break now. Ready for that tour? I have fifteen.”
The back room had rows upon rows of liquor bottles, beer cans, kegs, and mixers.
In the back corner there was a steel door with a smart-lock.
She punched in an eight-digit code and the door swung open.
I half expected there to be torches lining the stone walls of the staircase.
Instead, Eva flipped a switch and pot lights flickered on.
We walked down at least three flights of stairs before we reached the bottom.
The space in front of me looked like a supervillain’s lair.
How was there a fully functioning smithery in a cave underneath Rivermount?
There was a firepit set up like a furnace with coals and some kind of air pump.
There were all kinds of forging material and half-done products, ranging from swords to bo staffs scattered around the cave.
“I shouldn’t be seeing this.” I turned to her, wide-eyed. “You should not be showing me this.”
“You’re one of us now.” She smiled. “This isn’t just my shop. This is a safe spot for anyone who needs it. Now, follow me, I’ll show you the other entrance.”
I followed her out a swinging door into another room where the weapons were actually on display.
She took me through the whole place, telling me all about the emergency exits, door codes, and safety precautions.
The whole time I was just thinking that I shouldn’t be here.
The police were still following me everywhere, they were probably outside Crossroads right now looking for me.
After the tour she told me about some of her side projects—free self-defence classes and weapons for local women.
I was honestly surprised I hadn’t heard of it before, because it sounded like something I’d be into.
She invited me to join her next class—which I accepted—then she led me back upstairs so she could go back to work.
Avalanche was sitting right where I left him, eyebrow raised the second he saw me.
“You good? You look a little pale.”
“I guess I’m a little stressed.” I slid into the seat across from him and took a sip of the unfinished drink he’d gotten for me. “I don’t think I should have gone down there.”
“This place is a safe space for—”
“Eva already gave me the speech. But I… I’m not really one of you. I’m just a girl.”
He chuckled softly.
“A very brave and determined girl.”
I glared at him—probably proving his point about being brave, not many people could glare at a supervillain and live to tell the tale. But I could—what made me special?
“You’re not funny. I’m being serious.”
“Of course.” He pressed his lips together, setting his face into a serious expression. “This is very serious.”
“Everyone knows who I am now. Anyone could grab me off the street and try to force this information out of me. I shouldn’t—”
“That’s not going to happen.” He was serious now. “None of us are going to let that happen. I’m not going to let that happen. Don’t ever say something like that again.”
“Why do you even care? Huh? What’s it matter to you if some silly girl who’s in way over her head ends up dead for knowing you?”
His jaw twitched.
“It matters. You matter. Where is this coming from?”
I didn’t know, if I was being totally honest. I’d been doing this for months, but I’d never truly thought about the consequences until I was arrested—until every move I made was watched like a hawk.
There was a very real possibility that someone would use me to get to any one of them.
And while I was sitting in the back of some random officer’s car, all I could think about was ending up like that man from months ago.
What if I went missing? Who would even miss me if I went? Both my parents were gone—buried six months apart. All I had were my friends, my villains. Avalanche.
“I guess I’ve just been thinking a lot about that man. You remember the guy who tried to jump us the night I met Hem?”
His jaw twitched again.
“I remember.”
“What if I end up like him? Stolen from police custody, experimented on, thrown back out on the streets if it doesn’t work?”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that! No one is talking about it. No one even knows it’s happening.”
“I know.”
I paused, eyebrows furrowed.
“So it’s true then? He wasn’t just cracked out?”
“It’s true. I’m working on it. Which is why I’m telling you, it won’t happen. And if it does, I’ll find you.”
“Why do you even care?”
“They may call me a villain and my methods may be more stereotypically villain than hero, but I do what I do because someone has to. So that nothing like the incident happens again. So that people aren’t stolen.
This place is my home, and I don’t want its people suffering because the idiots in charge don’t care. ”
“That’s not what I meant. Why do you care what happens to me?”
He dropped his eyes, opting to take a large sip of his drink instead of meeting my gaze.
“I got you into this mess, it wouldn’t be right to—”
“No. I got myself into this mess. I knew there was a really good chance you’d kill me in that alley but I went because Scarlett asked.
I choose to meet The Weaver; I choose to let the other villains reach out.
None of them meet me outside the hospital to walk me home.
None of them call to check in every night—or more nights than not. So why do you? Why do you care?”
He took another large sip of his drink. “We all care. You’ve done so much for us and—”
“You, Avalanche. Why do you care?”
“Violet… I think maybe you’re reading too much into it and—”
“Un-fucking-believable,” I muttered.
I slid out of my chair and grabbed my jacket from the back. The guy was practically glued to my hip every single time I was alone, but I was reading too much into it?
“How much was my drink?”
“What?”
“My drink,” I said slower. “How much was it?”
“Why—”
“You know what? Doesn’t matter.” I grabbed my wallet out of my coat pocket, pulled out a green bill, and threw it on the table in front of him. “That should cover it, yeah?”
“That’s too much and not necessary—”
“Keep the change.”
I pushed my way through the crowd, enjoying the blast of cold air as I stepped outside. Maybe I was reading too much into it. Maybe I was being delusional because my books really had rotted my brain. Maybe I was just a stupid girl that let herself fall in love with a supervillain.
But he made it so fucking easy.