Chapter 59
Alara
T here's blood on my hands. My eyes go wide as I hold my non-injured hand in front of me and inspect it. There's blood on my hands from the man I killed. I killed someone. I'm a murderer.
My chest begins to ache, and my breathing gets ragged. Is this the end? Will everything I've worked toward just be over now?
The guys will never see me again. They will move on and finish their tour while I rot in jail, and I can't even be mad about it. I deserve it because I KILLED SOMEONE. It doesn't matter if it was in self-defense or not.
I can see the headline now: 'Almost tour opener murders security to get to the band.'
"Hey," Nix whispers.
My eyes jolt to his, defensiveness seeping into my tone. "You don't have to protect me. You should go. I'm sure the cops will be here soon."
"Don't do that." He shakes his head.
"Do what?" I snap back .
"I'm here because I love you, and you're pushing me away." The corner of his mouth tilts up, but falls just as quickly in defeat.
"Wait. Did you just say you love me?" My eyes light up.
The way his eyes go wide tells me that maybe he didn't intend to even say it. The words are out in the universe, though.
"I do love you, Alara. You mean everything to me, and I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He presses his lips to mine, and I breathe him in, his comforting scent slightly calming me.
"I love you too, Nix," I whisper, when he pulls back. "I don't want you to get in trouble."
"Everything's going to be okay. Nobody's getting in trouble. I just need you to trust me."
"Okay." I nod, leaning into him before wrapping my arms around his center.
We stay like this until someone knocks on the door. Nix jumps into protection mode, grabbing a stray pen from the desk and holding it in the direction of the door.
"Let me in. River sent me." A female's voice permeates through the wooden door.
"How do we know that?" Nix asks.
"For fuck’s sake. Why would a random person walk up to this specific door and say something like that? Let me in, you idiots. The longer this takes, the more risk you open yourselves up to."
"Open the door." I nod at Nix, ready to get this over with .
I jump off the desk, watching as he makes his way across the room.
A girl in all black from head to toe bursts inside, carrying a bag on each shoulder.
The two security guards Nix locked out funnel in with her, and he tosses his hands up in frustration.
She shakes her head, shutting the door behind them while one of the guards lets out a girlish scream.
"Would you shut the hell up?" She rolls her eyes before pulling a knife out of her side pocket.
My eyes go wide, jaw dropping open when she slides the knife across one security guard’s throat and then the other’s in the blink of an eye.
"Don't you dare scream!" she snaps in my direction as both men fall to their knees, gripping their throats while blood drenches the carpet further.
I watch in horror as life drains from both their eyes, and they collapse face down next to the guy that died at my hand. The assassin looks satisfied, taking one last look at the now three dead men before turning to face us.
"Sorry. That was a little messier than I like. I couldn't break their bones, though. It's always easier to go for the carotid in situations like this."
"Why did you kill them?" I breathe out.
"We don't leave witnesses alive. That's how people get caught, silly." She brushes off my question like it was the most absurd thing she's ever heard.
Sorry. I didn't mean to have a freaking conscience. My bad .
"You're supposed to listen to this." She holds a phone out with a text thread open.
There's a voice note that my shaky hand reaches out to reluctantly click on. It's River's voice telling us to listen to the person who came for us. We're apparently supposed to go somewhere with her once things are all managed here.
"Now that we've got that all under control, I need you both to strip. You can't keep those on." Her finger points up and down our blood-soaked clothes.
"I don't have anything else to wear." My brows furrow.
"We don't have time for this. Get naked.
I've got clothing for you in another bag right outside of the room once we get all of the blood off of you.
" She pulls a few gallon jugs of water out of one of the bags she brought in with her.
"You can use this to rinse as much as you can off.
We're not trying to take any of the evidence with us. "
Nix takes the jugs from her, setting each of them on the desk and glancing in my direction.
One deep breath later, I'm pulling the Metallica shirt over my head and tossing it to the floor.
I take each article of clothing off, using it to wipe as much blood as I can from my skin in the process.
The less water I have to use, the better.
Nix follows suit, taking off his pants and shirt but leaving his underwear on. I also choose to leave my panties and bra on, but the girl shakes her head.
"No clothing leaves this room. "
"It was underneath my shirt. There's no blood on it," I protest.
"Doesn't matter. You're supposed to listen to me, remember?" she sing-songs while pulling a few other things out of her bag. One of those things looks like an old heater that she plugs into the far wall.
"What's that for?" Curiosity gets the best of me.
"This," she turns it to face the men, "is how the building caught on fire. Faulty wiring." A smile crosses her face as she shrugs. "The story was supposed to be something else, but I think this will work just the same."
I have no idea what she's talking about, but I shake my head and stick my arm out for Nix to pour some water over it.
We move quickly, getting as much of the blood off of us as possible.
He uses the last of the gallon for my hair, and I squeeze most of the water out.
Thankfully, there wasn't much blood that made it to my hair.
When we finish, I turn to look at the girl who has stopped whatever she was doing to watch us intently.
It's almost like the idea of physical touch is foreign to her.
She studies the way Nix and I interact; a slight look of longing crosses her face, only long enough for her to realize it's there, and then it's gone.
"You’re good enough. You seriously need to take the undergarments off before we leave the room, though." Her eyes turn away from us to give a semblance of privacy as she pulls the door open .
"Thanks." I move as fast as I can, taking the rest of my clothes off and stepping out into the hallway to reach for the articles in the bag.
"You know, you should have realized something was wrong when there was nobody else in the building." She stands just inside the room waiting for us to get dressed. "Seriously. Some people have the worst situational awareness."
"I was nervous about the meeting. I wasn't worried about who else was in the building." I’m more defensive than I should be to a stranger, but I don’t like what she’s insinuating.
"Obviously, because there is nobody else in the building." Her eyes roll as she shakes her head.
"Not now." Nix grabs my now clothed waist and pulls me into him.
"Right. Time for some fun." She steps into the hallway with us and grins before turning to toss a match into the room.
"We've got about three minutes to run down the stairs before a good bit of this building goes up in flames.
There are some other members of my team dropping matches in other rooms to make sure it's somewhat of a controlled burn, so we should probably get going. "
I go to say something, but she shoos me along.
"That means run!"