“I love you so much,” I mumbled into her massive amount of hair. “Best Christmas to date.”
“Even with nothing under a tree?” She sighed.
“Trees are overrated. I’m just glad to be here with you.”
“It’s the perfect hiding place, huh?” She smirked and plated the breakfast. “Hiding where no one would think to look.”
“What do you mean?” I looked up.
“We never got to your story. Of why you were covered in someone else’s blood? It’s the perfect hiding place because visiting my neighborhood makes no sense for someone like you.”
“Scout, enough with that self-depreciation shit. I don’t care what other people think. And no, it’s not the perfect hiding place because the last time I was here, I was arrested.” I took the plate and sat at the table.
“Yes, but why would you come back if you were afraid of getting caught?”
“I’m not afraid of getting caught. The guy’s dead, gone, and he ain’t coming back.” A flash of last night’s events ran through my brain, and I quickly shook them away. “Is this your way of asking what happened?”
“Yeah, it was. What did you do?”She joined me at the table.
“I told you I got a new job.”I picked up a piece of bacon and eyed it.
“You did. And that it made a lot of money.”
“It does. People pay me very well to do things they don’t want to do.”
“People as in?” She raised an eyebrow.
“People.”
“And things they don’t want to do as in?”
“What do you think?” I took a bite of my bacon and looked at her expectantly.
“Kill people?”
“Bingo.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“Are you?” That was the most important thing to me.
“I mean, I don’t know. You’re being safe, right?”Safe? She wasn’t concerned about the lives I was taking. She was worried about mine.
“I am. I’ve killed three men so far. All scumbags. I had no issue with disposal other than the weight. I’m not built to carry 300-pound men around all day,” I joked, but she didn’t laugh.
“You’re psychotic.”
“It paid for the ring on your hand,” I said sharply. I set my fork down and sighed. “Would you rather me not do this? I can go back to slinging popcorn at the theater and dope from my car, but that’s going to get me in far more trouble than taking out some guys no one’s going to miss. I’ll do whatever you want me to, Scout. Just say the word.”
She thought about it for a long time and then looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes. At that moment, I saw something I’d never seen before. A glimmer, a spark, a hint of something dark. But in her, darkness was beauty. She opened her mouth and said the sexiest thing she could in that moment.
“Just don’t get caught.”
