The others were right, I needed to stay the fuck away from my biggest distraction. Until I learned who was behind this and put an end to the experiments.
I had to get Violet out of my life.
I had to get out of hers.
“Stop beinga mopey asshole and just call her. I’m tired of looking at your miserable face every time I come into work. If you’re going to continue to wallow, do it in the back corner.”
I scowled at Eva. She was wiping down the bar between rushes. It was 5, so happy hour just ended and it would be another hour before the rowdy crowd showed up. I’d been sitting here drinking my whisky, minding my own business. I certainly wasn’t wallowing.
“Can’t a guy sit and have a drink without being lectured? I’m not miserable. I’m staying away like you said. Nay, like you demanded.”
“My demand was that you make up your mind.” She sighed. “V deserves better than all this in and out. But you’re both fucking miserable.”
A little part of me was relieved she was struggling as much as I was. I’d been spending the last week completely avoiding her. No random check-in, no phone calls, no walking her home. Cold turkey. Yes, I did just compare her to drugs and yes, I did feel like I was going through withdrawal. But the thought of her being in the same state… Being stabbed through the heart would be less painful.
“It’s too dangerous.”
“You’ve taken out four labs this week, the threat is shrinking every day.”
Yes, I wanted these labs gone. I wanted to protect the people in my district and the other villains that weren’t in the public like me or Hemlock or Whisper. I rescued 500 people—430 without powers and seventy with. Of the seventy with, half were transported from other countries. After survivingthe incident, they left to start new lives and tried to hide their powers.
They were trying to be smart.
After the superpower part ofthe incidentbecame public knowledge, the government started spinning a narrative. Anyone using powers in any capacity was evil. Wrong. A villain. I had no idea why, maybe they were trying to discourage a bunch of superheroes trying to take over. So we all became villains—which was fine by me, the title of hero carried too much of a burden. But over half of the population with superpowers just wanted to get out, live likethe incidentnever happened.
The people running these labs went out of their way to track them down, steal them from their homes, and do terrible things.
“There’s still three left, and I’m no closer to learning who’s in charge of this. It’s too dangerous.”
My sister sighed again.
“Fine, then leave ’cause I invited her and some of her friends from 49thto come drinking here tonight, on the house, of course. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”
I stared at her for a solid thirty seconds before I downed the rest of my drink and left. She called after me, but I was out the door before she could stop me. I was pissed off—unfairly. Violet was Eva’s first girlfriend; it wasn’t fair of me to be mad she invited V to the bar because I couldn’t be around her without losing my mind. I was considering turning around to apologize when I hit something—someone. I knew it was Violet before I fully registered the impact because of the heat that washed over me.
God, I fucking missed being warm.
“You okay?” I lightly grabbed her elbow to keep her upright.
“Yeah.” She gave me a polite smile and stepped out of my grip. “I should learn to watch where I’m walking. Thanks for catching me.”
She seemed cold, distant. Like we didn’t even know each other. Then I heard a giggle. Her friend Maddy was standing next to her, and I hadn’t even noticed.
“No problem. I’m half to blame there.”
“Well… Thanks again, have a good night.”
Then she was walking away, at least she tried to. Maddy grabbed her arm and held her in place instead.
“Hey, handsome saviour, we’re just on our way to a bar around the corner. You should join us. Let my friend here buy you a drink for keeping her ass out of this slushy snow.”
“You don’t?—”
“How could I pass up a free drink in this economy? I would love to.”
Violet closed her eyes, took a silent breath, then met my gaze with a forced smile. “Sure. Yeah, why not.”
Maddy grinned. “Excellent.”
