Page 66 of Outlawed

He turns it off with a laugh, tossing a towel at me. “Head on upstairs and get showered. Grab something of mine from the closet to wear. Nothing too fancy, you don’t want Cece asking questions.”

I flip him off before wrapping the towel around my waist and heading upstairs, leaving him alone in the basement with the carnage I created. I’m not worried that he’ll turn on me and keep evidence that might incriminate me later. Maybe once upon a time that would have been different. After killing Fargo, I waited every day for two years for the cops to turn up on my door and arrest their sheriff. It would be a scandal of epic proportions. I was prepared for it, though, unable to find any regret from ridding this world of that piece of shit. But the years continued to pass with nothing but silence. I passed Austin dozens of times, but we never spoke. We barely acknowledged each other’s existence. We’d probably have continued to do so until Calliope came home and threw all our lives into chaos.

I stand under the stream of water, my head bent as years of grief drain away. I stay there until the water runs cold, then climb out and dry off. I head to Austin’s room and rummage around until I find a pair of gray sweatpants and a black Henley. I pull them on before making my way back downstairs.

I find Austin in the kitchen pouring bourbon into two glasses. He looks up when I enter and slides one my way. “Here.”

“Thanks.” I press the glass to my lips, tip my head back, and drink it down in one, relishing the burn.

“Another?”

I nod, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand before sliding the glass back.

“So…” he begins as I take a seat at the island.

“So?”

“You gonna tell her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

He sighs, drinking down his own drink as he slides my now full glass back.

“You don’t think I should?”

“Honestly, no. Not because she’d judge you. I mean, she accepts Riggs and me, mostly, just as we are. She finds comfort in our depravity. But that’s not what she needs from you.”

“Oh yeah, and what is it you think she needs from me?” I tip my head back once more and swallow down the amber liquid.

“Light. She needs you to hold on to her as tight as you can so she doesn’t fall so far into the dark she can’t climb out. She can’t get that from Riggs or me. We only know how to navigate the shadows.”

“So I should just keep lying to her?”

“If it means guarding her sanity, yeah. There’s only room for one crazy fucker in this relationship, and that’s me. You’ve gotta guard her conscience like it’s a precious commodity. Not just for her sake but for Hannah’s too.”

“You make her sound like a psychopath in the making. Psychopaths feel nothing. Calliope feels everything. She loves harder than anyone I’ve ever met, you know that.”

“I do. Now ask me if there is anything she wouldn’t do to keep those she loves safe.”

My mouth snaps shut at that. I already know the answer.

“Power corrupts, Shepard. It’s true in all walks of life. What we have here with Cece is good. Better than good. And with the whole community backing us, it’s like having a security blanket wrapped around us, shielding us from the world. But one day that world will seep in. Someone will come and stir up trouble, maybe hurt someone Calliope cares about. You might be the only one of us who would be able to talk her down from doing something reckless.”

“I just fucking killed a guy in your basement,” I remind him.

“Yeah, you did. And nobody will ever know. And if Calliope kept her kills behind closed doors, everything would be okay. But if she snaps…”

“And does something public that pushes the line of what others are willing to live with, there will be no putting the genie back in the bottle.”

“Exactly. In the day and age of social media, she can’t just execute someone in the street and get away with it.”

“You really think she’d ever do something like that?”

“You shot me. You didn’t think twice about the repercussions. Now imagine if someone shot Hannah like they did Dawn, right there in the middle of town. Now picture the shooter is there too, and Calliope has him in her sights.”

I close my eyes, knowing exactly how it would play out. My beautiful, brave woman would tear them to shreds, consequences be damned.

“I can keep the town safe from her powers, and Riggs has a hold on her heart that truthfully, I’m not sure we’ll be able to replicate. But you, you hold her sanity in the palm of your hand. And for that, your palms need to remain blood-free. Her moral compass points to you, and it needs to stay that way.”