Page 63 of Ballistic

“Never mind. Your mind is a tiny fucking recorder, jotting down everything I say. Every weakness that you can use against me later. You knew I wanted you last night. And you played your cards well, Nicoleta.” I stood pinching the bridge of my nose, ignoring the small bit of victory I could see beaming across her smug little face. “What did you do to him?” I’d expected that smile to stretch wider, but it didn’t. Instead, her eyes turned sad, and the wet sheen coating them told me something hadn’t gone as planned. “What happened last night?”

Lips pressed tight, she turned her head away before shaking it.

“Tell me, Nic. What’s wrong?”

“Have you ever watched someone drown before?”

I shook my head in response, pushing away the anger of being swindled, as I could see something much darker had taken hold over her.

“There’s a … split second when … just before they take a breath under water … when their eyes become resolute. There’s no redemption. No possible chance to save themselves. They breathe because they have no choice. It’s like the body becomes so desperate that it … it kills itself. It kills itself, doesn’t it?”

I could see the guilt in her eyes, and knew that feeling all too well. She’d probably slept with it all night long, if she’d slept, at all. “You drowned him?”

“I offered him the same choice that he gave Eden.”

Which hadn’t been a choice, at all. I rubbed my hand over my skull and down my face. “I’ll go back tonight. Make sure it’s all clean.”

“Dax? I’ve …”

“You’ve never killed anyone like that before. I know.” Didn’t take rocket science to see the girl was tearing herself up over it.

Her hands trembled as she ran them over her short-cropped hair.

“It doesn’t get easier. In fact, it gets worse.”

She blinked away the tears in her eyes and lifted her gaze to mine. “And yet, you still want to kill Tesarik.”

“More than anything. And I’d have taken care of that sick bastard last night, too, if I hadn’t been busy trying to save another one that’ll probably end up back in the same fucking place again.”

“He had one of the girls?”

“Apparently, you can rent them, so long as you bring them back in twenty-four hours. I bet she wasn’t even thirteen.”

Shaking her head, she shifted her attention toward her fidgeting hands. “Look, you don’t have to do this. I’ll find another way in. I’ll take down every one of those bastards myself, if I have to.”

Ridiculous. So fucking ridiculous I wanted to laugh.

“No. I’m not letting you do this alone. But you need to think about what you’re willing to sacrifice, because vengeance doesn’t come cheap. Those sleepless nights, those voices in your head telling you what a shitty person you are … that doesn’t go away.”

“There’s no going back for me, Dax. I chose this path, and I’m sticking on it.”

“You want my help? Then, you’re going to start playing by my rules.” I set my hands on my hips and swiped my thumb across my nose. “No more sneaking out.”

Gaze still cast from mine, she nodded. “Fine.”

“No more lies. No more slipping shit in my drink. Or grinding on my lap. Or doing whatever the hell that was with your tongue in my mouth.”

The corner of her lip kicked up to a smile, but I was serious. I could hardly stand the tension between us, and I sure as hell didn’t need her making it worse. Girl was ten years younger than me, and I’d be damned if I’d cave. “And no more walking around in a fucking towel like that.”

Something sinister flicked in her eyes, and before I caught on, she rose up from the bed and let the towel drop to her ankles.

Jesus fucking Christ.

It was the first time I allowed myself to look at her. Her. Not the scars, or the bruises, but the beautiful curves and edges that made her perfect in spite of them. I’d bathed the woman and cared for her, but it wasn’t until right then that I looked at her as something I’d wanted for myself. I turned my gaze to offer her privacy, but hell if I didn’t have every single one of those curves already seared inside my head.

“You can’t even look at me, can you? You asked what I’ve been willing to sacrifice? The answer’s everything. Every part of me.”

“For your friend.”