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He was attractive in his gray suit and neat haircut. Handsome in a movie star way, with too-white teeth and hair that he probably had highlighted every six weeks.
In his arms was the biggest bunch of flowers I’d ever seen.
My upper lip curled. With one look, I knew exactly who he was. Not his name or his age or how much money his bank account held. But enough to know the sort of man he was beneath it all.
His insides reeked of jet-black darkness.
They were apology flowers. I could see it in the way he swept Bethany-Melissa into his arms, thrusting them into her face while her body remained a rigid, unmoving board. She made no attempt to take them, backing away from his touch so quickly I was sure she hadn’t even consciously thought about it.
He let her go, but his wide smile betrayed his true personality. It morphed into something more like a shark with a mouthful of pointed, dagger-like teeth ready to rip the skin from her bones.
It was clear an argument had started from her lack of enthusiasm over his gift. His shoulders drew up toward his ears, stiff and tense. All the fake charm from a moment earlier disintegrating into a seething anger that had clearly not been buried too deeply.
She reached for the flowers, but he jerked them out of her reach, spitting words at her too low for me to hear, even when I cracked the window open an inch.
I rolled my head on my neck when the darkness inside me swirled and grew, just begging to be unleashed.
“Not yet.”
Nothing good came from being unprepared. Nothing good came from moving too quickly and losing control.
The darkness had its place in my life, but keeping it under control was key. Because once it was out, I couldn’t always get it back in.
She was crying again. I could tell by the shakes in her shoulders, and the boyfriend realized he was making a scene. His gaze darted to the houses around them, before he stepped in close to her and thrust the flowers into her arms.
She took them this time and then watched while he got inside his sleek black car. It zoomed backward out of the driveway at an extremely unsafe speed.
I ground my teeth when she jumped back like she was afraid he might hit her.
There were rules in my family about who we could kill. Killing women wasn’t off the table. Not if they deserved it. But I drew the line at children, even though we’d had contracts for those jobs before. The thought curdled my stomach. Children could change.
Adults couldn’t.
Which didn’t bode well for this new leaf I was supposed to be turning over.
I could be the exception.
Doubtful, the darkness whispered.
“Shut up.”
Bethany-Melissa watched her boyfriend drive away. Her gaze lingered on my car for a moment, and my breath hitched, even knowing she couldn’t see me inside. I waited for her to walk into the house, but once she’d disappeared, I turned the engine on. Making a U-turn, I drove in the same direction the boyfriend had and quickly caught him at the nearest stop sign.
I sat behind him, staring at his personalized number plates.
CALE8.
“So either your name is Caleb or you like kale but can’t spell,” I muttered to myself. “As much as I’d like to assume you’re an ignoramus, you’re probably not if you managed to obtain a job that pays enough to live in that ridiculous-looking house that cost more money that you have sense. So, hello, Caleb. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, except you have no idea I’m following you, do you?”
Caleb pulled out into the flow of traffic, and I followed, not bothering to leave a gap, because he had no idea who I was. I trailed him closely through the streets of Providence, only dropping back when I found myself in Saint View. The last rays of the setting sun disappeared into darkness, and the intermittent streetlamps did little to light the night around me.
I didn’t mind that. I liked the darkness.
Ahead, Caleb picked up the pace until he was ten miles over the speed limit.
“Where are you going in such a rush, Caleb with an eight instead of a B? Off to abuse some more women?”
I didn’t want to draw more attention to myself than necessary, but I needed information, and I wasn’t going to get that by losing him now. I put my foot down on the accelerator.
