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“But we’re free now,” she reminded me, with obvious strain in her tone. “I know it’s a hard transition. It was hard for all of us, but... my transition was slow. Probably the easiest of everybody. The toughest part was once the memories started coming back, you know? The stuff they’d tamped way down deep, buried but not destroyed. I can’t imagine how difficult that is for you too.”
“My shit was never buried,” I told her, with a dry smile. “I was never given the privilege.”
Alicia sucked in a breath. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. But I’m good.”
“No, you’re not,” Alicia countered. Her hands came to my chin, turning me to face her. I wanted to hate it, but... I didn’t. “You’ve been out there by yourself, but you don’t have to be alone. We’re here for you, Nyx…for real.”
I shrugged her off, shaking my head. “I’m good by myself.”
“Then what did you come to Vegas for?” she questioned. “And where have you been sinceThe Gardenwent down?”
The second inquiry was a little easier to answer.
Only a little.
“Drifting,” I said, offering another shrug. “Country to country, city to city, continent to continent. Exploring. Just...being. It’s not like I had anywhere to be, anywhere to go. Not like I had a real home.”
“But youdo,” Alicia countered. “And don’t roll your eyes, at me, I’m serious. I know it didn’t feel like it when you were out there by yourself—or when I left. But Nyx, you have people who give a shit about you. Me, Isaiah, Blue, Tati, the otherPredatorssince you share their ink.”
I shook my head. “They don’t even know me like that yet.”
“And yet they’ve welcomed you,” she said. “Who did Blue take to Tati’s house with him tonight? Who did he send to go find the person who hurt his sister?You. There’s no question in my mind—he didn’t do that lightly. He did it because he trusts you.”
I scoffed. “He shouldn’t.”
“Why not?”
I chuckled. “Because it’s not smart.”
“Maybe not, but it’s human. You get to know people, you get vulnerable with them, you get comfortable with them. That’s how relationships go.”
“So what, you’re a guru now?” I asked, laughing, and she shook her head.
“No, not a guru, but I do know a little bit, from experience. You don’t have to be alone anymore. You have family, as fucked up as we may be. You’ve got us.”
I didn’t get a chance to refute that and… I wasn’t even sure I wanted to
Honestly, this was too much happening at once, too much of a mental overload, too much anger and emotion swirling at once.
I didn’t even know what I was doing right now.
The knock at the door brought clarity.
I looked up just as another familiar face walked in, mostly serious. But there was a hint of a grin as he raised his chin to salute me. “Look at this pretty motherfucker,” Isaiah said, stepping in with his hand outstretched to shake mine for the first time in a long ass time.
He and I had fought like hellions as kids, but as we got older, we were paired together. We worked well as a unit for the same reason we clashed—we were both angry, wild motherfuckers. That connection and familiarity with each other had bred friendship, right on the cusp of what could have been considered brotherhood.
Which meant it had to get stamped out.
They put him on protection duty, atThe Garden, and sent me off to lose whatever humanity I had left.
“Nah,” I told him, laughing as I easily shook his hand. It was crazy to instantly still feel that same familiar connection. “That’s you, nigga.”
“Oh please,” Alicia interjected. “You are two sides of the same pretty boy ass coin,” she said. “Nyx just has more hair. Isaiah, do you have something for us?”
“I do, actually,” he said, holding up the tablet he’d walked in with. “An hour from now, Kevondre Woodson has a private flight, chartered out of theHamilton Luxury Transportairfield.”
