Page 5 of Hide From Me

I watched him for a moment longer and then got the welder out and flipped down my helmet.

He nodded as the garage door clattered and squeaked as someone came into what I liked to call the shop. I needed the outlet of my art, but it had become a lot more than just art. It was a solid way to dispose of old weapons and turn them into something no one suspected as anything other than modern artwork. The rich fucks of this city preferred to be blind. They could buy a bit of the city’s crimes just to feel like they lived on the edge. My art was the blood splatter of a city torn by gangs.

“Hey, Cas,” said Zeiden. Zeid was the second and only other person who I trusted. He strolled through the shop like he owned it, and technically he’d been part of my success, so he did.

“Heads up,” he said. I turned and caught a handgun.

“Got room for one more on that thing?”

I looked over the piece and shrugged.

“Sure. All these will get moved this weekend. You got the show all set up?”

He practically took up the entire couch as he spread out.

“Fuck, move over,” said X.

Zeid did move, but just enough that Xander wouldn’t kill him.

“X, your ass is getting fat. Maybe you need to go workout some more,” Zeid said right as he caught X’s fist to his bicep.

I shook my head and went about pulling the parts of the gun in order to sprinkle them throughout the piece. I could hide this shit anywhere, and I did.

“Who’s the chick?”

I didn’t answer as the zap-zap-zap of the welder gave me a distraction. I didn’t have to answer to them. She was my secret. Except this metal statue was trying to betray me.

Somehow, even with the harsh edges, joints of one scrap of metal connected to another, and all the different colors and textures, it still resembled a woman.

“What’s on your mind, Cas?” X said with a laugh.

I didn’t bother answering him as I got up from the stool where I’d spent far too much time today. As I rolled my shoulders back, my muscles protested.

“Stand up, I need a punching bag, bitch.”

They both laughed.

“This one needs to get moved; call the guys and make that happen. I’m heading to the gym.”

I didn’t need to bother looking back. They would get this figured out. I would head to the gym right after I checked on Rylee. She was back in the city, and I didn’t like the shit she somehow found herself in.

I’d dealt with the scum that thought he could touch her. She was safer for that exact second.

I swung my jacket over my shoulder and grabbed my keys off the workbench where I’d tossed them. I was on my bike before X and Zeid could come offer to follow me to the gym. They would show up because everyone in the Spectors ended up there at some point. If you weren’t quick on your feet, you ended up dead.

In the meantime, I needed to stop off and check on my only little project. She’d been off limits years ago and I doubt she even knew why. She was too young, that was for fucking sure, but it hadn’t stopped me from protecting her. She was one of the good ones. She deserved to get out of this hellhole, and yet she was back. Everything I’d done to get her out of here, and she was back.

I clicked a button on my phone and the tracker she didn’t know about popped up. I could find her wherever she was.

Bingo.

The engine of my bike drowned out the sounds of the city as I sped away, down the alley where it echoed out onto the street away from Spector territory. My fucking home.

I’d kept her away from all this. I’d kept my eyes on her for years. And yet here she was, and I was too weak to stay away. I’d done my best, but I was only human, regardless of what I wanted anyone to think. I had the scars to prove it. I had more scars than anyone would see. Demons. But she wasn’t one of them. She was an angel, and I’d seen it the moment her piece of shit dad brought her to live with him.

My anger burned just as hot as it did all those years ago. Rylee hadn’t deserved her fate. Her mother made a shit choice and was killed for it. I’d give that woman a lot of credit for keeping Rylee safe for as long as she could. But no one hides from the gang. Not really.

Death was the only way out. That, or taking over and making it what you wanted. I chose the latter.

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