Page 13 of Graves

My god, he’s a fucking psychopath.

“Hope your acting classes have paid off because you’re gonna have to sell it hard.”

He waves me off, dropping the scared act as he adjusts his seating.

“Now, back to my angel. How is she?”

I nod. “Fine. I assume you know the routine by now. To and from the bar, an occasional lunch with her friend. Fairly mundane life.”

“Any problems?” Zayden asks.

“Actually, yes,” I say, causing Zayden’s eyes to snap up to me.

“There was an incident at the bar. A guy was harassing her, and then he slapped her ass.”

I hear one of Zayden’s molars actually crack as his jaw clenches to the point of steel. His chest is heaving as he stays silent, no doubt trying to control his rage.

“And?” he practically growls.

“And he was discharged from the ICU two weeks ago with long-lasting neurological deficits.”

The fire in his eyes dims a bit, returning to a calm smolder.

“Excellent news, brother.”

I dip my head in thanks as I pull my wallet out, removing the Polaroid photo I took for him. When I set it on the table, he grabs it instantly, lifting it up in his shackled hands as he stares at it reverently.

“My angel,” he whispers underneath his breath.

I don’t know why he calls her that, she isn’t his anything, but if you tried to tell Zayden that, I’m sure he’d rather cut out your tongue than accept the truth.

His eyes trace over the image for several more seconds before he tucks it into his pocket and nods his head, closing his eyes tightly. When he opens them up again, a clarity I haven’t seen in years fills them. For a moment, if you didn’t know better, you’d almost think Zayden was normal. He’s calm, composed, and not a ticking time bomb eager to go off at the slightest inconvenience, just for a taste of blood.

“Let’s go. Sooner I can get out, sooner I can be in bed with her,” he says as he stands.

Ifrown at that.

“You’ve been in her bed? Zayden,” I say with a curl of my lip.

“We’re soulmates,” he says simply, like that is the most basic piece of knowledge there is in this life.

Instead of arguing with him, I shake my head and turn to walk out of the room as the guard escorts him through his door. The courthouse is just next door, so I make quick work of exiting the jail and stepping into court.

Once I’m through security, I find Zayden’s lawyer pacing the hall. As soon as he sees me, he hurries over.

“Tell me you calmed him down. I tried to talk with him the other day, and he fucking lost it on me.”

I nod. “He’s calm.”

“Good.” He nods. “If he plays his cards right, wejustmight be able to get him out of this with house arrest and probation.”

“And if not?” I question.

He gives me a sharp shake of his head that has me cursing under my breath.

Fucking hell, Zayden.

The judge rattledthrough the case information way too fast. Judge Martinez barely looked at Zayden as he put on the performance of a lifetime. Honestly, I almost believed him, and I know him better than anyone in the world. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to affect the judge in the slightest.

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