“Tell me where we’re going.”
I follow her directions to a small suburb on the outskirts of the city. During the drive, she changes into the wig, black leggings, and shirt I packed for her.
To break the silence, I say, “They say the couple that slays together stays together.”
“We are not a couple.” Although there is no inflection in her voice, she can’t hide the trembling lips that betray her amusement.
“Yet. Give us a few more murderventures and you’ll come over to my way of thinking.” I turn off the lights and crawl to a stop five houses from our destination.
Our target’s home is dark with two cars in the driveway. All levity vanishes from Nadira’s face. In its place is the same stoic facade from when she entered the car. We break into the home and work fast to shut off the electricity and secure the area in the living room. When everything is ready, I follow Nadira upstairs. Our marks lie asleep in bed. Nadira goes to one side where the woman sleeps and I choose the man’s side. In no time, we have them tied and gagged to prevent them from screaming for help. The whites of their eyes glow in the darkness, while they writhe and contort their bodies to free themselves of their bonds.
Nadira taps the woman’s cheek until she gains her attention. I follow suit with the man and nod toward Nadira when he calms enough to listen.
“Hi there. You don’t know who I am, and honestly after tonight, you won’t need to. But you should know why I’m here. You see, it’s come to my attention that you two need a lesson in consent and how not to assault unwilling women.” She removesher gun and points it at the couple. “Now, be a good boy and girl and walk downstairs. Don’t make me use this because I’ll make sure to shoot you in a place that will cause you the most pain.”
The two frantically nod and writhe until they fall out of bed. They right themselves, but because of having their hands tied to their legs, their stride is awkward. I turn on a flashlight to the dimmest setting so the light won’t draw attention from any nosy neighbors who are awake this early in the morning. On the way downstairs, the couple stumbles into the wall and the railing.
Once we reach the living room, I flash the light on the scene Nadira and I set up. As soon as the couple registers the drop cloths, their eyes bulge. The man falls on his ass when he attempts to run. Before he gets too far, I grab him by the neck and throw him on the barrier as a precaution in case he soils himself before we begin.
Nadira squats in front of the woman, dangling her gun between her thighs. “Royal, is it?”
The woman nods while tears stream down her face.
“Do you know why I’m not in a warm bed sleeping without a care in the world? The way you were before I woke you up?”
Royal shakes her head in the negative and a muffled sob escapes from her duct-taped mouth.
“Now, I don’t care if you like a side of dick with your pussy. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because you fucked around with the wrong one and I’m making time. When you do a bait and switch on the most pussy-loving lesbian I know, as if you didn’t know she was all about the muff, you have to deal with me. And you, you’re Jadan, right?” Nadira glares at the man who looks at me with beseeching eyes. “I hear you wield a miracle converter so good it’ll turn lesbians into dick riders, whether they want your sorry excuse of a dick or not.”
I shake my head at him in faux sympathy. “I see you want my help, but I’m not calling the shots. First off, that woman ismy queen, and as her devout subject, I can only follow orders. You’ve pissed her off, and I’ll let her set you on fire if that’s the only way to appease her anger. Second, rapist pieces of shit like you deserve to feel a lifetime of pain. Are we clear?”
Nadira approaches us but addresses the woman. “It’s a damn shame. From this day forward, the miracle converter will be out of service.”
Nadira steps on the man’s thighs, pinning him to the ground. Then she aims her gun between his legs. While staring into Jadan’s terrified eyes, she pulls the trigger. The silencer muffles the gunshot, but the impact is no less devastating, making minced meat of Jadan’s pride and joy. His writhing dislodges Nadira and she turns to the woman whose screaming intensifies.
She frantically crawls away, but Nadira grabs her by the hair and drags her until she’s even with the man bleeding and weeping on the floor. Then she shoves the woman on him.
I check for the time. “You need to wrap this up to keep to your timetable.”
“That takes the satisfaction out of this, but I can’t have anything blowing back on my friend.” Nadira cracks her neck then presses her foot against Royal’s chest. “It pains me to end things so soon, but you weren’t going to survive more than a few hours, anyway.” With her last word, she empties the gun into both people. With a mournful sigh, she says, “That was so anticlimactic.”
“There’s always the next time.”
She rolls her eyes and begins collecting the spent shells. While she does that, I dismember the bodies. She soon joins me and we complete the work in harmonious silence. As we separate the parts, we throw them into leak-proof duffel bags and check the floor for stray blood splatter.
After we clean the room and wipe all the surfaces from the bedroom to the living room, Nadira stops me with a hand on my arm.
“My time’s up and I have to return to the hotel.” Her stare holds a lot of meaning as she says, “This means, I can’t be with you when you dispose of the evidence.”
When what she leaves unsaid clicks, I close my eyes. I don’t want to see my hopes dashed if I’m wrong. “Are you saying you trust me to do it myself? That you know I’ll protect you from being discovered?”
Her breath fans against my face. “That’s what I’m saying.”
My knees go weak with the power her words release inside me. I don’t care about the bloody clothes and butchered bodies in the car. When I open my eyes, all I see is Nadira. I grab her face and draw her in until our lips are a breath away from touching. Then I press my mouth against her scar, tracing the line from her scalp to the corner of her mouth.
Her breath stutters, and a shudder runs through her.
“Thank you,” I say. “Will you let me kiss you properly?”