Page 104 of Taking Denver

Axel picks up the passports and opens them.

“She’s coming with me.” Axel’s voice brightens, and he smiles. “Look.”

He passes me the passport. It’s Denver’s photograph but with a different name. The other passport is Axel, his face but with a different name.

Axel’s smile widens. “We’re both getting out.”

Chapter 35

Denver

Ierase the CCTV. I take what cash I can carry from the safe. Standing in the hallway with Hayes’s body, I drop the empty whiskey bottle on the floor after coating the hallway in it. The smell of the drink fills my nostrils, but it’s better than smelling blood.

After Axel left, I went into the women’s bathroom, looked in the mirror, and vomited. It looked like I’d dipped my palms in paint and rubbed it across my face and hair. I was covered in Hayes.

A good man trying to do the right thing.

I washed my face and flew into action because regardless of whether Hayes was good, Axel is better. Axel has to survive this. He has to get out. Ranger can never find out because he will see this as Axel stepping up, and then he’d be trapped. I can’t let that happen.

I pull the velvet bag from Hayes’s hand and put Wyatt’s wedding ring back inside. I take the detective’s car keys, too. Tucking the ring into my back pocket, I step out into the cold, hold the door open, and flick the match inside.

It looks like a movie. Blood. Body. Fire.

When the door closes behind me, it’s as if I’d pressed stop. Like the last hour didn’t happen; it was all make-believe. I made it go away. For tonight, at least.

Hayes’s car smells like cigarette smoke but is devoid of any other character. No air freshener, no family photo tucked into the visor, no fun character dangling from the rearview mirror. I’m glad. I can’t handle knowing he’s human when pieces of him are still in my hair.

I drive the car to an alley in a part of town where cars with keys in should never be left. Someone will either steal it or burn it out. I’ll leave it up to criminals, the most reliable people I know, to take care of it. I wipe down the inside of the car and set off walking, avoiding busy streets. It takes me thirty minutes to get back to Pulse, where I left my phone under my car, switched off. I couldn’t risk it connecting to a cell tower.

Pulse is fully alight. The fire won’t burn away his body completely; at the very least, there will be bone fragments they’ll test and link to Hayes, but there could be a hundred explanations for him being there and for a fire starting.

Archer will be a problem. He could know everything Hayes does and come for me, but I’ll have to deal with that later. For now, Hayes is burning; the evidence is, too, and that’s one step in the right direction.

The flames lick at the windows, and I feel bad for Harley. She worked so hard on this place. There are other Luxe clubs she can run just as well, but her heart will still be broken. I hated asking her to drop off the envelope at Ethan’s, but I didn’t trust anyone else to do it.

I look at my watch. The flight I asked Harley to book is leaving in a few hours. Ethan will be driving Axel to the airport. They’re expecting me to call, but I have to go home first.

I avoid any streets where I might get pulled over, not that anyone would stop Denver Luxe’s car. Once I’m home, I turn off the engine and turn on my phone.

Ethan answers on the second ring. “Hey, where are you?”

“Sorry, I’ve been busy. Can I talk to Axel?”

I hear the phone moving—the sounds of the airport.

“Denver, are you coming?” Axel sounds hopeful, and I squeeze my eyes closed.

“I am,” I say as cheerfully as I can. “I have to fix some things here, but I’m on the flight after you.”

“No,” Axel says. “Get this flight with me. I don’t want to be on my own.”

I grip the steering wheel because I don’t want him to be alone, either. I don’t want him to be anywhere without me, but I don’t have a choice.

“I know. I’m sorry. But I have to make sure everything is okay before I leave. Just to be safe.”

“Promise me you’re coming,” he says.

“I promise.”

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