Page 84 of Living with Death

“You’d like it with me.” Wes gives me his best smile, saying,one night with me, baby, and your world will turn upside down. Yeah, right.

I laugh. “You’re sure about that, aren’t you?”

“Positive. I’m a good guy.”

I sigh. “You almost had me, Wes, but good guys don’t have to say they’re good guys.” I stand. “It’s been nice talking to you.”

He grabs my arm. “Where are you going? We were just about to have some fun.”

I look at his hand on my arm. “I’m good.”

He stands. “I’m not. My shift is over. Why don’t you let me take you home?”

I take my arm back. “I said I’m good. Enjoy your…” He grabs me again and spins me around, pulling my arm, nearly dragging me toward the side of the building. I wince and try to yank away, but his grip is unyielding. He pushes me against the wall, and my back hits the brick sharply.

“All that teasing you were doing back there. You thought I wouldn’t get a little kiss, at least? Come on, Red. That’s not playing fair.” I try to shove him, but he grabs my hands and forces them above my head, crashing his lips on mine. I bite down, and he yells, reaching his hand back. My eyes close as I wait for the hit, but it never comes. I open them and see he’s no longer in front of me, but in the air, with his feet dangling.

Azrael’s eyes glow like silver fire. Darkness surrounds him. The black fog holds Wes in the air. Azrael slides his hands into the pockets of his black slacks, looking at Wes like a lion about to devour his prey. He angles his head.

Wes visibly shakes. “What are you? Put me down.”

“I am your end,” Azrael says. The fog drops Wes to the ground, and he grunts, looking at me before looking at Azrael, who smiles. “Run.”

I stand unmoving, my heart booming in my ears. I swallow, not knowing what to do as Wes takes off down the alley.

Azrael looks at me as if asking what I think he should do with Wes. The man was clearly about to hit me and probably worse. I couldn’t overpower him. What if Azrael wouldn’t have been here? He put his hands on me. He put his filthy lips on mine. Anger courses through my veins. How many women has he done this to? How many times has he gotten away with it? I’ll never know. Should he die for it?

No.

But he should be hurt.

Severely.

Critically enough that he won’t do it again to anyone else.

I don’t say the words out loud, but I don’t have to. Azrael’s eyes darken before he vanishes, and I swear I hear screaming far off in the distance.

Chapter Thirty

“There you are,” Sam says, walking out, or should I say, swaying out. “Uber is on the way. It took me a minute to see the damn phone. I think I may need glasses.”

I plant a smile on my face, so she doesn’t realize something has happened.

I know. I’m not starting this new beginning well with her, but what other choice do I have? I can’t tell Sam what happened out here.

“Perhaps you’re just drunk.” I laugh.

“Possibly.” She giggles.

“I’m going to run in and pay the tab. Be right back. You sit right here. Don’t move.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sam says. I run in, giving the place a once-over before walking up to the bar. I pay my tab with the other bartender, and Sam and I climb into the Uber moments later.

We drive through the town and pass the Grab & Go. Its security lights illuminate the windows. “I think I figured out what happened on aisle five,” Sam says.

“Oh yeah?” I ask.

She nods, her eyes drunk and lazy in the dark car. “Long ago, there was a house before the stores were built here. A man lived there alone, but he sleepwalked, so he’d venture outside the house and break into the surrounding houses. The people knew what he did, and they grew tired of it, so they hammered all his windows shut and secured his door tight from the outside so he couldn’t get out. But one night, when he was roaming the halls of his house, he fell and hit his head. He laid there bleeding.”

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