Page 108 of Bourbon & Blood

“It means they need to arrest him and Maya will finally get some justice,” I said steadily, and Dorian seemed satisfied with that.

“I mean, it’s probably going to take some time – the police or whatever can’t avoid it now, but they still have to investigate and all so I wouldn’t get too excited, not yet,” he said and I had to smile.

“No, you’re right,” I declared, feigning innocence. “It’s a step in the right direction, but I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself,” I said.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” he said. “Oh, shit, Marcus is ringing in, can I call you right back?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said and he said, “Okay, I’ll call youright back,I promise.”

The line went dead and La Croix’s heavy tread sounded behind me. I looked up and his lips came down and met mine. I kissed him and with a look like he was committing my my face to fondest memory he said, “Time to finish what I started for you, cher.”

I nodded and said, “Please be careful.”

“Always,” he said and returning my focus to the news report, he slipped out our front door and was gone.

I got up and went over to my favorite window with its built-in window seat and looked down as he crossed the street and strode into the fence line of the clubhouse, disappearing inside the old cinderblock building.

I wanted to somehow, some way, feel something other than relieved that this was almost over. That the evil shit responsible for a lifetime of pain for my best friend was about to die made me feel nothing but sweet, sweet, revenge and I think I was more worried about the fact that itdidn’tworry me one bit that I felt that way. I mean, I had tried. I really had. I had done everything I was supposed to do for my friend. I had gone to the authorities. I had begged, and pestered, and scraped, and had screamed uselessly into the void…

…and the void had answered.

La Croix had stepped out of the darkness, the darkness personified, and had taken a knee before me like I was some sort of dark queen.

I couldn’t blame him for my corruption, or my fall from societal grace.

No, the only thing that blame could lie on was society itself. For being so corrupt and for being so apathetic. For being so cruel for so long, I couldn’t resist the pull into La Croix’s dark embrace.

At least there I felt loved, safe, and protected like I’d never before. He cherished me, the way I’d never been but for my great-grandmother and my best friend. Both of which were gone now, the latter stolen from me… and that could not go unanswered.

It was my night off, and I gathered my things knowing that I would not see La Croix again, likely until late tonight if not tomorrow.

I needed to do something for myself and for Maya, and so I showered, dressed, and shouldered the straps for my easel and water color set, deciding today I would go to some of mine and Maya’s favorite places. For coffee at Café Du Monde to watch the people go by. To our favorite metaphysical bookstore, and finally I would find a place to sit and paint for a while.

A self-care day, she would have called it. I’d found them extravagant, usually, but my priorities had obviously shifted…

I was trying to find myself in the new order of things, and honestly, the thing I worried about the most? That I only seemed to feel right or secure in La Croix’s arms.

I knew it wasn’t healthy, that it was a co-dependency, but I also couldn’t seem to help myself that way. At least, not right now.

“Hey!” I turned and Louie was jogging up the sidewalk behind me.

“Where you goin’?” he asked.

I smiled.

“Café Du Monde, my favorite bookshop, and find a place to paint – why you been put on guard duty?” I asked, shading my eyes until he was in front of me, blocking out the sun.

“Ha, no,” he said and I cocked my head and he hung his, his ears turning red he changed that ‘no’ to a “maybe.”

I smiled and shook my head with a bit of a laugh and said, “Well I’m afraid it’s gonna be real boring.”

He shrugged and told me the truth, because it was Louie and he and I had become friends in a way that we didn’t keep secrets. Besides that, he wasreallybad at it.

“La Croix wants somebody with you for a while. Says they knew about you, and they have to know that the news coming out now? That it was probably you even though it was mostly us,” he said with a shrug.

I nodded.

“I mean, itwassorta me,” I said. “I found the papers, and if La Croix hadn’t stepped in and handled it, it would have been me – it just would have taken longer.”

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