Page 77 of The Hangman's Rope

I texted my mother that I was alright, sent some screenshots of my father’s bullshit – which I had been correct; Hangman had sent them to himself, but I had no idea what he planned to do with them.

She responded to me to just ignore him and that she would handle him. I told her about the police showing up here this morning and she sent back an eye roll emoji and said:That’s your father for you. He still sees you as eight, and not the young woman you’ve become. You’ll always be his little girl…

I sighed; she did that. Took up for him… but I wasn’t sure it was so much taking up for him as it was, she was trying to spare my hurt feelings when he did things this.

The bathroom door opened and Hangman swung back into the bedroom to kiss me goodbye, and check on me one more time before leaving the house.

Once he was gone, I closed my eyes and sat very still for several moments. The texts had gone from frantic and worried, to angry and hurtful before finally devolving into a vitriolic frenzy of word salad that was barely comprehensible.

It was frustrating, but that was Dad. He had his good qualities, but don’t test him.

I sighed, and was grateful for how cool, calm, and collected Hangman seemed to be at all times. I was sure there was a part of that my mother recognized, and I was surer still that my mother trusted me to make the right decisions.

…I just didn’t know if I trusted myself anymore.

I mean… look what’d happened.

I got up and moved about the apartment like a wraith, getting myself dressed and putting on a pair of white comfortable shoes to go with the sun dresses that’d been chosen for me. Spot on, in my particular style. I loved them so.

I’d chosen the one with small pink flowers today, and only worried marginally about my thighs chaffing. Still, to buy myself a little insurance on that front, I slathered my inner thighs with antiperspirant to help.

It wasn’t long after I’d finished doing something with my hair, making a final check in the bathroom mirror, that a knock fell at the door out in the living room. I went out and found Madisyn and Lainey waving through the glass windowpane by the door excitedly and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Welcome back!” Madisyn cried and Lainey hugged me.

“Thank you,” I said dryly and they both said, “Ready to go?” practically in unison.

We shared a laugh and I said, “Just let me grab my purse.”

I went into the bedroom and collected it off the top of the bag I’d packed that was sitting in the chair in the corner and slung it over my shoulder.

I went back out and we closed the door behind us and I was nervous about not being able to lock it or locking myself out.

“Don’t worry about it,” Madisyn said when she caught my nervous eye.

“There’s cameras everywhere and it’s not exactly a secret that Hangman is who he is when it comes to the club andnobodywants that kind of heat,” Lainey added.

“We’re parked down at the club,” Madisyn said threading her arm through mine and giving it a hug. “I hear we’re on a mission for some tea. Lainey looked up some shops downtown. We’ve got you covered.”

“Throw in a bookstore and it sounds like the perfect afternoon to me,” Lainey said.

“Ooo, a bookstore! You won’t hear any complaints from me, on that,” I said, my spirits lifting.

“Bet,” Madisyn said as we left the bottom of the stairwell and went around to leave through the open gates.

Hangman zipped up on a golfcart and asked, “You lock up?”

I shook my head, worried I’d made a mistake.

“No worries, I’ll get to it. You girls have fun.”

I smiled and I felt him drink me in from behind his aviators, an answering smile touching his own lips nearly hidden by his beard.

“You’re beautiful,” he said to me and I felt myself blush a pink to match the flowers on my dress. “Try not to let yourself get burned.”

“We’ll get her some SPF moisturizer,” Madisyn said.

“See you when you get home,” he said and I let the phrase echo in my head.

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