Page 8 of Bones

5

BONES

Islip out of my apartment, closing the door quietly behind me even though Sloan is in the bathroom taking a shower. The familiar dry heat of the desert is a welcome retreat from the cool, air conditioned fucked up situation behind me. Two steps take me across the concert exterior walkway to the dull iron railing and I grasp it with both hands and drop my head.

Fuckity Fuck.

It’s second nature to extend my senses. They aren’t as strong as Reapers or Chainz, let alone a vampire’s, but I’m powerful enough to know none of the other residents are around right now. There’s only four other apartments on this side of the L shaped two-story complex. I let out a long sigh, closing my eyes tight. The railing creaks under my hands as my grip tightens.

It’s not like I’d expected the Justicars to be paragons of kindness and love. They have power and power will always corrupt and twist the souls of men, no matter their intentions. The little Sloan has shared, because fuck if I know there’s a gods damned vault of trauma hidden away in her mind, is enough to bring myown power alive until my skin is too tight. I want to rage on her behalf.

I know enough to understand what she’s going through.

And the fact that she’s been surviving this entire time? That she’s held on to enough of herself despite all the ways those fuckers have tried to break her?

I’m in fuckingaweof Sloan Davis.

She’s dangerous. I’m already attracted to her. She’d been trying to make herself as small as possible, but she’s been all I can see lately. Now, to learn of her strength while holding her in my arms?

I growl--cutting off those thoughts. No. Fuck no. I won’t go there.

My ringtone splits the comfortable silence of the apartment’s parking lot.

“Thank fuck,” I breathe out as I straighten and pull out my phone. Anything to distract me from the woman who is currently naked in my bathroom. Pinching the bridge of my nose I don’t bother checking who’s calling before answering. “Bones.”

“How is she?” Reaper’s baritone voice asks without sympathy. Our President doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings. He needs to know so he can make his plans.

I blow out between my lips and lean back onto the railing, this time resting a forearm and elbow on the railing while holding the phone to my ear. I stare down at the cracked cement parking lot, most of the barely visible parking spots empty. My car is here, under the heather gray cover I keep on it. I parked Blaze’s truck beside it, since I’d borrowed his truck to bring Sloan here.There was no way I’d have been able to take her on my bike while she was in the midst of her breakdown.

“That bad?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s worse,” I admit. “She might have joined them willingly but when she found out what they really were like, she tried to get out.” I listen for the shower and hearing its faint noise, I quickly report everything she’d told me. Including that she’d help us take them down.

Reaper is quiet for a long moment after and I move from the railing to lean against the building’s wall, bending a knee until I can put a foot against the wall too.

“You believe her?” Reaper asks at last. “Don’t think she’s trying to play us? Especially with how you--“

I cut him off. “I’m not projecting.” I glare up at the cloudless sky, the sun already moving on from its peak. “But, yeah, I believe her. You can’t fake what that shit does to you.”

“Hmm.”

I grind my teeth together, stopping myself from talking. If I try arguing more for her, he’ll be convinced I’m too invested. If I’m not careful, that’s exactly what’ll happen.

The silence stretches out. I can practically hear Reaper’s thoughts churning.

“I want Dr. Grayback to meet with her. I’ll get it set up in the morning. After I hear her opinion on Sloan, we’ll move forward.”

I nod, then agree since he can’t see me. Then, thinking of the woman in my apartment, I ask, “Anything new on Xavius and if he survived or not?”

“I called off the search of the desert, officially,” Reaper answers after a sigh. “Stubs is searching every camera he can hack, but the fucker is smart enough to stay hidden.”

I slam my fist against the railing. “You think he really survived?”

“We’re not lucky enough that he happened to vaporize into nothing. So, I’m planning as if he’s alive. He won’t let us keep Sloan, not with her abilities. You staying at your place?”

“Yeah.” I turn his words over in my head as I scan the street in front of the complex. Devil’s Haven isn’t large; one of those small towns where everybody knows everybody else. Only the Knight’s regular parties and the occasional road tripping families bring in new faces for a few hours at a time.

The unmarked two lane street is empty, save an old, faded red two door pickup parked in the same spot it’d been for the last month. It belongs to Mrs. Seymour, who lives in the house directly across the street. One of us knights try to drive the truck around town for an hour every month or so and keep it maintained, since it’d been her late husband’s. The man passed at the ripe old age of 83 five years ago and she keeps saying she’ll sell it one day. I’ve got a feeling Mrs. Seymour feels like she’ll look weak if she admits she doesn’t want to sell it.

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