Page 106 of Faded Rhythm

But I’m not alone this time. AJ sits beside me, slouched low in his chair, legs spread out, black duffle bag resting between his boots. He uses a foot to slide it over to me.

“It’s all there,” he says, his voice low.

I nod, using my boot to nudge the bag under my chair. It’s much heavier than I expected, but the weight of it grounds me. It reminds me I still have options.

“You sure about this?” he asks, watching me closely.

“As sure as I can be,” I say. “It’s my best course of action right now.”

He eyes me a moment longer, then leans back again. “How you holdin’ up, man?”

“Honestly?” I scrub a hand down my face. “I feel like I’m deteriorating. But I still have hope,” I add. “Just a little.”

“You love her.”

I side-eye the fuck out of my closest friend. “I doubt that.”

AJ shakes his head. “You a stubborn motherfucker, you know that?”

“Easy for you to say. You know what it feels like. I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

I raise a brow.

“Ilove you,” he says, straight-faced.

That gets a genuine laugh out of me. First one in a while. “You know I’m talking about a different kind of love.”

AJ smirks. “Still counts.”

We go quiet for a moment. Then, in a low voice, I ask, “Any word on the police?”

He gets serious fast. “From what I could dig up, they don’t have much. No weapon, obviously, no prints, no known motive. But—“

“But?”

“One of the nurses saw you. They have a sketch.”

I shrug. “Does it look like me?”

AJ grins. “Yeah, but a more handsome version of you that gets hoes.”

I laugh again, the sound breaking through the tightness that’s been lingering in my chest all week.

“You want me to take care of it?”

“No,” I say with no hesitation.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about it.” I pause and scrub a hand down my face. “I’m done killing.”

His brows lift as he studies me for a beat. “You’re really moving on?”

“Yeah. To something more human.”

AJ nods, then glances towards Sable’s room. “She really turned you out, huh?”

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