Page 46 of Warrior

She won’t. The outside world is different. There’s order there… and order, in the wake of chaos, feels unstable.

She’ll return here, and she’ll breathe easier when she does. Even as she returns to find everything in ruin.

Bomb made, wires carefully in place and waiting final attachment, I run my fingers along the edge of it, humming under my breath. There’s someone creeping closer, out of theshadows, and I only hum louder. I add some words, my shoulders already lowering back into a nonchalant place.

People come to spy.

People come to stare.

They don’t understand me. They don’t understand what I’ve been through, where I’ve been. They don’tgetto judge me for something that was forced upon me.

One person doesn’t judge, and he doesn’t even really stare. He watches from the shadows as I close up the bomb in a box.

Ha—bomb in a box.

I should stick it in the mail. Perhaps I’ll ship it to the sheriff, just to watch his arrogant face when he realizes he fucked up. But no—the sheriff is off-limits. He does Kade’s bidding, drawn by the allure of deep fucking pockets.

If I ever givethatmuch of a shit about money, I’ll deserve a bullet to the brain. I’d take it happily, too. If Kade didn’t buy Madness, well, formerly Descend, if he didn’t pay for the renovations and fund it entirely for me to then take over… I don’t know.

I wouldn’t have a place to sleep at night, surely. Or I’d be sharing his house.

A giggle bursts past my lips.

He doesn’t have a house anymore. Artemis burned it down, down, down.

Box taped shut, I writeNemesison it. I put the box back, carefully patting it goodbye.

“Who’s that one for?”

I’d almost forgotten Kade came to see me. I face him, cocking my head. “An empty building far, far away.”

He rolls his eyes. “Right.”

“How’s Malikai?”

He pauses. “How?—”

“Do I know you took your men and rode down the main road of East Falls like you owned it, thereupon stumbling drunkenly into the leader of the Hell Hounds and eleven of his men?” I wave my hand. “It doesn’t matter. I want to know how you think it went.”

Oh, I wish I had been there.

I nearly clapped with glee when I was informed. Hadn’t I just said to Kade that I wanted to push into East Falls? Perhaps not quite so dramatically… no, wait,absolutely dramatically. Kade Laurent took a page out of my book!

Except, it didn’t end quite the way it should’ve.

Malikai Barlow is not one who bows. Naturally. Men like him are practically born with iron spines. If only I could’ve seen Kade’s expression when the Hell Hounds’ leader met him eye to eye without flinching…

“Tell me,” I demand.

Kade sighs. He leans on the doorframe, crossed arms, crossed ankles. “One of ours got stabbed.”

I cackle. Fuck those guys Kade rides with—they’re loyal Cyclopes, sure, but they’re narrow-minded to the point of detriment. Sometimes I think Kade is right there along with them, and it’ssad. He used to have a mind and goals, but now that Reese is nice and safe… what’s a guy to do? Lose his brains and flush our hard work down the toilet?

“It’s not a laughing matter,” he hisses.

I pick up the box I just taped, crossing outNemesisand writingBarlowon it instead. I shove it none to delicately into his arms.

“Solve the problem, then, brother.” I smile. “Let me know when you want it to goboom.”

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