Page 65 of Cold Foot Revenge
When Nick took his seat at the door again, Roxy blinked back tears. She couldn’t live like this.
Choking on the words, she told Crystal, “If I had it all to do again, I would do everything differently.” She grabbed a red lace bodysuit and turned, dashed her hand across her damp cheeks. “I couldn’t save myself.”
From the pitying look that still consumed Crystal’s face, it was becoming clear that she couldn’t save anyone. Her chest hurt so badly, it was hard to breathe, but she didn’t know why. Heartache? The realization that she knew she wouldn’t survive this long-term? The loss of Dylan? The loss of her safety. The loss of herself?
“Get it together for a week,” Nick said low. “Get in line, Roxy. You’ve been making too many waves and you’ve pushed him too far. Let his animal settle down and then go back to normal.”
“Great advice, Nick.” She stretched her neck up so he could see the hand mark there. “I’ll be sure to appreciate my normal more.” She made a click sound behind her teeth and pulled Dylan’s shirt off, then finished the order, dressing in a rush.
There was this slow-boiling anger that was raging inside of her. Roxy’s heartrate stayed fast, and the adrenaline stayed high, and she had to keep clenching her fists and slamming them against her thighs when the sensation got too overwhelming, just to get from one charged moment to the next.
Beside her, Crystal finished her make-up in silence and stood, followed Nick out, and here was her chance!
Roxy waited for a three count, and then stood and rushed around the room, upending everything in a desperate search for her bag. Shoot, she couldn’t find it anywhere. But why would Grave put it in here? It had her money and the Turn Dose. He probably put it in the office where he’d put the dose back into the fridge. It wasn’t in his Expedition. She hadn’t seen it there.
Or maybe he’d thrown it in the dumpster out back just to leave her phone-less and wallet-less. Just to add to her struggle. Just to add to the misery.
She wracked her brain, trying so hard to remember Dylan’s phone number, but she truly hadn’t paid attention to it. She just had him saved as his name.
Think.
“Grave is almost ready for you,” Nick told her in a somber tone.
“I need time to put on my make-up,” she rushed out, stalling.
Nick didn’t say anything, just sat down and watched her.
“Are the police still here?” she asked conversationally.
Nick didn’t answer.
She was clamping full magnetic lashes on when she asked, “If you’re such a hard-core Grit-Bron, why did you show me the resumes and act like you had my back?”
“I have a kid, Roxy.”
She jerked her attention to him. “I didn’t know that.”
“Eight months old. Grave and Leech don’t Turn anyone they can’t control. They know everyone’s weakness.”
“Eight months. So, you were Turned while your wife was still pregnant?”
“Ex girlfriend. She left me and she’s trying to move with my kid to Montana, where I’ll never get to see him. Grave figured out it was me who showed you the Turn Doses and gave you the resumes. I’m working here to pay for lawyers to get custodyof my kid, and now Grave is threatening to help my ex get full custody. He said he will pay her lawyer fees. I have to earn my way back into his good graces, so you see, you aren’t the only one with troubles, Roxy. Grave is the puppet master, and we are all his puppets.” Nick’s eyes were full of such defeat. He turned away from her and stared at the wall. “Please hurry so I can finish my shift and go home.”
They were all stuck, weren’t they? They were all scared. They were all convinced big, bad Grave would be the end of them if they didn’t do what he said.
There was tragedy in that.
How many people had Grave convinced to lead a half-life, just so he could get off on the power of it all?
The Grit-Bron Crew. The Crew across the territory lines. The police in this town. The lives he’d altered. The money he had pouring in that fed his abilities to manipulate.
Who could stop Grave? Where would it end?
The Rabbit Hole existed right in the middle of town, and she’d watched the four square blocks around it deteriorate as it dragged in an unsavory crowd. She remembered when this part of town was cute boutiques and coffee shops, but Grave had run those wholesome stores out over time. This place was poisonous, and Grave was just as Nick said—the puppet master of it all.
Everything he touched turned to rot. Herself included.
And that thought…those realizations…well, they just set her boiling blood on fire.
