Page 18 of Slayin Villain
Now I realized it just meant I knew where the knives were kept.
It started like any other night.
I worked a twelve-hour shift at Silver Springs, watching over half-sedated patients and checking vitals on folks who’d already given up.I wore scrubs, my hair in a messy bun, and my tattoos hidden beneath a fleece jacket that smelled like antiseptic and cinnamon gum.
No one at the nursing home knew I went home to an outlaw biker with a criminal record and a God complex.No one knew that on weekends I drank whiskey with women who carried pistols in their purses and raised their kids on curses in clubhouses.
That was my secret life.
My real one smelled like bleach and Bengay.
“You okay, Rach?”Nurse Marsha asked as I clocked out.“You’ve been a little pale lately.”
“Just tired.”
I was always tired now.
Tired of waiting on Villain.
Tired of pretending I didn’t care when he didn’t text back.
Tired of throwing up every morning and pretending it was just stress.
I changed in the backseat of my car before driving to Royal Road.Traded my Crocs and scrubs for a tight black top, ripped jeans, and boots I hadn’t had the energy to break in yet.I slicked my lipstick on in the rearview mirror, smeared it with my thumb, and drove through the gates like I belonged.Gunn waved me on through as soon as he saw my hybrid.
I was halfway through the clubhouse doors when I saw them.
Villain.
Ember.
She was dressed like sex on legs, tight denim, tube top, red lips, curly hair straightened and curled under at the ends, that effortless kind of hot I always had to work for.She was laughing at something he said, her hand on his arm like she’d been there before.
Like she’d stay.
His back was to me, but I knew that body like the back of my hand.Massive shoulders, that leather cut stretching across his back, blond hair messy from his helmet or maybe her fingers.
I didn’t know.I didn’t want to fucking know.
What I did know?
He leaned in and kissed her cheek.
Not quick.Not innocent.
And she smiled like it meant something.
I didn’t stay.
I turned right back around and walked out.
The gravel cracked beneath my boots like bones snapping under pressure.I hit the gate before I even realized I was running.Thorn called after me from the front porch, but I didn’t stop.Didn’t answer.
Because if I did, I’d scream.
My phone buzzed twice.Then again.
Villain: Where you at?
