Page 72 of Slayin Villain
“What?”Eve put a hand to her ear.
“I’ll go,” I said.“Hell, I’ll even wear the boots.”
“Atta girl,” Eve said, squeezing my arm.“Y’all go clean yourselves up.We’re leavin’ in two hours.”
Ember walked off first, shoulders tight, and I stood there a minute longer with Eve.
“You sure about this?”I asked her.
“Baby, I was born in a place where women like us got run over if we didn’t learn how to walk in heels over broken hearts.”She smiled.“We don’t fix this tonight, but we’ll start healin’.That’s more than most men ever manage.”
And with that, she walked off toward the kitchen, already yelling at Irish to change his damn shirt.
I wiped my eyes again, tucked the tissue in my purse, and let myself hope, for the first time in weeks, that maybe I wasn’t as alone as I thought.
Chapter 31
Ember
If I ever needed a sign that things were spiraling out of control, it was me curled into the back of a Suburban headed to Broadway with two pregnant women, a blind goddess with perfect lashes, and the club president’s Ol’ Lady giving us all a rally cry like we were going to war.
“Y’all got your IDs?”Eve asked, twisting in the front seat beside Kingpin, her hair in a teased-up halo, lipstick firetruck red and fierce as ever.
Rachel gave a dry laugh.“We’re not drinking.”
“I don’t give a damn if you’re ordering mocktails or milk,” Eve replied.“We’re getting in that damn bar.No stalling at the door.”
Cece leaned over toward Rachel in the back seat beside me.“She means business tonight,” she whispered like it was a warning.“Just nod and follow the sound of her heels.”
“You really can’t see anything?”I asked softly, trying not to sound rude.Blind, Cece moved like she could see better than the rest of us combined.
Cece grinned.“I see plenty.Just not the way you do.”
Irish snorted from the third row where he was perched like a guard dog, one boot braced, hand casually resting near the blade tucked into his belt.“Aye, and don’t let her fool ya.She’s got more eyes on us than the Devil himself.”
Cece rolled her sightless eyes.“That’s because you bring trouble wherever you go, Irish.”
“Trouble’s me middle name,” he said with a wink, probably aimed in the wrong direction.
We pulled into the neon jungle that was lower Broadway with lights bouncing off chrome bumpers, boots tapping in every direction, and the smell of whiskey and fried food floating thick in the warm air.Kingpin grunted and cut the engine.
“No drama,” he said, eyes flicking to Eve.
“No promises,” she replied, popping her lipstick shut and stepping out like a queen preparing for a parade.
We followed her through the crowd, past line dancers and buskers, into a dive bar called Bootsies with a band already halfway through a fiddle-heavy rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
Eve walked straight up to the manager like she owned the place.Ten minutes later, we had a booth, a waitress, and a round of non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris with tiny pink boots sticking out that somehow made everything feel even more absurd.
Rachel sat across from me, close enough to feel the tension thicken between us.
I didn’t mean to say anything.I hadn’t planned to.But I was so damn tired of tiptoeing around truths that were already dragging us all to hell.
“I can’t believe I’m finally leaving,” I said, breaking the silence.
Cece blinked.Eve paused mid-sip.Rachel looked up from her drink, brows furrowed.
“Royal Road?”she asked.
