Page 98 of Slayin Villain
I looked down at my belly.“How long before he goes stupid too?”
Eve looked up, suddenly sharp.“You think Villain’s anything like Rome?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Well, you better figure it out fast,” she said.“Because that man just took a beating that could’ve killed him, and the first word outta his mouth was your name.”
I blinked back tears.“He didn’t pick me though.Not before.”
“No.But maybe now he finally knows what he wants.”
Just then, my phone buzzed.
It was a message from Sweet Tea.
S.Tea: Ember’s at Cece’s.Pagan saved her.Rome had her tied up in a van.
My stomach twisted.
I showed Eve.
“Well,” she said, shocked.
Chapter 44
Villain
I woke up to the sting of antiseptic and the dull weight of a headache that could’ve cracked concrete.
Beeping.Lights too bright overhead.A scratch in my throat like I’d been gargling rocks.I blinked against the blur, brain rebooting slow as a busted bike on a frozen morning.
Then I saw her.
Rachel.
She was curled up in the hospital chair beside my bed, again, legs tucked under her, her hair pulled into a messy knot like she hadn’t had the time, or energy, to care.She looked like hell.My kind of hell.The kind I’d crawl back into over and over if it meant she’d be there waiting.
And she was there.Again.Over and over like she’d been for years.
My fingers twitched against the sheet.
Rachel stirred instantly, like she’d been sleeping with one ear open just for me.
“Hey,” I rasped, my voice like rust.
Her eyes filled with tears before she even said a word.
“You scared the shit out of me,” she whispered, leaning closer.“You’re lucky you’re not in a damn coma.”
I gave her the ghost of a smirk.“Been there.Done that.Didn’t like it.”
She huffed, but it came out choked and wet.“You think this is funny?”
“No,” I said, eyes locking with hers.“But it’s better than thinking about what I missed.”
Her bottom lip quivered.“You almost died, Villain, for the third time, lately.Much more of this and this baby won’t have a father.”
I winced as I shifted in the bed, the IV tugging at my arm.“What happened?Last thing I remember was heading to Sassy’s Slop House.”
