Page 80 of Dangerous Silence
“Let’s focus on having fun tonight,” Maddie said, rolling her eyes at us. She went to smack my back but then froze in mid-air, realizing that it might hurt. “You need a new ice pack?” she asked. She headed to the freezer in the kitchen before I could answer. Derek leaned against the wall, letting his eyes follow Maddie as she made her way into the kitchen, hypnotized by her hips.
“Demi,” Wil said. He nodded at Axe, then winked at me, then pulled Ellie into his arms. “Good to see you again.”
“What an introduction, huh?” Ellie laughed. She lifted her bandaged wrist. “I would say it’s not always like this, but,” she shrugged, “it is pretty much always like this. Maybe it’ll be better now though.”
“Maybe,” I said, warmth running through me. After all, I had helped get rid of Muro.
No. I had killed him.Killedwas the word I was looking for. And that was okay.
Axe put an arm around me and I flushed from head to toe. He grabbed a beer and got me some water. Maddie was holding an ice pack in the air, distracted by Derek, who had hooked her into a conversation. Axe grabbed the ice pack from her hands without her noticing, then headed back to me.
I knew that a party like this was different for Axe. If it was up to him, he would have been patrolling the perimeter, watching for intruders. Killing the enemy was his safe space. But for now, he seemed content. He could relax for once, even in a group of people. Maybe I was his safe space too.
Axe held the ice pack to my ribs. I was cold, but Axe held me close, his body like a personal heater, soothing me. There might have been a lot of bad in the world, but that didn’t matter right then. Right or wrong, good or evil, all of it was shades and variations, and I knew most people had their reasons. If you could stand behind those reasons, that’s what mattered.
And I could live with Axe’s reasons.
EPILOGUE
six months later
Axe
There were promises you made out of respect. But sometimes, you made those promises because of a stupid emotion, like love.
Like rearranging an office a thousand times, because you promised your future wife the perfect space where she could take her online classes in peace.
Demi gave a haughty glare at the white-washed wooden desk, then pointed to the other side of the room.
“No,” she said. “I think it’ll look better over there.”
“There?” I asked. This would be the fifth time we had moved it.
“Yeah,” she said. “I can totally sit through an online lecture right there.”
I moved the desk to the other corner. The light from the window crossed the desk’s surface.
“See? Natural lighting,” she said. The light she craved would probably mess with her computer’s screen. And then we would move it again until she found the perfect spot for it. And I would do it happily.
After selling Shep’s house, we had searched for our own place. We had only been in the new house for a month, and with all of the new furniture we had bought and the items we had taken from Shep’s house, it would take a long while to figure out where everything fit. Unlike my old apartment, this place was spacious, with plenty of windows to bring in those gloomy, but reflective, Sage City clouds. We even had a backyard.
Once we were settled in, I’d broach the idea of a pet. If she wanted one.
“All right,” she said. “That should do it for now.”
Later on, I adjusted the maroon tie in the full-length mirror in the master bedroom. I had taken the day off from enforcing, telling Derek and Gerard that I had an appointment to keep, when what we were doing wasmorethan an appointment. But business had been slow lately. Things were quiet with Miles Muro gone, which was the way I liked it, so I could focus on other things. Important things. Like creative ways to torture prisoners.
Important things, like Demi.
When I had tried to buy a new suit for the occasion, Demi had told me not to. She liked my only suit, and convinced me that if I bought a new one, my family would find out. So I smoothed the red tie, making sure it was neat. In the reflection, I saw Demi. I stopped in my tracks, then spun around.
The dress went down to her feet, with thin straps and a low-cut V in the front. Her white sandals and rainbow-painted toenails poked out of the hem. The dress was mild but elegant, and with her bright hair splashed against it, my mouth watered, thinking about how she would look later when I fucked her, still wearing that dress.
“Is it too much?” she asked.
I shook my head, not sure of how to say it. Her hair was freshly dyed, this time in shades of a deep pink mixed with the blues and purples, like the sunset over the ocean. Her eyes always seemed to change with those colors, as if they could be more outstanding, even when her hair tried to take the show. But it was that smile that danced on her lips that took my breath away. But luckily, she spoke before I had to answer.
“So this promise to my dad,” she said. “It is a very practical matter.”
