Page 7 of No Small Sin

“He was literally going torapeme. He bragged about it to anyone who would listen,” she paused, giving me a moment to take that bit of information in. I already knew, but she didn’t know that. “He’s raped others. This information is publicly available online. You think I don’t check out who lives in my neighborhood? I share a wall with this alcoholic moron and worked with him every day until his parents fired me this afternoon for feeding that particular habit. He didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as either of us. Or any air at all for that matter.”

Couldn’t argue with her there.

“Tate…”

“Ew. Don’t call me that.” She was blatantly more offended by my use of her name than she’d been by walking in on me with a freshly dead body lying at my feet.

“Is that not your name?”

“Not to anyone who’s more than an acquaintance,” she gave me a once over that threatened my already quickly deteriorating composure. “I’d say we’re more than thoroughly acquainted. It’s TK.”

I was at a loss.

She’d seen me.

Thereal me that I’d been forced to hide away from anyone outside my inner circle for most of my life.Me.

Not only did she not look away in disgust, but she also accepted what she saw in a way that not even Ijah had done.

Indifferent.Unafraid.

If blood was what helped me wind up tight the unending string of chaos that was my mind, she would be what completely unraveled it all.

This felt dangerous.

“Faking suicide in this scenario would be pretty difficult. I strangled the fuck out of him.” I couldn’t help but smirk a little at the thought. “Just give me a minute to think,” I paused. “Actually? You should probably leave.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll get right on that,” she said sarcastically.

I sucked in a deep breath. For some reason, I couldn’t seem to find it in me to tell her no. She’d wanted this, and I’d been there.

Bloodthirsty, with no way to quench it.

“He was a sick fuck, huh?” I mused.

“Understatement.”

“I saw this thing once. A guy who got off on being choked. Autoerotic asphyxiation, or something. Fucking killed himself while doing a littleself-care.” Her eyes bulged at my words.

“That’s disgusting. I mean… I am in no way kink-shaming, but if you are insinuating what I think you are…” she gagged.

“I mean. You can still leave,” I leveled.

She crossed her arms defiantly and pouted up at me.

I audibly sighed. “Sit, then. Don’t move. Anddon’ttouch anything.”

When she didn’t argue, the tightness that had formed in my throat eased a fraction. She lowered herself to a seated position on the floor and clasped her hands together in her lap.

I bent over and hoisted Alexander’s dead weight over my shoulder. He was quite a bit smaller than my 6’2 frame, but staying in shape came in handy after all, I guessed.

I lugged him up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time and hoping like hell that I’d find everything I needed to make this work.

“Is there a laptop up there?” TK shouted from the lower level. “If there’s a laptop, you need to find some super gross porn! You know… something he would like!”

I shoved his body into a seated position on the floor of his tiny closet, then shuffled things around on the shelf above his hanging clothes until I found what I was looking for.

A belt would work well enough if I angled the edge into the indention I’d already made. I wrapped it tightly around his throat and secured the buckle. I heaved him up just enough that I was able to secure the loose end around the closet rod with the assistance of another belt. This was probably a two-person job, but I made it work. I would die before asking TK to bear witness to what I was about to do.

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