I inhale and exhale unevenly, then nod to myself and put my phone to my ear.
“The hell you want, fuck-face?” Maverick grumbles, presumably half asleep.
“Not now, man.”
He’s silent for a beat, and I hear the click of a door opening. “What is it?”
“It’s Cigs.” I stretch my neck and brace myself to say the next words. “Riley tried to rape her, but–”
“What the fuck?” he yells.
“Listen to me,” I hiss, and once I’m sure he’s going to comply, I continue. “He tried, butfailed. Cignette was able to escape, thankfully. She did, however, end up killing him, and when she left the estate, the night shift guards saw her. It’s quite a bit of a mess, given that the body is still in her room and the guards are obvious witnesses of the state she was in. Think you can handle both situations on your own?”
“Fuck,” he whispers. “Yeah, yeah, of course. The guards won’t be a problem; they’re acquaintances, and will keep their mouths shut if they know what’s best for them. And yeah, I’ll handle the body.” He sighs, then curses again. “How’s she? Is she okay?”
I sniff and run a hand over my jaw. “Mentally, I don’t think so. Physically, yes, she’s fine.”
“Well, I’ll fucking take it.”
“Can you find where Miranda is?” I ask him.
A pause, and then, “Wait, she was there?”
“She stood by and let it happen.”
“God, I’m going to cut that cunt to pieces,” he sneers.
“Find out where she is, and we’ll do it together,” I promise him.
I’ll damn everything to hell, and I’ll make sure Miranda Adler doesn’t see the morning sun, because that bitch just messed with the wrong guy –again– and this time, the only penalty for her actions, isdeath.
53.
Ienter my loft’s bathroom, and find Cignette standing in front of the wide mirror, staring at her reflection.
“I killed someone today,” she says shakily, in between fresh tears. “Dorran, Ikilledsomeone…”
I walk over to her and take my place behind her, and when she looks at me through the mirror, I cup her shoulders and bend to press a kiss on the back of her head.
“You did it to protect yourself. You did it because you had no other choice, Cigs.”
Her body succumbs to mine as she sighs. “Buthedid.” She sniffs. “He could have chosen not to do the things he did, or say the things he said to me. He didn’t, and so I…”
“You did what wasright,” I say, then turn her around so that I can look at her proper. “Men like Riley deserve death, and they deserve it from the hands of the people they have, or havetriedto, assault. Our law is good and all, but it doesn’t come with the guaranteed satisfaction of ending a life that did us wrong. And Cigs, what you did is justified; it was fucking self-defense.”
She blinks at me as she cries, and fuck, I can’t see her like this.
Twice now I’ve been robbed the chance of personally killing the men who hurt the women in my life. But nonetheless, I’m proud of Varsha and Cignette for doing what needed to be done, even if it gnawed at their conscience.
“Will you let me clean you up?” I ask Cignette.
She nods faintly, then gives me a barely-there smile. I know it’s not a lot, but it’ssomething, at least.
I pull her hoodie over her head, and fix her hair when they stick up in odd places. “Go on; I’ll join you in a bit.”
She walks into the shower and turns on the faucet.
I straighten her hoodie, and am about to throw it into the washer, when I feel the weight of something in my hand. I dig into her pockets, and find the lighter she’d gotten me, in one of them. With a smile, I slide it into my jeans pocket and put the hoodie away. I then strip down to my boxers, set my clothes aside, and join Cignette in the shower.
