My jaw clenches hard. I glance over at Kel’s corpse and wish I could kill him again. I’m only sorry he’s dead because it means I didn’t get a chance to do it myself.
“He… said… he said he’d release them if I didn’t call off the bikers. Shay told him about Uncle Eddie. And Spencer...” Her eyes meet mine with knitted brows. “Spencer t-told him someone threatened him in an alley.”
Fuck.
That’s on me. I was the one who confronted Spencer that day. I threatened him in exchange for info on his pal Kel.
“I’m sorry,” I start, but she shakes her head.
“He tried to do it again. Tried to...” Her hand gestures vaguely at her torn shirt. “But I had the knife. I-I’ve been sleeping with it under my pillow since... since I remembered. And I stabbed him.”
“Good,” I say firmly. “You did good, Solana.”
“I watched him die. He asked for help. Begged me to call 911. And I just... watched.”
I cup her face in my hands, making her look at me. Her skin is cold, clammy with shock. “Listen to me. He didn’t deserveyour mercy, alright? He drugged you, hurt you, tried to do it again tonight. You defended yourself. That’s all this was.”
She nods, but I can see she doesn’t really believe it yet. That’ll take time.
“You’ve got the place to yourself for the night?”
“I… I think so. Both Unc and Moses are gone.”
“Ed’s at the hospital. He’s fine, but he got shot in the arm during a job. Probably won’t be back for a few hours. What about Moses?”
“Houston. Some event. I don’t think he’ll be back tonight.”
“Good. That gives us time.” I stand up straighter, my mind cycling through everything that needs to get done as fast and cleanly as possible. “I’m going to get my truck. You stay here and lock the doors. Wait in the living room. Don’t look at... don’t come back in here.”
Her hand shoots out, grabbing at my wrist. “Don’t leave me alone with him.”
“Fifteen minutes. That’s all. I promise. You’ll be alright. Do as I said. Lock the doors as soon as I leave and wait in the living room. I live a few blocks away. I’ll be right back.”
She reluctantly lets go, giving a nod.
I speed like hell to keep my word. I go from mounting my bike and riding off toward my house to swapping it out for my truck.
Thirteen minutes later, I’m pulling into their garage. Solana launches herself at me the second I walk in, trembling against my chest. I let her hold on for a moment before getting to work.
“I need your clothes,” I say matter-of-factly. “Everything you’re wearing. We have to burn them.”
While she changes, I grab Kel’s phone. His dead face still unlocks it, the Face ID feature working even in death. I quickly change the passcode, then pocket it to deal with later. The messages I glimpse are enough to tell me this won’t be simple.
He’s got plenty of texts between him and others talking about Solana. He’s clearly been busy figuring out how to torment her.
I find a large tarp in Eddie’s garage and wrap Kel’s body up, then haul him to my truck bed. Two hundred pounds of dead weight, but I’ve moved heavier.
Solana returns in a hoodie and leggings and hands me her torn, bloodied clothes. They go in a garbage bag I toss into the truck with everything else.
We spend the next hour scrubbing everything clean.
Bleach, hydrogen peroxide, more bleach.
By the time we’re done, you’d never know a man died here.
“Try to get some sleep,” I tell her once we’re stripping off the rubber gloves and disposing of them in yet another garbage bag. “And Solana—you tell no one about this. Not a single soul. This never happened.”
She nods without a word, worrying her bottom lip.
