Page 109 of Trigger Happy Ending

One minute, she’s the brightest flame, burning bright. The next? Just … gone. Her spark, her light, snuffed out.

I stay frozen, holding her lifeless body. Minutes pass, maybe longer. The light rainfall becomes a steady downpour. I let it soak me and let out one loud, sharp sob. I stare down at Cherry’s face, tears and snot streaming down my face. I wipe the blood and raindrops from her cheek and fix her hair, that vibrant fire engine red. I slide her bracelet off her wrist and slip it on next to mine. My eyes find the ground beneath us. For a brief moment, I watch as Cherry’s blood mixed in with the rain, gushes down the drain.

Cradling Cherry in my lap, I suck in a deep breath and bring my lips to her ear.

“I will avenge your death,” I whisper to Cherry. I run my hand over Cherry’s battered and bruised face and tuck her hair behind her ear.

She didn’t deserve this. I could have saved her.

I can hear shouting, but can’t make it out, the sound is muffled.

“Raine?”

Soren? It sounds like he’s talking underwater. This happens when I hyperfixate. And right now, I’m hyperfixating on tracing back every word Cherry has muttered regarding her piece of shit ex-boyfriend. Her abuser. Her murderer.

And now? Motherfucker number one on my kill list.

“Raine!” Soren’s louder now. Still, I remain frozen on the alleyway ground with the only friend I’ve ever known dead in my arms.

“RAINE!” he shouts, kneeling, grabbing me by the shoulders. “We’ve got to go.”

I don’t move. I refuse to leave her here in this filthy alley.

“Raine, cops will be here any second. We need to go. We can’t be here!”

“No," I tighten my grip around Cherry. "I won’t leave her.”

“Listen to me,” Soren pleads, his tone urgent. “We’ll find the asshole that did this. But you’re no good if you blow your cover. We need to leave. NOW.”

Sirens blare in the distance, the whirl of the sound increasing in volume with every passing second. He is right. As much as I don’t want him to be, he’s right. We need to go, or else everything we’ve been working towards is threatened. I feel like a piece of shit for even thinking that, because I actually don’t give a flying fuck about this stupid assignment anymore.

Gently, I lower Cherry to the ground. Soren helps me stand. I hate to leave her, but somewhere across from me, I hear Ava, with two other girls from the club in tow, rushing over.

Cherry won’t be alone.

“Raine. We gotta go." Soren repeats. "Now.”

I nod, but my legs won't work. Soren scoops me up, knowing I can’t muster the strength to move on my own. He carries me down the alley and turns the corner just as the flash of blue and red rounds the opposite corner, arriving at the gory, tragic scene.

Chapter 46

Raine

Iam coming for you, asshole.

I stare at Derek’s disgusting face on the blurred CCTV frame from the night he came into the Golden Claw and threatened us all. I trace every angular line with my fingertips.

Derek Warren. Dead man walking.

It’s been forty-eight hours since I found Cherry behind the club, her body dumped like trash. Two days since I began my descent into white-hot rage and despair. I can still feel the weight of her in my lap. Still feel her damp hair tangled in between my fingers. Still feel her blood all over my hands.

Any self-development, any softness I thought I’d gained over the past few weeks, has gone. Eaten alive by the animal I’ve been raised to be. I was living in a fucking fairytale if I thought I had a chance at living a peaceful life.

Hope. That’s what I thought I had for a second, you know?

I bite my bottom lip. Screw hope. Hope is nothing but a bedtime story adults tell themselves when they can’t face the harsh reality of life. It’s not real. But wanna know something that is?

Revenge.