It’s disgusting to watch.
I jerk my head toward Eros. “Let’s go. Grab that bawbag. I think we have a girl to hunt down.”
I slip the card into my pocket and feel the edges of my mouth curling to a smile.
Chapter Four
Persephone
At Cameron’s small grocery store, I push around a cart with a wonky wheel, lost in thought.
No, that’s not quite right.
As I walk down the aisle with all the colorful cereal boxes next to the bagged macaroni and rotini, I’m absorbed by a dark memory.
Running along the beach at night, my fancy dress whipping around my body. I’m afraid, my pulse pounding in my head with every stride. Maddie is running right beside me, her blonde hair rippling in the icy wind. A frightened look takes up all the real estate on her gorgeous face.
She points to a cluster of rocks. Let’s go there.
My fists tighten. Maddie and I scamper up the rocks. I throw a look over my shoulder and of course he is there. Constantine, pupils gone small from doing rails of coke, his expression dark and ominous. He’s gone off the deep end before, but this time…
“Excuse me!”
I blink twice and suddenly I’m back in the grocery store. Not only that, but I’ve stopped my cart directly in front of the queue to line up for checkout. An older woman is scowling at me, her arms full of toilet paper and eggs.
“Sorry.” I blush and pull my cart out of the way.
What am I doing?
My right hand tingles and I clench it into a fist. Nothing is ever solved by reliving the last moments of Maddie’s life. I’ll never get my friend back. I will never be able to go back and not climb those rocks.
Never find the exact right words to say to drug-addled Constantine. Never stop him from pushing Maddie and me off the cliff and onto the rocks below.
My eyes tear up. Embarrassed at my complete lack of self-control, I swipe at my eyes. Grabbing the few items that I’ve collected in my cart, I haul them up to the register. My cheeks burn as I check out, barely able to meet the gaze of the young grocery clerk.
When she offers to take my groceries out to my car, I blurt out, “no, thanks!”
I bolt out of the store like a woman on fire. Flashes of that same tragic memory plague me as I hurry home, my footsteps harried.
Maddie’s scream as Constantine pushes her off the edge.
Blood washing around on the rocky beach.
The sensation of falling down, down, down. It feels endless and at the same time, all too brief.
Constantine’s smug smirk as I reach for him, my arms jerking out as I lurch away, pulled down by gravity.
Looking at the weedy side of the road as I make my way home, my mouth squeezes into a small pout. My right fist clenches, a constant reminder of Constantine.
Maddie is dead.
I will never be the same again.
I will always be damaged.
No one can ever truly love me again. Not that I want them to.
I’m done with men.
Actually, I’m just done with everyone.
I’m so sucked into my bitter, dark thoughts by the time I reach the gas station closest to my house that I don’t even notice the gun at first. Trudging across the Chevron’s broken square of pavement, I notice some commotion happening between the three men to my right. Their raised voices nudge my plodding footsteps into a scurry. Then one of them hurls a command at me in a youthful, almost squeaky tone.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Stop!”
I blink, freezing and looking up. I see two white men in dark hoodies, boys really, with their guns trained on me and a young black girl with her hands in the air. I realize that she is wearing a yellow and red polo that probably marks her as an employee.
She’s also crying, big fat tears running down her scrunched up face.
I take it all in, my brain overheating. The grocery bag drops from my fingers and I raise both my hands in a sign of surrender.
One of the young men motions me closer, toward them. “Get the fuck over here, bitch.”
I ignore him for a second, making eye contact with the woman that they have hostage. It may be stupid, but all I can see when I look at her face is how young she is.
Younger than Maddie, even.
I know in that moment that I can’t leave her. She shakes her head miserably when I make eye contact with her, but I don’t know how to interpret that.
My blood pressure is sky high as I look at the young men.
“What do you want?” I ask. “I don’t have a phone. I’m not going to call anybody. Neither will my friend here. Right?”
I ask the cashier a pointed question. She nods her head, holding back a sob. “That’s right.”
I swallow, my nerves almost getting the best of me. My body flashes hot and cold. “Let us go. Or let her come over here. I can keep her calm. Y’all can take what you need from the store and then go.”
The two young men share an uneasy glance. “That’s not going to fucking happen,” one of them says, his lip lifting in a snarl. “Now get the fuck over here. I ain’t asking you again.”
I wet my lips with my tongue. “I’m not coming any closer.”
He steps closer, raising the gun to my head. I can’t help my response, which is to cower. I drop my gaze and my whole head moves further away from the gun, closer to the ground.
“Move, you dumb bitch!” he shouts.
“Okay,” I whisper. “Okay, I’m going— “
I hear the crack of a gunshot. I flinch, thinking for a split second that the gunman pulled the trigger. But in the next breath, the gunman that threatened me is on the ground, a bullet hole still smoking right between his eyes. All the air is sucked out of my lungs as I watch the life flicker out of his eyes. His face falls to the side and his body goes slack.
For a second, I can hear nothing but the gunshot reverberating as I stare at him in horror. I look up and see three dark haired men approaching, their suits all black and their weapons drawn. They look like avenging archangels as they move into the parking lot with quick, practiced steps.
Who are they? Where did they come from?
Why the hell do they have guns?
The three men work as a unit, forming an obvious and cohesive triad. But it’s the first one who I make eye contact with, the leader of the pack.
I have the strangest sensation of connection in that moment. I don’t know how to explain it properly.
For a solitary moment, it feels as though the fabric of the universe reveals itself to me, thousands of invisible strings connecting me to everyone and everything around me. These cobwebs are mostly the stuff of gossamer, too delicate and fragile to see.
But the webs connecting him to me are stronger somehow. A pulse of pure energy travels directly between us, shuddering along those strange strings.
I look into his exquisite, darkly lashed pale green eyes and I swear, I see a moment of recognition in their depths. I find him deeply attractive.
The men I find attractive are villains, nearly by their nature.
Then reality comes crashing in on me, time speeding up as if playing catch up for the moment before. One of the other men in suits shoots the other young man, dropping him where he stands. I straighten and turn, already running away.
“Fuck,” I hear one of the men mutter. From the sound of his voice, low, deadly and still so melodic, I know it is Him. “Get her.”