Page 96 of The Huntress and Her Hound

And the shock on Henry’s face tells the same story. “What the flying fuck is this?”

Cher takes a step forward. “It’s—”

“Put your fucking shirt on,” Henry growls to her.

“Easy,” I bite back, stepping in between them.

Henry glares at me, a murderous glean in his eye. “You’ve been doing a lot more than searching for some dead guys.”

“Yeah, I’ve been fucking your sister, actually.” The anger explodes in my chest as I shove at his chest. “And I’m sick of you being a goddamn bully.”

“Stop it,” Cher shouts as Henry lunges for me. The impact of him hitting my chest knocks me off my feet, and we crash to the floor—right in the puddle of blood.

“You’re so fucking worried about your sister’s virginity, you’re not even asking about the perv on the floor,” I yell at him, using all the force I can to push Henry off me.

“God knows you didn’t kill him,” Henry snaps.

“Henry,” Cher pleads. “Stop. He saved me, and I love him.”

“What?” My best friend freezes, and I take the moment to jump to my feet, putting distance between us. I’m riled up enough I might do something stupid and violent, my pulse still pumping in my temple.

I catch Cher’s gaze filling with tears and grab her attention. “You don’t have to tell him right now. You don’t have to tell him shit.”

She shakes her head. “I do. I need to tell him and put this all to rest.”

“Tell me what? You’re sleeping with my best friend behind my back?” Henry spits at her. However, his face instantly softens as he sees the tears spill down her cheeks, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Thank God he’s secretly mush on the inside. “What is it that you need to tell me?”

“Something happened to me in high school...” Cher’s voice comes out at a near whisper.

Henry’s eyes drift to the man on the floor, and recognition flashes across his face. “No... No, that’s not...Is that?” Henry is fucking coming undone. I can feel him about to explode.

“He hurt me,” Cher says quickly. “And I didn’t want you to know, because I didn’t want you to think that you’d failed.”

“Holy shit, Cher.” Henry jumps to feet and rushes to his sister, pulling her into a hug. “I’m so fucking sorry.” She trembles in his arms, and then breaks into a sob, years of secrets pouring out the same way they did that night with me.

I stand quietly, knowing it’s not my place to intervene. They need their moment. They need their own reckoning as a family unit. I grab up the blade from the floor, and do what I do best, start cleaning up. This one is going to be a mess. An innocent life was lost along with Nile’s.

But I can handle it.

“And that’s not it,” Cher says as she reaches the end of her explanation. “I’m a very bad person.”

Henry releases her, his brows furrowing. “What do you mean?”

She hesitates, and I glance over at her as I put the knife back in its sheath. “Just tell him the truth, Cher. He can handle it.”

“I kill people. Well, I killed people,” Cher says quietly. “Until Jude. He made the voices stop, and I don’t feel sick and broken anymore.” Her words play my heart like a fucking guitar, but I keep it inside.

Henry’s jaw sets. “You killed men?”

“A lot of them.” She gives him a sheepish smile. “It was the only thing that made me feel better—and I gained a bit of a reputation here.”

“The Black Widow,” Henry breathes out, and then looks over to me. “How much of this did you know?”

“Um,” I mull it over. “I know it all, but... It took a while. I had to connect the dots to the Black Widow theory. Then, I found her taser, drugs, and gun in her purse. I knew then she was who I thought she was—and it’s cool with me.”

Henry rolls his eyes. “Of course, you would think so.”

“I had an in with a detective here, but he hasn’t been very helpful lately,” Cher says. “I just tried to stage it as party accidents, and it was working.”

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