Page 147 of Chemistry: The Chemist

Collected.

Detached.

Distant.

The tears I couldn’t see rolling down her face were felt. Wholeheartedly. Every emotion she felt, I did a hundred times over. The guilt wasn’t going to let me forget how I’d betrayed Chemistry, neither was the sound of Rugger’s heartbreaking on the other line.

“I need his address, Rugger. Pl— I– Please.”

“Tell me where Teddy is at this moment.”

“Ho– Home. He’s home. Please. I need his address.”

“Eden, if–”

“My name is Egypt Johanson. I am an agent who has been studying your family’s empire for the last two years. The Chemist. The Madam. The Huntress. The Cleaner. The Handler. The Therapist. And we just learned of The Ballerina and The Surgeon. My job was to infiltrate through Roulette.

“The first night of my employment, Chemistry pulled me off stage and the rest was history. I’d been hunting him for years and still have no idea what he looked like, where he was, or how he operated his business. We assumed everyone was a man. It wasn’t until I’d fallen for him that I learned his true identity.

“It all happened so– I didn’t– I have spent the last five and a half months trying to do my job but the love I have for Chem made that hard. My team is aware I am in far too deep and took it upon themselves to close the case with the little information I have provided.

“It wasn’t much. It was never much. But, this is what we do. All we needed was a little. This morning they’re headed to his home to raid–”

She cut me off, mid-sentence.

“When I find you, I’m going to slit you from one ear to the other. I will not show you any remorse, and I will leave you in front steps of your precinct so the pigs won’t have to come looking for you. You’ll serve as a warning that the game has started and it won’t end until everyone involved in my brother’s demise is in hell, waiting for me to join them just so I can kill them again. 8237 Mt. Catherine.”

His mother. I ached all over. With every detail, the pain intensified a little more.

The call ended and though my life had been threatened, I was relieved to have the address where Chem rested. Traffic was still light when I merged into the first lane. I accelerated the gas, attempting to cut the drive down by several minutes.

Come on.

Come on.

Time seemed to creep in as I put my home further and further behind me. The air pressure punished my ears as my car elevated. What felt like a lifetime was only twenty-four minutes. I typed the address into the GPS system and was happy to learn I was only seven minutes from his home. I could get there in five.

I disobeyed the traffic signs and laws set by the city for residential streets. Every few seconds, I used the shirt on my body to clean my eyes. The waterfall of tears made it impossible to see.

Houses became more sparse the closer I got to the address until I finally pulled onto the secluded street where Chem’s home and approximately fifty government-issued cars were parked.

“Fuuuuuuuck!”

Defeated, I pulled close to the curb and snatched the shades from my face. Sobbing, I released the tears I’d been holding onto since the night I discovered who I was completely obsessed with –mentally, physically, emotionally, and soulfully.

The phone I’d tossed in the passenger seat began ringing. I didn’t recognize the number calling. Regardless, I answered the call, hoping Chem wasn’t inside and had found a way to contact me.

“Hello.”

“It’s Rome.”

They’d all hate me. My time with Chem had ended. His sisters were his entire world. And after this day, neither of them had any reason not to despise the very ground I walk on.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know. I felt it the night I met you.”

Her response halted the tears. I wasn’t expecting it.

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