Page 107 of The Grief We Hold

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Butcher asks as he zip-ties his hostage’s hands.

“Because we’re gonna find all our bullets, dig ‘em out of bodies if we have to, and then stage this like an explosion. Then, if they even bother to autopsy this shit, they won’t find anything suspicious, like a bullet casing.”

Butcher rolls his eyes. “Do we need to?” He looks to me.

“Don’t want to, but it is a better plan.”

So, we start the slow and painful process. First, we count how many bullets we used, then we retrace our steps through our entrance and victims. I use a knife to cut the bullets out.

I get to my final victim and lean over him, looking at the hole in his pec. I’m about to lift him by the neck of his shirt when the fucker lifts a knife.

And the blade burns as it tears through my skin.

34

RAVEN

“You’re still married?” Quinn asks. There’s no judgement in her tone.

“I am. But I’m in the process of trying to serve him with divorce papers.”

Tonight was my first book club, and it’s been a lot of fun. I got to meet Dawn, a teacher at the high school who had grown up with Quinn, and Sam, a new mom who’s a regular at Quinn’s bakery.

We read a romance book calledLove You Like Thatabout a hero rock star and a heroine percussionist who was deaf, and I’d learned so much. Like the difference between lowercasedeafand uppercaseDeaf, and how easy it is to increase accessibility with a little extra effort and knowledge. And that you can be deaf and a percussionist because you can feel sound through the floor and through instruments.

Plus, there was a particularly hot wax-and-rope scene that made me think of Wraith and what we did on Wednesday. While I shared lots of feelings with the girls about the book, I kept that little nugget of information to myself.

Sam and Dawn left, and I stayed to help Quinn clean up the handful of glasses and dishes we used.

I take the cloth and pick up a glass from the rack. “It’s been a journey to get here.”

The admission is hard, and I debated sharing what happened with Marco because I don’t want to be judged by his actions, but it feels nice to have a friend.

Quinn rinses another glass. “You know, when you came into the bakery that day, I thought to myself that you looked like a woman who had seen some shit and was quite possibly hanging on by her final thread.”

I laugh. “Is that why you took pity on me and invited me to your book club?”

“Pretty much. But I also know that friends can make all the difference when you’re pushed to the edge. And book friends are a safe space.”

“Well, I appreciate it. And it was great of your cousin to babysit Fen for me. Are you sure I don’t need to pay her?”

Quinn shakes her head. “Wasn’t a big deal. Lacey asked if I could make cupcakes for her sweet sixteen next week, so I said I would if she did it, though I was already planning to do it anyway. Just killed two birds with one stone.”

My phone rings, and I see Wraith’s name appear on my screen. “Hey, sweetie,” I say.

The affectionate nickname slips out of my mouth by accident.

“Like…that greeting,” he says. His words sound weird though. “You home?”

“In about five minutes. Why?”

“See you there.” The call ends, and I look at my phone.

“Everything okay?” Quinn asks.

“Not sure. Wraith just said he wants to come over.”

Quinn chuckles. “We call that a booty call.”

---