Page 143 of Priest and his Anarchist

You are loved in all stages of your life.

Mom, Dad, and Father.

Survived by some, lost by all. I love you. – N

I snort the first line, relaxing when I feel the first wave and clear my nostril.

“Are you thinking about all the bad things you’ve done lately?” Evie asks from beside me. Since I’ve locked myself away,Evie has made it her mission to make me her problem. No surprise.

“Not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Priest.” With everyone dipped in black, I feel the weight of Lilith’s eyes on me. You’ll never be able to escape the eyes of a mourning mother.

“You loved her, didn’t you?” Evie’s words are heavy in my chest. It isn’t her fault. She doesn’t know how to filter herself, and she sure doesn’t know how to accommodate my feelings in any situation, because she assumes I have none.

Everyone does.

“So?” I turn to her. With her newly dyed brown hair pulled to the nape of her neck in a bun and her face fresh of any heavy makeup, the faint shadows of dark circles that had formed around her eyes only mean one thing since she didn’t know Luna well.

These are for River. Or me. Probably both.

With the heaviness of her death lingering, my eyes struggle to stay open and I rest back against my seat, spreading my legs wide.

“So why, Priest?” And there it is. “We could have fixed it. You know there’s a type of therapy?—”

“There was no fixing her, Evie. She wasn’t one of your projects. She was insane and a fucking liability to every single one of us. We’d lost her, gone, poof. We couldn’t have her Darling side anywhere near us.” I lean forward. “Bas caught her at a strip club. Think about it. It’s how he knew to call her in. A fucking strip club.”

Evie shrugs. “Happen to like strippers.”

“As do I,” I sigh, shoving open the car door and stumbling my way beneath the oak tree that sprays out over ancient headstones. “You’re missing the point.”

Evie trails behind me, stopping when I lean against the trunk of the tree, my eyes hidden behind dark glasses.

“So you killed her!” Evie jumps in shock from beside me, and I clear my nostril again. I could hear River’s angry footsteps from a mile away.

“Priest, I love you, but what you did was wrong.” Evie squeezes my arm. What she means is that she isn’t going to defend me with River. Didn’t need it.

I drink more until the liquid sets a trail of fire down my throat.

Rimmed a brilliant crimson red, River’s eyes glimmer an extraterrestrial blue. I’ve never seen her this way. Not ever.

“I hate you. You’re a monster like every other Hayes that took that gavel before Bishop.”

I push off the tree and stop right in front of her. The dust doesn’t even settle around my military boots when I lean into her ear. “Correct, River. I am. Because I’ll kill every single person who ever comes near the EKC.”

“That’s where you fucked up, Priest.” River’s eyes cross when she searches mine. Even with the height difference, she stands her ground. “She was one of us.”

The hiss that crawls up my throat is primal. “She wasn’t.”

I refrain from shoulder barging past her when I make my way back up to the waiting car. With the door open, I turn over my shoulder once more to take a lasting glance at everyone standing around the shimmering black coffin. Dressed in black is one side, our side, and when my eyes shift to the other, I pause. Midnight Mayhem has changed over the years, but I know who I am looking for. I don’t have to look for long, because his wrath is hot enough to leave burn marks when he finds me. The sneer of his lip, the pulsing vein in his neck, the pure hatred he tries to exude.

I do the one thing I’ve been wanting to since Luna told me about him. The best friend who managed to work his way into her head until she knew better. Bet he’s mad that he never got to hit it before I took her out.

I blow him a kiss.

Shutting out the outside noise, I find Moose in the rearview mirror. “Home?”

Years. I’ve spent years killing people. All sizes, genders, whatevers. I don’t discriminate when it comes to inhaling the rush of fear that they feed me while dying in my arms, but I know hers will poison me for life.

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