Page 33 of The Devil We Know

I wash myself quickly, turning off the water and grabbing a towel, and I’m half-dry as I walk back into the bedroom. Sure enough, Kai is back in the chair, waiting patiently.

I throw my wet towel at him and then walk to the chest of drawers, pulling out clean clothes and dressing myself quickly.

I go and sit on the bed across from the chair he’s sitting in and look at him intently, but I say nothing. I stare at him long enough that he starts to squirm, and after another few moments, he mutters, “What the fuck are you looking at?”

“Shut up. I’m trying to see something.”

He frowns, sitting up straighter in the chair but closing his mouth as I asked. I continue to stare at him, not entirely certain what I’m looking for, but if nothing else, I enjoy making him uncomfortable.

After a few more moments go by, I finally respond, “I’m trying to decide if I can trust you.”

He snorts and shakes his head. “Can we really trust anyone?”

I incline my head in agreement. “My point exactly. The other part of it is that I don’t want to cause trouble for you.”

He shrugs as he responds, “Nothing but trouble in this business. Sometimes, it’s nice to make my own trouble rather than accepting everyone else’s.”

I stare at him again, and finally, I sigh, realizing I don’t really have a choice but to hope that he won’t fuck me over. “I need you to do me a favor.”

His eyes narrow and he leans forward in the chair as he says, “Well, what is it, then?”

“I need you to deliver a message for me to someone in the city.”

He frowns, giving me an incredulous look. “You can’t just go and do it yourself?”

“I have other things to attend to right now. And I can’t be seen anywhere near these people.”

“And I can?”

“Yes,” I reply. “You have no ties to these people, and I’m sure you have ways to make it either look like an accident, a coincidence, or just something that’s funny.”

He sits back in his chair and says, “Okay. Who am I delivering the message to?”

I pause, knowing that this will be the moment where he either gives himself away as being a problem or confirms that he’s going to be helpful. I clear my throat, not really wanting to say it but knowing I have no choice, and it comes out as more of a croak than anything else. “The Beast.”

His eyes bug out of his head quite comically, and then he shakes his head and says, “Nope. Not a fucking chance.”

“Why the fuck not?”

He gives me a bland look. “You know why not.” I shrug, unsure what he’s insinuating and not wanting to give my hand away too much. After a few moments, he adds, “You don’t just go looking for the Beast, man. You actually spend most of your days hoping to never have to see that guy.”

I hide my smile behind my hand, always amused when other people talk about Darius with such horror and awe. “Oh, come on. He can’t be that bad.”

“Can’t be that bad?” Kai exclaims. “Even the tamest stories of the Beast will make your blood run cold.”

“You really believe all that shit?”

He nods emphatically, and so I continue, “You know that 90% of that shit has got to be made up. There’s no way someone that infamous hasn’t been taken down just out of principle.”

He laughs. “They’ve tried, and eventually, everyone gave up.”

I don’t bother hiding my smile this time when I say, “Well, I can tell you the best place to find him and what to say so you won’t get yourself killed before you get in the door.”

He looks at me thoughtfully, and then, after a few moments, he responds, “So it’s true, then?”

“What’s true?”

“You are friends with the Beast.”

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