Page 145 of The Reluctant Hero

“What is this?” I look it over carefully with a frown. It’s somehow perfect.

“Fun,” she says flatly. “Solid but light, good for continuous hits no matter how weak a person is. The gloves will protect your hands. I would recommend wearing them any time you think about picking that up. A plain sight weapon.”

“You’re giving me a weapon?” I raise a brow, impressed despite myself. Damn, it really is perfect.

“You said you would hurt yourself with a knife. Consider this a walking stick and move on.”

I give her a dubious look and then see the street we’re on.

“Where are we going?” I ask warily. Now that I’m paying attention, I recognize where we are.

“Loser.”

“No,” I snap furiously. My hands tighten on the bar until my knuckles blanch.

South calmly pulls over and parks, twisting in her seat to face me.

“I thought you would want to start with him.”

“Not yet,” my eyes slide over to her.

Her head tilts curiously as she takes in my grim expression. “Do you have a plan?”

“No plans,” my voice settles into that dead space sound, the anger gone as quickly as it came up. “I’llchatwith Blake tomorrow.”

She studies me for a second. “You aren’t putting it off.”

I meet her gaze without flinching. A calm feeling envelopes me, leaving my voice as emotionless as hers. “I’m not. I need to figure out what to ask. I need a direction to go in so I can get to the next one. And then the next.”

They’reallgoing down.

Her eyes narrow as if she’s suspicious. “Fine. We’ll head to destination two, then. On the way, you can fill me in.”

It takes me a minute to convince myself that telling her everything is the right call. I’ll watch her reactions, if she has any, and go from there. I need backup and she’s scary as hell. Her bestie is a serious hacker who isn’t afraid of the cops. Shade is a genius at picking weapons that I might actually be able to use. Hitting the gym a couple of times in as many months doesn’t make me a badass. This thing is light enough that I could do a lot of damage without much effort. The rest I’ll have to make up for in unrelenting rage. I think I’ve got that covered.

I start at the very beginning with the cheating and my move. The letters and everything that followed. I hit the highlights of my time with Gabriel and company, focusing on the folders and any of the behavior they displayed that was suspicious. She seems to notice the shortened version because when I say any of their names, her eyes dart to me and away quickly. She doesn’t react to much of it, not even when I tell her about the body. Ace trashing my place and pushing me down the stairs. Their accusations of theft and denying any truth tothe things I’ve told them. The arrest and their involvement with Blake.

After that, a silence settles between us that isn’t uncomfortable. I think she needs a second to think things over.

“If you want to drop me off, I get it,” I tell her flatly. This is a lot to throw on a person you barely know, badass or not. I’m not planning to be quiet about any of it, either. At least I know people will at least question my death.

She pulls up to the apartments I’ve been living in for the last half year and parks.

“Grab your things.”

“I don’t think there’s anything left,” I say, staring at the broken window of my apartment. My lips flatten with anger. I didn’t notice that yesterday.

“We’ll look. Check your bank account too. Close it out tomorrow. Cash from now on. Keep it in your socks and random areas on your body, not just pockets. I’ll teach you a few things to help get you by. Give you a few tools for survival.”

I’m frowning when she slides out of the truck and closes her door. I put the gloves on, grab the stick, and follow. I don’t feel anything when we enter the building or when we climb the stairs. Everything is calm inside me even though everything seems eerily quiet. No loud TVs or talking can be heard.

The mess is just as bad as I remember it. Nothing has changed except my perception of it.

Ace did this to me.

A tearing sensation hits me in the chest and ricochets through my body. It takes me a few minutes of deep breathing in the hallway to relax again. Once it’s done, I march back in and start going through things.

The drawer of pictures is broken. The pictures are gone. I close the fridge on reflex.

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