Page 89 of Shattered
My eyes widened. “A bloody nose?” I asked.
“Didn’t he leave the city too?” Iris asked.
“How did Jake give you a bloody nose?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Teagen said, shaking her head. “I woke up with blood caked in my nostrils, and he was spooning me, saying I got drunk and fell. We were both naked. I got this feeling like spooning wasn’t all we did.”
I knew the feeling. I turned to Iris. “Did he do anything to you?”
“I would never let him get near me with a ten-foot pole,” Iris said, raising her brows. “But I’ve heard enough rumors to know that.”
“He did it to Kendall too after you left,” Teagen said.
My jaw dropped. “How?” I shook my head. “I tried to warn her—”
“You know, she kept saying how you were a jealous bitch untilaftershe hung out with Jake,” Iris said. She tilted her head. “She seems to get it now.”
Nausea crept through me, making me take careful movements. I turned away, opening my phone, flipping through my recent calls, trying to see when Jake and I had last spoken. But my eyes fell on Rourke’s name,Garrett, a call from only a few days ago, when he told me he was on his way to the Loft. I was supposed to go to the gallery soon.
The urge to click on his name and let the call go through built inside of me. Where was he? Would he answer? Had he turned his phone off? Had he escaped to another city already, like the detective had predicted?
“Maybe it was Jake,” Teagen said. “He could be the Angel.”
That was an insult to Rourke, but I didn’t say anything.
“But Jake drugged women to get them to sleep with him,” Iris argued. “That’s not murder.”
Teagen shrugged. “It’s not like a criminal has to follow a rule book. He can drug women and murder men. Why wouldn’t that be a thing?”
“That doesn’t seem like a pattern though. And why would he only attack people who hurt sex workers?”
“Maybe because he hates himself. Maybe he thinks he’s finding penance by getting rid of people like him.”
“Maybe,” Iris said. “But that sounds like bullshit to me.”
I couldn’t speak for Jake, not when I didn’t know the real him, but what I knew about Rourke wasreal. Rourke wasn’t trying to punish others because he committed the same kind of crime.
Hehadcommitted a crime, and logical reasoning pointed to the signs that told me not to trust him. But Ididtrust him. I knew he would never harm me, or anyone like me. His nature might have been one of hunting, but he hunted monsters that thought that they were higher than the food chain itself.
He was the only person who saw me. He saw the anger behind my eyes and he wasn’t disturbed. In fact, he welcomed it.
Because we were alike. I didn’t kill for control, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if that meant protecting someone I cared for.
Maybe that made me a bad person, but I didn’t care anymore. As long as I was me.
I went to the dressing rooms and found a few of the servers hovering behind Dahlia.
“I hope this murder investigation finishes soon,” Dahlia said. She stood and went to the exit that led to the main floor. “Business has been atrocious.”
It was always the same with Dahlia. Like usual, she had been trying to find new ways to pin more debt onto us, so that we could pay hermorewhen business was better again after the Angel’s rampage was a tragedy of the past. When servers like me could go back to fantasizing about meeting a rich billionaire to take care of us, to shower us in luxury, so that we would never have to worry about selling out, making commercial art to pay the bills, or trading our false virginities for profit.
But I didn’t want that anymore. I didn’t want to play pretend.
I wanted a genuine connection. I wanted authenticity. I wanted someone who saw me, the good parts, the artistry, and the bad parts that showed that I wasn’t a good girl, not at all. That I would kill someone if it meant protecting those I loved. That sometimes I felt empty, and couldn’t bring myself to do anything at all. But other times, I needed everything in the world and believed I could conquer it all.
I wanted someone who saw inside of me and wasn’t afraid.
I wanted Rourke. I needed him.
