Page 43 of Crawl
“It was a pleasure,” I say. “I’ll be honest: she always wants to stay in. A true homebody. This is the first date she’s let me take her on in weeks.”
Her mother perks up. “We should do this more often then!”
Remedy smacks my shoulder to get me to shut up, and I give that practiced smile. I love messing with her. I nod my agreement to her mother and Remedy’s jaw drops. We exchange one last hug, then her mother and her boyfriend part ways, leaving Remedy and me alone in the lobby.
“I don’t want to go home yet. You want to stay here for a while?” she asks, pointing toward the stairs leading to the upper deck. “I’ll get us drinks. I’ll meet you at the lounge.”
I don’t question it. I climb the steps to the lounge and find a space along the railing, away from the few people that are still out. It’s only a few more minutes until we can focus on my end of the deal. I lean on the railing, peering out into the darkness.
“Hey,” a man says from the side. His red nose throbs between his puffy cheeks. “I know you from somewhere.”
I face the water. “I have one of those faces,” I mutter.
“Is that a scar? Those eyes. I’d remember them anywhere.”
I shift away, but the man draws closer, gawking at me like a drunk piece of shit.
“You did the insulation on my house last year, right? On Coastal Way? It’s nice, man. We’re not dying in the summer anymore.”
Insulation from a year ago?Shit.Had he seen me during one of the kills?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I warn. “Back off.”
“You look nice,” he says, patting my arms. “All dressed up. Fancy. Cleaner now. You got a girl tonight or something? Has she seen you in your work clothes? You looked dirty as hell—”
I grab him by the collar of his shirt, lifting his feet off of the ground. My canines gleam in the light, and that makes him gulp; the fear swims in his eyes like a school of fish with no direction. I shouldn’t draw more attention to this asshole, but he’s pissed me off and he’s a drunk son of a bitch that no one will miss anyway.
But there’s no place to easily hide a body here. Even if I shove his ass into the ocean, someone will see.
“You don’t know me,” I growl.
The man swallows. Finally, he nods in silence.
“Cash?” Remedy asks. The drunk man’s eyes flicker to her standing behind me, and I drop him, letting him fall to the ground. I swing around to face her as the drunk man scurries away. Remedy raises two drinks: a mojito for her and a scotch for me. I grab it, thanking her, but I don’t take a sip yet.
“What happened?” she asks, her voice full of apprehension.
“Drunk asshole,” I say. There’s nothing more to say about that. “Now, I’ve met your mother, but what about your father? Where is he?” I can kill her biological father too. Damn it, Ineedto kill someone soon. The pressure is building in my bones. Her eyes rest on the water sloshing below us.
“My real dad died when I was a kid,” she says.
I remember that. There’s more to that story, but I can tell she doesn’t want to share it right now. “And your stepdad?” I ask.
“I haven’t spoken to him since the divorce.”
She stares out at the water like she can see visions of her past drowning in the blackness. And for some reason, seeing her like that, my heart palpitates, as if I know what it’s like. But I don’t. Her pain is her own, and mine is mine. You may understand how much it hurts, but you can never know what it feels like.
But I can’t stop myself from putting my hand on her lower back. I want her to know that I’m still here for her.
“You can tell me,” I say in a quiet voice.
She refuses to look at me. “Will you still want me?” she asks, her voice drifting out to the ocean below.
“Yes.”
She slurps down half of her mojito.
“He used to touch me. Under my PJs. After I showered. It was always gentle, you know? He made it feel good. But I knew it was wrong and I felt so guilty. Any time I told him to stop, he reminded me that he wasn’t hurting me. He wasn’t being rough. It’s like I didn’t have any power. And he made me say out loud that it didn’t hurt. Then he convinced me to say I liked it too.”
