Page 79 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

“You fix things for Zayn?”

He nodded and gave me a smile.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Like getting rid of dead bodies?”

It only made his smile grow wider.

“Yes, and you’re welcome, by the way. Messy job you left me with, but that’s okay. I like those.”

I flinched and looked away, hating the reminder of what I’d done to Justin even if he deserved it. It was the pain of knowing how deep his betrayal ran that had my stomach in knots. And how I was going to have to tell my father at some point.

“Thank you.”

My fingers went to the cuff on my ear, tugging at the chain a little because it irked me, knowing Zayn had tagged me this way. I couldn’t bring myself to take it off. It was still a gift from him. A token of something more between us, even if I didn’t want to believe it. My heart knew better. He’d picked it because he knew I’d like it. He knew… fuck… he knew too much about me. I’d already cried enough, but another tear slid down my cheek. My hand automatically swiped it away, ashamed of myself for allowing it to fall. It proved Zayn had a deep, all-encompassing hold on me.

“Do you want me to take your mind off what happened?”

My eyes darted back to Penn.

“Why would you want to? You don’t know me.”

He shrugged.

“You’re the boss’s girl.”

“I’m nothis,” I hissed, even though I knew it wasn’t true. I rubbed my chest and scolded myself internally for my own stupidity. “How would you help me, anyway?”

Penn cocked his head to the side.

“Well, if you were anyone else, I’d do one of three things.” He held three fingers up. “Tattoo you. Find someone for you to beat the shit out of, torture and kill. Or I’d fuck the living daylights out of you. I mean, you’re hot as fuck, so I wouldn’t mind taking you for a ride.” He let out a dramatic sigh, allowing his hand to fall back on the leather bed. “But I can’t do any of those things because you’re Zayn’s and he would murder me for touching you. He’d torture me first, then he’d kill me slow to prove a point. He’s pretty fucking terrifying when he kills. I swear it’s like he’s dead inside.”

The way he said those things in such a matter-of-fact tone had me staring at the tattooed Fixer like he had two heads. And he was right. Zayn was terrifying when he killed. I’d seen it first-hand, and I didn’t think I’d ever scrub the image from my mind no matter what I did.

“Then what are you going to do?”

He patted the bed next to him.

“I’m going to teach you something that might save your life one day.”

I don’t know why I moved over to the bed and sat next to him. He put his hand in his pocket and drew out a small rolled-up leather holder of some kind. When he unravelled it, there were a series of metal pin-like sticks tucked into it.

“What are those?”

“Lock picks.”

He snagged one of the cuffs from the end of the bed. I realised they were attached to adjustable chains as he set it in his lap. There was a small padlock on it. Penn selected a couple of his picks and used them to open the padlock without the key. He did it so fast, I had no time to ask him anything about it.

“That doesn’t look simple,” I said with a frown.

“Oh, it is. You just have to know what you’re doing. That’s why I’m going to do it slowly this time. Let you see how it works.”

He snapped the padlock closed again. I shifted closer to him so I could see better as Penn explained how the picks worked. Then he told me about the lock mechanism and what a key did to allow it to open. He showed me how he picked the lock by setting each pin inside the lock in place, so it clicked. The way he spoke was calm and meticulous, stopping every so often to make sure I understood what he was telling me. And, by some miracle, his demonstration helped clear my mind of the shit I’d gone through today.

“Now, it’s your turn. Don’t worry, I’ll help you.”

Penn handed me the picks and the lock. I set to work, failing my first time around until he took my hands and physically helped me do it until I could pick the specific lock on my own. He got up and went over to the drawers nearby, pulling out various types of locks from them. He laid them out on the bed for me with a smile.

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