“Come for me, Alex,” I said quietly, feeling her tighten around me. “That's it, come baby.”
And then she did, her eyes getting wide, her mouth falling open, but no sound came out for a long time as her body rode through the pulsations. Then, finally, “Breaker,” she whispered, her head falling to my chest.
I came a few seconds later, squeezing her to my chest and holding her there for a while after.
Then she sighed, shaking her head. “What's the matter?”
“It's twenty of ten,” she told me, untangling from my body and sliding away from me.
From the thickness of the air around her, I knew my Alex was gone. Alex, the mask, was in place instead- her eyes distant, her shoulders pulled back as she made the way to the bathroom and closed the door quietly.
Fuck.
She didn't even take five minutes to consider that something had just passed between us. Something different. At least for me it was different.
Fucking son of a bitch cocksucker Lex Keith.
I cleaned up, going into the pantry and slipping some weapons into my pants and boots, keeping out an extra pocketknife and a can of mace for Alex to tuck into her boots when she came out.
She did a few minutes later, dressed in black skinny jeans and a black long sleeve tee, looking very much like she was going to a funeral. Which was probably exactly what she was thinking when she slipped into it. She sat down on the couch, swishing her finger across the sensor on her laptop to make it come alive as she slipped into her boots.
“Nothing?”
“Lot of views all of a sudden,” she said, her voice cool. “No bites though.”
“Here,” I said, leaning over the couch and handing her the knife and mace. “Tuck those into your boots too. Just in case.”
She took them, but made no comment, lacing up her shoes loosely, slamming her laptop, and standing. “Let's get this over with,” she said, making her way to the door, avoiding eye contact.
I had no other cards to play so I grabbed my keys and wallet and followed behind. I couldn't begrudge her her sour mood. The closer we drove toward town, the more I felt my own darkening.
I sighed as I swung my truck into a parking space out front of Lex's office. It was in a sketchier side of town than you would usually catch Lex in himself, choosing to send one of his lackeys instead. But he was in there. For whatever sick plan he had rolling around his twisted brain. Beside me, Alex might as well have been stone. Her breathing was slow, even. Her hands relaxed on her thighs. Her face impassive. Her eyes far away, staring out the window at the rain collecting on the windshield.
“Doll...”
She shook her head stiffly. “Let's get this over with.”
I sighed, watching her open her door and step out into the downpour. With little choice, I followed suit.
The door flew open before I could even reach for it, Limp Dick Rick standing there looking bored. But I could see blood staining the pocket of his jeans. I wondered if Alex noticed, but if she did, she wasn't letting on.
“Lex here?” I asked as we stepped into the office area, cheap fake wood desk, old law books on the shelves. I wondered if he did that ironically or just because they all matched. The floor was dusty in the corners and there were just old yellowed blinds on the windows, pulled closed.
He inclined his head to me and knocked on a door to the side of the bookshelf behind the desk.
A few seconds later, it opened and out walked Lex in one of his gray suits, the stain of blood almost invisible on his black dress shoes. But I saw it. And I felt myself tense. Beside me, still no reaction from Alex.
Lex's head tilted to the side, watching Alex. “I see you managed the task.”
“What task?” I asked, trying to make my words come out casual though I felt like I was talking through clenched teeth.
“You broke her.”
My head turned to the side where Alex was still just staring off at the wall. It certainly looked like I had. The smart thing to do would be own the idea. But I couldn't bring myself to so I just shrugged a shoulder.
“You might need to... unbreak her a little,” he said, his eyes coming to my face.
“Unbreak her?” I repeated, raising a brow.
“She's no good to me all catatonic.”
“Might be useful if you told me what exactly she is to be of use to you for then.”
To this, he shrugged. “That's why we're here,” he said, turning and moving back toward the door he had just walked out of. I felt my gut clench up, every instinct telling me that we shouldn't go behind that door. But there wasn't much choice with Limp Dick Rick standing in front of the main door.
Lex stepped into the room and I followed. Alex was a few steps behind me.
I was right.
We didn't want to be in there.
'There' being a room with white tile and a drain in the floor. A hose was hooked up to the bathroom sink in the room to the back. A hose that they used to wash the blood down the drain. The blood like the blood that was everywhere right then.
The blood that had come from the man that had been cuffed to the chair in the center of the room.
Young. A few years older than Alex, a few younger than me. A little pudgy and with a definite nerdy look with his black-rimmed glasses and video game t-shirt. But good looking.
Or at least... he was.
He was dead.
Likely from the sheer amount of blood he had lost.
Arterial spray fuckin' everywhere.
My eyes went immediately to Alex as she stepped through and I saw a flash. It was gone before a blink, shut down behind her wall. I couldn't even get a chance to analyze it. Shock? Horror? It was gone too soon.