I stood there for a long time, just letting the water rush over me, cleansing me of the day.
If only the water could purge me of the sight of Honey. Sixteen years old and hooked on drugs, indebted to Irina because she couldn’t afford them, locked in the cycle because she was goddamn sixteen and didn’t have the strength or context or community to know better.
I’d resolved to be her community.
Just one more thing to add to my list, right?
Take down Irina Ventura.
Take down Javier Ventura.
Get Honey Yves out of the life.
As I washed the floral conditioner out of my long locks, I considered who Zeus and I could enlist from the club to help me. I wasn’t naive enough to think I could do it all alone.
Curtains would be the best candidate because of his hacking skills. Dude could do things with a computer I couldn’t even comprehend.
I had Lysander for muscle, though, I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him (which wasn’t far given I doubted I had the strength to even lift him).
I was still puzzling over this when I turned the water off, stepped out of the stall, and started rubbing lotion onto my still damp skin.
So I didn’t notice that the light was on in the living room.
I didn’t notice that the door to the bathroom was gaping open as if someone had peeked into the room, seen me showering, and perhaps, lingered a little before leaving.
Instead, I moved into the living room briefly, turned down the little hall to my bedroom and changed into a thong and my favourite crop top that read ‘Sunflower Soul.’
It was only as I moved back into the living space, stopping to grab a glass from the upper cabinet over my counter looking out over the purple sofa, crate coffee table, and bookshelves that made up the living room, that I noticed a man all in black sitting in the lone chair tucked in the corner.
I screamed before I could catch myself, and the glass slipped from my numb fingers, crashing onto the counter with a tinny clap and tinkle. A piece fell onto the floor and cut into my big toe, but I didn’t notice the pain because my gaze was locked with the dark, brooding gaze of the man in my velvet chair.
Nova.
“Got a call from Curtains,” he growled, actually growled, his voice a rumbled, angry rasp. “Seems he’s got the whole club locked into some registry. Whenever somethin’ new pops up about one’a the members or their families, he gets pinged.”
He paused, and the air between us swelled with unbearable pressure, a balloon overfilled to bursting.
“You wanna tell me what he found, or do I gotta remind you?” he asked, his words as slick and ugly as an oil spill.
I blinked at him, completely oblivious to the fact I was barely dressed, so focused on him being in my home after almost two years of avoiding me that I couldn’t compute him actually being in my space.
He looked good there.
It was a crazy time to notice such a thing, but that was Nova’s beauty for you. It hit you smack between the eyes so you forgot everything inside your head but the colour of those velveteen eyes and that purple red mouth curved and full in the shadow of his dark scruff.
“Lila?” he demanded.
His impatience shouldn’t have been hot. It shouldn’t have tweaked my nipples into hard points or shot electricity to my core.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” he asked in a dangerous tone, rolling to his feet so he could stalk toward me, his gait a sinuous swagger. “You don’t got any memory of takin’ off your clothes for Irina Ventura’s fuckin’ illegal, fucked up porn business?”
I blinked, shocked that she’d already uploaded the video. I’d thought with editing and everything it would have taken longer.
“Now she’s silent,” he hissed through his teeth at the same time his body crashed into mine, and I went flying backward.
One long, marble arm snatched out around my lower back to catch me then reel me back to him, slamming our bodies together so hard I gasped.
Then his face was in mine, a dark mask of edgy, barely contained fury.
“You wanna tell me what the fuck you think you’re doin’ workin’ for that piece of filth? You know she’s got fuckin’ kids hooked on drugs, reels them in, hooks them up, and indentures them for life ’cause they don’t gotta shot at gettin’ clear of that shit?”
“Yeah, Nova,” I breathed because I couldn’t drag much into my lungs with his hard, heavy torso pressed so tight to mine. “I know.”
His lips pulled back over his teeth so he could snarl as he softly warned, “Yeah, you’re a smart girl. Been around long enough to know the score between us and those cunts. So I gotta ask myself, why’s my Flower Child hooked up with the likes of Irina Ventura?”