“Now we need to find a place to stay,” said Charlie.
***
Charlie booked them a room for a week. It was a decent hotel room in Midtown Manhattan, where they could relax and get their minds right.
Claire hopped into the shower and lingered under the hot water for what felt like forever. She wanted to wash away everything that had transpired in the past twenty-four hours. She wanted to scrub away her sins. What have I gotten myself into? she kept asking herself. It was a nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from.
After stepping out of the shower and toweling off, Claire stared at herself in the foggy bathroom mirror. She didn’t like what was staring back at her. Out of the blue, she started to cry.
Who is Charlie? she thought. Her sister was a lunatic. She had seen that firsthand this morning. There was no defending Charlie anymore—the bitch was pure evil. She had set Chanel up, and Mateo was shot in the head and nearly died. Now Melanie. Charlie had made her an accessory to first-degree murder. Melanie was her friend—sort of. And even if she wasn’t, she didn’t deserve to die like that. All the layers of Charlie were being revealed. She had been robbing and killing people all along. Claire deduced that all those gifts Charlie had brought home were there because someone had died. The revelation of her sister’s wicked lifestyle hit her like a Mack truck, and she started to slip into a deep depression again.
That night, Charlie tried to get her sister to cheer up and stop moping and crying, but Claire couldn’t stop. She was afraid, and she felt betrayed. She wouldn’t talk. She wouldn’t eat. She would only sit there and weep and sleep. There wasn’t anything Charlie could do to cheer her sister up. She couldn’t bring her back from where she had come from and what she had seen—the devil and almost hell itself.
The next day, Charlie left Claire alone in the hotel room to go out and make some moves. She wanted to unload the stolen merchandise and put the money in a safe place. It was risky walking around the city with $80,000. Plus, she was tired of hearing her sister’s whining and seeing her cry and stare off into space.
Charlie hoped Claire didn’t become a weak link. Charlie saw an opportunity and she decided to take it. If she hadn’t, they would be broke and homeless, and most likely staying at a shelter or sleeping on park benches. There was no way Charlie was going to go down that miserable road. Besides, she had just killed God, so in her mind, she had nothing to lose and nearly $80,000 to gain.
There was one thing that puzzled her about God, though. Why hadn’t the streets heard about his murder yet? It had been days since Kym was arrested, yet, nothing—no word on the streets about his death.
She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Chapter Six
Pyro stepped out of the elevator at 4am and approached his apartment. He was coming from an old flame’s place after a heated night of fucking and sucking on each other. While lying in Lisa’s bed, Pyro couldn’t stop thinking about leaving Chanel alone for a week when he should be there guarding over her. He got dressed and left Lisa’s place in the middle of the night. Lisa was left puzzled by his action.
At first, Pyro thought he was doing Chanel a favor by sleeping over with his f
emales. He wanted to give her some space and he wanted her to feel at home at his apartment. He also knew to set firm boundaries when he was there with Chanel. He would never come out of his bedroom unless he was fully dressed, and he would go out of his way to make her feel comfortable and, most importantly, safe. Pyro also knew to keep Chanel from seeing the shadier side of things—of him; drugs and guns. He figured she had probably heard stories, but that was all he wanted her to hear. Mateo did his best to keep his woman out of that life, so who was Pyro to expose her to what his friend fought to keep her away from?
When he entered his apartment, everything seemed quiet and still—maybe too still.
“Chanel?” he called out.
She didn’t answer him.
“Chanel, where you at?” he called out again.
Still, there was no response. He figured she was sleeping, but he grew slightly nervous and removed his gun from his hip. He started to feel guilty for leaving her alone for so long. Pyro didn’t want to crowd her, but now he questioned if his absence made her feel more uncomfortable and more afraid.
Cautiously, with his gun parallel to his side, he advanced toward the second bedroom and carefully peeked inside. He sighed with relief to see Chanel sleeping in the bed under the covers and looking peaceful. She was even snoring. She had endured some long, tiresome, and trying days, and it was good to see her sleeping like a baby.
Pyro faintly grinned and closed her bedroom door. He went into his own bedroom to get undressed and to stay the night. This was going to be his first night sleeping in his own bed since Chanel had moved in. Sleep was desperately calling his name. Pyro climbed into his comfy, large bed wearing only his boxers, and he was fast asleep a minute later.
A few hours later, Pyro heard a slight tap at his bedroom door. Groggily, he called out, “Who?” even though he knew the answer.
“Hey, it’s me. Good morning. I’m glad to see you’re home. I just wanted to let you know that I’m cooking breakfast for us,” she said sweetly.
He wasn’t a breakfast type of dude. The only reason his fridge was stocked was for Chanel.
“I’m not hungry,” he shouted back.
“C’mon, everybody loves breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day,” she said.
“Just go away!” he yelled, pulling the covers over his head.
Chanel sighed and left from his door. It was easy to see that he wasn’t a morning person. In the kitchen, she made herself pancakes with crispy bacon and peppermint tea. She sighed while sitting at the kitchen table. Pyro finally spent the night at his apartment and she still felt alone there.
He slept for ten hours and woke up to the late afternoon sun seeping through his bedroom window. He emerged from his bedroom fully dressed to a very clean apartment and a downtrodden Chanel. She had already been to visit Mateo, and now she was sitting in the living room watching HGTV. Noticing Pyro was awake and dressed, she faintly smiled at him and he realized that she was lonely.