Page 113 of Haven

HADES

Is this better?

RORY

Goddamn, can I marry you?

Come sit on my face

HADES

Do you want to have a date tonight?

RORY

Can we? Do you wanna come here or me come to you?

HADES

I am not letting you ride your bike with your injury.

RORY

So I can plan something for us?

HADES

Wasn’t I the one who asked you on a date?

RORY

Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can’t spoil youuuu for driving out here again.

HADES

Okay, you can plan it. I’ll see you tonight, pretty girl.

Tonight I would also tell her my slip-up and fall on my knees. Widow pissed me off, and I wanted to state my claim even though Rory was her own person. This feud and everything else that angered Widow wasn’t my concern. I wanted my girl to be loved and safe. I made a mistake by calling her princess, and I would own up to it.

After my last patient left for the day, I went to the clubhouse to talk to Zade. He pulled an all-nighter for me trying to find information or get facial recognition from the cameras. When I walked into his cave, he was asleep, drooling on his keyboard.

“Zade,” I called out. He didn’t budge. “Zade!” I yelled and he jumped up, almost falling out of his chair.

“I’m awake.” He looked at me and then at his computer monitors. “I haven't found anything with the footage from her tattoo shop. I found how he got in and where he escaped. He headed east before getting into a blacked-out Jeep. I couldn’t run the tag since he has photo blockers. This guy is smart.”

“Let me see what you got.”

Zade finagled with his computer, showing me the different angles the cameras caught. Rory did pull his mask off, but he was smart and covered his face with his hand. He knew she had cameras and knew where the cameras were around the surrounding area. Walking down the road with a ski mask would raise eyebrows, so he kept his head down until he got to his car. Widow wouldn’t like this discovery, but hopefully they found DNA on him.

“Were you able to find a name for the boy?”

“No. I don't know if he wiped everything about him or if this is his plan. I know how to find people, but he doesn’t want to be found, and that is one of the worst people to deal with.”

I leaned over his desks, pressing my fingertips into my eye sockets. There was a migraine forming. “So he wants Rory to remember him, but no one else can know who he is?”

Zade swiveled in his chair to look at me. “In his mind, Rory is his princess. You said he killed two girls who reminded him of her? With princess names or something?” I nodded. “It’s a guilt trip. If Rory learns about these girls he is killing, she is going to give herself up to him so no one else gets hurt.”

I hated that he was right. She already wanted to sacrifice herself to learn about her sister. I couldn’t imagine what she would do if she found out he killed two women. “He attacked her. He is getting bold.”