Page 19 of Queen of Ruin

But the day I try to catch her out in one of these games is the day the knife cuts deep and I’ll drown under another death on my conscience.

“How much?” I say quietly, defeat weighing down my shoulders.

“Couple of hundred.” With a deep sniff and a dab at her eyes, all evidence of Mindy’s tears have completely dried up. She tucks a few messy strands of blonde hair behind her ear and smiles at me. “Maybe a couple more for the emotional distress of catching you with another woman and all the shit you’ve put me through.”

“The shit I’ve put you through?” Anger builds inside me like a furnace. “How can you stand there knowing two minutes ago, you were threatening to take your own life?”

Mindy smirks. “You never should have told me about your brother. A sad sack like you? You’re so fucking easy.”

In a single, white-hot rage-inducing second, I contemplate grabbing the knife from the floor and killing her. I shot those two men. What’s one more murder on my conscience? I’m already not sleeping and so stressed that I feel sick. I might as well double down and free myself from someone like her, right?

But then who would help Amber?

She’d be alone with no memories, no way of getting help, and no one to take care of her.

“I don’t have cash on me,” comes my strained reply as that murderous fantasy fades.

“That’s fine, you got an app?” She pulls her phone from her pocket and wiggles it at me. “Transfer is fine.”

Getting her out of here and away from Amber becomes the priority, so I log into my account and transfer her my last four hundred dollars.

“That’s it?” Mindy sucks on her teeth.

“That’s all I’ve got. Now get out.”

“Hmm?” She glances up from her phone. “No kiss goodbye?”

“I never want to see you again,” I reply quietly. “Ever. Don’t ever come back here. Don’t call. Don’t text. Don’t even think about me.”

“Sure.” Mindy snorts and she wiggles her long fingers at me. “See you soon, darling!” With that, she’s gone and a smothering silence drifts through my apartment after she slams the door.

The knife remains on the floor like a quiet threat of what could have been had I not talked her down. She wants that money for drugs, I know that much. She definitely would have gone through with it if I hadn’t helped her because that’s who she is. Who I was. An addict knows no limits on what to do to get their next fix.

My chest hurts.

I sink down into the weak wooden chair at my kitchen table and my shoulders sag as a wave of hopelessness crashes over me, sending chills up and down my arms.

There was a point in my life when I trusted Mindy. I told her about my brother during a high, thinking we were bonding. Turns out, all I did was give her ammo against me to get what she wants.

Now she’s gone with almost all of my money, my car’s vanished from that crime scene, Tech won’t stop hassling me about selling, and there’s an amnesiac in my bedroom.

“God…” I croak and sink forward with my head in my hands. How has my life turned out like this? Exhaustion throbs through my skull, my mind aching from a lack of sleep, a lack of food, and far too much stress.

I killed two people. I survived a car crash. There are people who may or may not want to kill me. A beautiful woman in my room needs my help but still may potentially become a danger. Mindy just tried to kill herself in front of me for money.

And the cops haven’t come by.

That’s weird, right?

If they cleaned up the crime scene, why haven’t they come looking for me? Unless it wasn’t cops, but who else has that kind of power?

I blink slowly and bite back a yawn, then freeze as soft, warm lips suddenly press lightly to the back of my neck.

8

DIEGO

“Amber?”