Page 42 of Widow Mayker

“All I can say is that the victims are better off wherever the hell the suspect sent them to.”

“Ah… A vigilante?” I surmised.

He grimaced. “If you want to call him that.”

“What would you call him?”

“A fuckin’ menace,” he grumbled.

Chuckling, I replied, “A menace who’s doing the good work.”

Von side-eyed me. “You sound like my old partner, Lewis. He thinks the same way.”

I shrugged and said, “Sometimes a cell is too lenient.”

“So, what do you think the vigilante…suspect deserves?”

Again, I shrugged. “I think the one thing you’re forgetting is that he became a vigilante for a reason. I’m quite sure he doesn’t give a fuck what happens to him. He doesn’t care about anything. Even if he has a family, he’s surely already resigned within himself that he’s a lost cause. He’s just trying to be as productive as possible while he has the time.”

Silence filled Von’s truck. Then he mumbled, “Damn. I would ask if you’re an FBI profiler, but I already know how you feel about the laws. Speaking of… I want to talk to you about something.” His hand reached over to hold mine as he used his other hand to steer.

“What is it?”

“I got offered a supervisory role with the department. Lieutenant,” he said. As he brought my hand to his lips, I eyed him. He kissed my knuckles, and despite what he just divulged, my body still tingled all over.

I was still trying to process my feelings for Von and tell myself that what I was doing with him was okay. If lower-level officers were capable of horrible things, then those that sat in higher positions were surely worse.

“Are you going to take the job?” I questioned.

He briefly glanced at me. “Honestly, I want the job. Then again, I’m measuring my moves because I have this woman that I refuse to let go of.”

Von considering me in his life decisions shouldn’t have caused me to blush so hard.

“I want to know what ya father could’ve done to make you hate the badge so much. I want to know so that I can fix it and show you that we’re not all cut from the same cloth.”

Revealing my past to Von wasn’t on my to-do list. Talking about what happened to my mother wasn’t something I ever wanted to confront. I was turning over a new leaf and going back there would trigger the hell out of me.

“Tell me about ya mom,” Von stated, dousing gasoline on my already smoldering thoughts.

Sliding my hand from his, I said, “I really don’t want to talk about her.”

“Aight.” Disappointment laced his reply.

“Listen, Von...”

“Nah, it’s cool,” he said. “I told myself I wasn’t gon’ push and here I am pushing you.”

Silence fell between us, and I really wished that I could trust Von with myself.

“If you want the job, you should take it, Von. My stance on your badge shouldn’t deter you from chasing your dreams.”

He glanced at me again. “Is it crazy that if my dreams don’t include you, I don’t want ‘em?”

I bit my bottom lip to keep from replying. This man was applying the type of pressure that any woman would find sexy as hell. I wasn’t any woman, though. I was a woman with a calm presence holstering a chaotic soul. What was worse; I was a woman so deeply scorned that it was only a matter of time before that part of me ruined everything in my path.

Several hours later, I stood in the hotel room’s bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror. I was showered, moisturized, and dressed for the party. As I brushed my hair into place, something in my eyes caused me to pause. My mind played tricks on me, toying me with a flicker of life there. Shifting my gaze away from myself, I donned my black fedora and concealed the very things that were a daily reminder of how fucked-up my life was.

Von joined me in the bathroom, sidling up behind me. He had something shiny dangling from his fingers. As he stood behind me, he brought the diamond choker to place around my neck along with a soft kiss to my nape.