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“Are you sure? You know it’s—”
Certainty shook my head. “I’m already entrenched. You think if someone goes down, we’re not all going down?”
She cringed, then reached out and threaded her fingers through mine.
“You’re a quiet warrior, did you know that?” she murmured as she gave me a squeeze.
I scoffed a disbelieving sound. “I’m pretty sure hiding behind my store walls does not make me brave.”
The distant sound of motorcycles suddenly hummed in the air. Their return growing closer.
A pulse of relief skimmed through my veins.
“They’re the warriors.”
She jostled her shoulder into mine. “Hey, don’t knock what I do.”
A muted giggle rolled out. “Never.”
“My partner in crime.” She sent me a wild grin, though her eyes were soft.
“Who else am I supposed to be when my bestie is a criminal mastermind?”
She tried to subdue her bark of laughter, cringing when Meems stirred, then she softened as she ran her thumb over the back of my hand. “Every facet is important, and I’m really proud of you that you want to take this on.”
“It’s a part of me, too.” All of the history and everything that had brought us to this point.
And I would never regret who I had become.
NINETEEN
TREVAN
Exhaustion setting in, I stood beneath the spray of the shower, face upturned toward it, letting it pound into my being.
Like it might stand the chance of exposing some kind of goodness that had gone missing. Enough to wash away the grime and the corruption.
I knew better.
It was carved in so deep there would never be any eradicating it.
I rinsed and stepped out, dried, and dragged on clean sweats. My movements sluggish.
We’d gotten back to Elena’s apartment ten minutes before.
No words had been said when I’d gone to pick her up. She’d just stumbled out into the breaking day, rumpled as fuck, that expression she wore every time we went on a raid scored across her gorgeous face.
God, her arms had felt so good wrapped around me as we rode back through the still sleeping town.
Like coming home when I was nothing but lost.
We both were spent, and we decided to get a couple hours of sleep before going into the store, though my number one priority had been this shower.
Ridding myself of the remnants of the night and still knowing I wouldn’t have them any other way.
I inclined my ear toward the door.
Silence echoed back.
