Page 108 of Carnage
“Yes, I remember. Shit, I better go. He might be waking up. I’ll be at Haven somehow.”
Leon ends the call without another word. I power the phone off, but when I stand to go back inside, Carnage is standing in the doorway along with Stealth and Whisper. All three of them would be terrifying if I wasn’t certain they would never hurt me.
“Why didn’t you tell me your plan?” Carnage asks, his voice flat.
“It was impulsive. I figured he might talk to me if I called. I took a chance that he still had his old phone. How did you know I was out here?”
“I’ve got a tracker on that phone,” Whisper explains.
“And I saw you outside from my window,” Stealth says. “I woke Carnage.”
“I was going to tell you. Obviously.”
“That was risky,” Carnage says then with a grin, adds, “and brave.”
“You’re not mad?”
He shakes his head. “No. Because of that phone call, we have a location for Leon. He’ll never see that club or you tomorrow night.”
“You did good, kid,” Whisper says.
Stealth nods before turning around and following Whisper down the hallway.
“I could go with you.”
Carnage narrows his eyes. “We’ve discussed this.”
“I know, but I think it’s important that I do this. Or be involved somehow, at least. The things he was planning to do to me run through my mind all the time, Carn. These thoughts have turned into a black hole of rage inside me, and I don’t want to carry that.”
“Then let me do what I do and take care of it. You don’t need to get your hands dirty.”
“You don’t understand. That’s exactly what I need to do. I need to witness it. I want to.”
Carnage searches my eyes as he strokes my cheek. “It could be dangerous.”
“I’ll be with you, and I won’t do anything stupid.”
He looks conflicted for a few seconds, but then he nods. “You can come with me, but you don’t move or do anything without talking to me. Can you agree to that? If something happened to you, I wouldn’t be okay.”
“I promise.” I turn my head to kiss his palm. “I… Carn…” The words fall away as I get hung up on timing. I want him to know how I feel about him, but I hold back. “Thank you.”
“We’re going now,” he says. “While we have the element of surprise. He doesn’t know we traced that call, so he thinks he’s safe.”
I nod. “I’ll just throw on some clothes and then I’m ready.”
Carnage cradles my face in his hand, holding my gaze. “I’ll keep you safe and slay your monster.”
“I know.” Rising on my tiptoes, I press a soft kiss to his lips. “Then we can start a future. If you still want me to stay.”
“I’ve never wanted anything more.”
Hope blooms in my chest that after tonight I’ll really be free and I can start living my life without looking over my shoulder constantly. Maybe I’ll finally go to culinary school, or I can get a job. I can do anything I want, as long as nothing goes wrong tonight.
The bad feeling I had earlier is still lingering, but I push it down, convinced it’s just nerves. Leon has proven to be tricky, so I just have to hope that Carnage and the guys are right and he won’t be expecting anything tonight.
By morning this will all be behind me. At least, I hope that’s the outcome.
CHAPTER 25
