Page 66 of Violent Skies

“It doesn’t matter,” I whisper viciously in his face. “Body count isn’t an issue. Problem is, we keep shooting the messengers.” I push on his chest just hard enough for him to slip. I watch as he tumbles down the concrete stairs. He hits every one on the way down and slams into the wall. It takes him a second but he rolls to his knees just as I get to the bottom and find the sweet spot between his ribs. All the air rushes from his body as he crawls across the platform trying desperately to get away.

“Unfortunately for you, we don’t learn from our mistakes.” I twist my fingers into his greasy, gelled down hair and yank his head back to look at him as I kneel down. I bring my lips to his ear. “And you put your hands on my girl.”

“She made sweet sounds—” I don’t let him finish his lie before I pound his face into the concrete. The sound of bone crunching echoes through the stairwell and I let him get up only to kick him again, this time he flew down the next flight of stairs.

I hover over his barely-breathing body, pull out the gun from my jeans and wait.

He tilts his chin up, opening his mouth to expose the bloody mess and missing teeth. He tries to speak but chokes on his own blood and I smile, lifting the barrel to his level.

“Take this as a lesson.” I pull the trigger and the sound explodes through the narrow space, swallowing the sound of his body hitting the floor. “Don’t make empty threats.”

The car is silent on the way home, and I can tell it’s because he’s working through whatever happened tonight. Meanwhile I’m left to imagine. The more I learn about everything that was going on in the past the more I realize that I barely knew them at all and it vibrates under my skin like an itch I can’t scratch.

It’s a strange thing to look at Riggs and wonder who he really is. I’m constantly questioning every move made because I don’t know if it’s the man I know or the man I don't. I want to get to know that one, the version of Riggs he keeps tucked away, the one he hid to protect me. I just don’t know how to go about the conversation when he has such views on Koa’s legacy. He’ll tell me small tidbits, things he thinks won't skew my perspective but will give me helpful insight to why they did what they did, but he doesn’t understand how jarring it all is.

“What happened?” I ask, turning down the music as he shifts gears and pushes the Mustang faster.

“We dealt with it,” he grunts and I scoff, causing him to grip the wheel a little tighter. “You don’t need to know.”

2023

“Come on Cress!” Koa slams the back door as he chases after me. It’s pouring rain and the keys slip in my hands, but I just need to be somewhere, anywhere else right now. He’s lying again, straight to my face with a smile and I know it but he won’t relent. “What do you want from me?” he barks from the stoop as I fumble to find the car key, but the chain is heavy from all the others I need at the hospital and my heart’s pounding too fast to focus.

“No!” I stop trying and tilt my head to the sky in a feeble attempt to catch my breath.

Koa’s scent engulfs me; a sweet smell that overpowers the fresh scent of rain and grass. His arms wrap around my middle and he holds me there like he’s scared to let go. His hand comes up and presses against my heart, sliding underneath the cardigan to find skin.

“You’re hiding stuff,” I whisper.

“I’m not. I tell you everything.” He lies through his teeth and the worst part is I almost believe him. But I see it, the way he keeps me separated from them. I never see Rafe or Murphy anymore. Birdie is in and out of the house without a peep.

And Riggs.

My heart betrays me and clenches so tightly in my chest I flinch. I know he feels it because he inhales slowly. It’s like he can read my mind.

“I’m going insane trying to figure out what could be more important than our life, our family.” I sob out the last part and he tightens his grip.

“Cress, you gotta understand…” he starts and I can feel the excuses rolling off his tongue before he even says them. “I’m doing this for our life, and our family.”

“You say that to make me feel guilty but you never tell me what you’re doing,” I hiss but I don’t move. His arms bring too much comfort and his voice quells the way my heart races. I hate it. It feels like I’m betraying my common sense, but he’s here now and he loves me, I know he does.

“You don’t need to know.” He kisses my temple, his warmth mixing with the cold wet sticky hair. “I love you.” He pulls away and the air rushes in, but when I turn around he’s gone and I’m still just as pissed off and alone as I always am.

PRESENT DAY

“I do,” I blurt. “I need to know.”

Riggs looks over at me and the car swerves a little on the road as he loses his grip on the world around him. I know I probably sound insane, whatever happened was bad enough for us all to pile back into the cars and take off before the first race even started. All while Murphy scrubbed the network on his cellphone, no doubt erasing any footage of what went on in the stairwell.

“Cress.” His throat tightens, the muscles rippling with control.

“No,” I say, turning in my chair. “Tell me.”

He inhales slowly and pulls over to the side of the road.

“Why the hell are you so determined to know?” Like a cruel twist of fate the sky opens up and the rain starts to cascade around the car in sheets.

“Because being in the dark got us into this situation!” I snap. “He used to do that! I’d ask and he’d tell me that I didn’t need to know. Tell me. If I’d known what was going on—who he was, what he turned you into—”