Page 101 of Villains Never Die

“Then don’t. You’re just going to have to trust me. Back up two steps.” I did as I was told and he ripped the handkerchief out of my pocket. “You can’t go stomping around with his blood all over your shoes. Lift your foot.”

“You’re ruining my handkerchief,” I griped as he cleaned my feet and the floor where I’d smeared blood with my footsteps.

“I’m keeping you from becoming a suspect in a murder you didn’t commit. You can thank me later. Lift your arms up.”

“My arms?” He didn’t bother to explain himself any further, just lifted me up like he had before and carried me past the body and up the stairs. A shiver ricocheted through me as I remembered the last time he’d held me like this, buried deep inside me.

“We’re going to check out his room,” he said the second I opened my mouth to ask. I finally opened my eyes and let them adjust to the darker space upstairs. There was only one bedroom that looked lived in, and Rook and I rifled through anything that might tell us why there was a dead Council member downstairs. I sifted through drawers and closets while Rook paged through a filing cabinet in the corner.

“There’s nothing here,” I said, making sure I put all Emmett’s socks back exactly as I’d found them.

“Well, it’s pretty damning that he’s got a body in his house,” he said. The sound of paper on paper whooshed in the corner as he pulled something from a folder. “And there’s this.”

I slid the drawer closed and stood next to him, peering over his shoulder.

The Hubris of Magic

1 evil with 7 faces

wait 4 your demise, 5alvation denied

And 1nce the sword of justice appears

8e 8roken

“It’s a bunch of gibberish,” I said.

“Look here.” Rook pointed to the last line. “We read it too fast before. They’re not b’s. They’re eights. Do you think it’s some kind of code?”

“I don’t know. Bring it with us. We should leave.” Something about this felt off and spooky in a way that rattled me. I suddenly wanted to be far away from whatever this was.

Carter pulled the whole manila folder from the cabinet and closed it. He waved his hand in a peculiar motion and said, “Clearing our fingerprints. Up.” He opened his arms to me.

“You don’t have to carry me like I’m a bloody infant.”

“I’m going to carry you so you don’t track evidence all over the place and lead them straight back to us. Can you not fucking argue with me this once?” He hoisted me up without ever giving me the chance to fight back and didn’t let me down until we were back outside. We faced the rain again all the way to my car. The leather seat squeaked as my wet arse hit it and I buckled my seatbelt.

“Penthouse is closer,” he said, already glancing at what was in the folder. “Let’s go dry off and read through this.”

***

I sneered at the puddles we left in the lift. We dripped the entire way into the living room until I flicked on a light and Rook laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, it’s just soyouto dress up for breaking into a house.” He gestured to my drenched suit, which I thoughtlooked quite handsome a few hours ago. My shirt was so wet and plastered to my chest that it was see-through, which seemed to be doing it for him, if the dark hue of his eyes said anything.

The next laugh that sneaked past his lips was lower, darker, and hit me somewhere in my groin I didn’t want to be thinking about while I dripped through my house.

“Are you wearing a pocket watch?” he asked.

“Some of us care about the time.”

“That’s why you have a phone. I think it’s cute when you’re all fancy though.” He booped my nose and I snapped my teeth at his finger, causing a grin to widen across his face. “Careful, Austin. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”

“I won’t be doing anything with my mouth until we’re out of these wet clothes and we’ve looked at the documents in that folder,” I said. I reached to unhook my pocket watch.

“That’s actually pretty cool,” he said, peeling off his shirt.