on him like weapons. He’s just lucky that looks can’t actually kill.
“Because we were in your house,” Vic growls out, stepping close to me again. This time, when I take another step back, I can see in his face that he knows he fucked up. And it’s terrifying to him. Absolutely terrifying.
We’re toxic, Vic and me.
We’d be better off apart.
The thought kills me.
“We were in your house, to drag you out of bed, to send you scurrying through the woods like a little mouse.” There’s bite to his words, a rancid sort of anger that I can’t abide by. I slap him hard across the face, but he does nothing to stop it.
“All this time, you had that video …” I start, disbelief making me feel insane. When did I start thinking of these guys as allies? They’ve only ever been the enemy of my enemies. That’s it. What the actual fuck is wrong with me?
Callum killed Danny to protect you, Bernadette. That must count for something. It has to.
“What would seeing it have changed?” Vic retorts, smoking his cigarette. He doesn’t lift a hand to his cheek, even as it turns a warm pink color. “You knew what Neil was doing; you read Penelope’s journal. The only thing that video did was upset you,” Vic snarls, sneering as he turns his attention on Oscar.
The two of them maintain a long, terrifying sort of stare, one that says they’re long overdue to vent some frustration at each other. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that happens.
“Seeing it …” I start, images flashing in my mind that make me feel dizzy. Images that I never wanted to see, that I now can never unsee. My attention slides back to Oscar, and I can’t decide if I want to kill him more or less than Vic. Either way, they’re both dead to me. “Seeing it doesn’t matter. But you could’ve put him away with that video, saved me and Heather both. All these years, I’ve been fighting, and you could’ve ended it at any time.”
“Every action has consequences, Bernadette. Everything. If we’d turned that video in, Neil would’ve buried it. His brother, that fancy ass DA, he would’ve buried it. Or what about his father? He’s a circuit court judge. Even if—and that’s a big if—someone took it seriously, what sort of time would he be looking at? I hate to tell you this, Bernie, but our world is fucked. It’s fucked up and broken and ugly as hell.” Victor steps toward me again, but this time, I don’t pull away. How can I? He has me in orbit, and I despise him for that, too. “People don’t care about girls who get raped.”
My throat starts to close up, and white splotches flicker across my vision. I am this close to passing out. Screw the tacos, I guess. No way in hell I’m cooking tonight.
“People don’t, but we do,” Vic corrects, his words commanding me to look his way. But I won’t. If I can at least withhold this one thing from him, then maybe I’ll feel better. “And we’re going to get Neil, but these things take time. If we turn the video in, eyes will turn his way. We need as many of them to look away as we can, before we act. Do you believe me when I tell you that we’ll get him?”
“Hey, I called out Havoc. Make a deal, pay a price.” I start to move away, and Vic comes after me. The look I throw him must change his mind about grabbing me. “Do not touch me, Victor Channing.” Hurt flashes across his face, rapidly replaced with a scowl and a snarl that I just don’t have the time for today. “And don’t talk to me for the rest of the night.”
I storm across the street, across the front lawn and past Oscar, and into the house.
Aaron is sitting on the couch when I come in. He glances back at me, his gaze snagging on mine and holding me captive.
“I’m sorry about the video, Bernadette,” he says, closing his eyes briefly. When he opens them back up, he looks about as devastated as I feel. “You shouldn’t have had to see that.”
I just stare at him, sitting there with a bandage on his shoulder, and I think about the way he tried to defend me last night. Not just against Mitch and his crew, but against the Thing. Even when he was