"What?" I whispered. "He was?"
"Yeah, Rem. He was."
Well, crap. That was definitely against the rules. On the other hand, Alamo trusted Stump, and Alamo’s a bigwig in the club, so rrick should be fine with it.
"I didn’t know."
"Don’t give a fuck," he growled.
He threw my bag in the back of his rental car and opened the door for . I climbed in and he made his way to the driver’s side.
"Alamo approved Stump, right?" I asked once rrick started the car.
"Did I?"
"No, but you were busy, so Alamo offered—"
"Alamo is not your man."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I told you I would take you out."
"On Monday, you told you’d take out. Then again on Tuesday, but you were busy. Now it’s Thursday, and I had to take a class."
"You could have waited until I was done."
"When did you get done, rrick? Huh?"
"Not the point."
"It is the point," I snapped. "You’ve been keeping locked up in your fortress without access to human contact."
"Babe. There are close to fifty humans for you to have contact with," he argued. "Not close contact, over the kitchen island or through a door, but human contact, nonetheless."
"I want contact with my humans," I ground out. "The ones I’m allowed to hug."
"Then you wait until I can take you where you need to go."
"Or I can go stay with Kennedy."
"You’re not fucking leaving the compound until we figure out who the threat is."
"You have the threat," I countered. "Seth."
"Seth’s a pawn."
"But he was the one who killed those girls, right? So, the threat’s been eliminated for now."
Before rrick could counter with so stupid ass explanation, my phone rang, and I welcod the distraction. "Hello."
"Remington Aultman Charles, what’s this about you being back in town and I have not received a phone call?" my mother accused, her southern accent on ten.
"Hi, Mom."
"Don’t ’hi, Mom’ , young lady. We still have Sunday dinner every week, I expect you to be there."
"Mom, Michelle’s morial service is Sunday," I said. "And then I’m leaving Tuesday."
That part was a lie. I didn’t know when I was leaving...or if I actually was. rrick raised an eyebrow and I focused forward as I tried to avoid both my mother and my boyfriend.
"Leaving? Leaving to go where?"
"Back to Portland."
"Are you still on that ridiculous road?"
"So, did you need sothing?" I asked, diverting the subject.
"Daddy and I would love to see you. Perhaps take you out to dinner."
"That sounds lovely," I lied. "Let look at my calendar and send you a few dates."
"Wonderful, darlin’. We’ll talk soon."
"Okay, Mom, bye."
"So, you’re coming ho with , then?" rrick asked after I hung up.
"I don’t know yet," I said.
"Are you fucking kidding ?"
"rrick—"
"When exactly are you going to have ti to see your parents?"
"Oh, I’m not. They can go fuck themselves. But I can’t say that to them. I play the ga."
"Jesus," he hissed. "How many people do you play this ga with?"
"Only them," I said.
"Wish I believed that," he grumbled as we drove through the compound gates.
"Don’t be lodramatic."
"Don’t fuckin’ tell I’m bein’ lodramatic when my woman makes a promise, then breaks it."
"I didn’t break a promise."
"You broke a promise."
I scoffed. "I told you I had to get out. I had to take a class, or I’d go crazy. If anyone broke a promise, it was you."
rrick let out a frustrated grunt and stomped out of the car. I knew we were at an impasse, so I climbed out and walked into the compound, not caring if he followed or not.
I passed Alamo as I stord up the stairs, but decided I was kind of pissed at him too, so didn’t acknowledge his existence as I made my way to rrick’s room. I walked inside, stripped off my clothes, and stepped into the shower.
I was still pretty riled up as I dried off and dressed, partly because rrick hadn’t co up to check on or make sure I was okay. Irrational, granted, but I wanted him to apologize and bow before his queen in contrition.
I slid on a pair of tennies and headed downstairs to find no one but Stump in the great room. He was on his phone, but rang off when he saw . "Hey, babe. You good?"
"Have you seen rrick?"
He looked at in confusion.
"Finch," I corrected.
"Yeah, he’s on a call. Back office."
I bit my lip, deciding just how mad I was still, before turning on my heel and heading that way.
"Yeah, Monday," I heard rrick say. "Tuesday’ll work. Okay. See you then."
I pushed open the door and leaned against the doorjamb. He t my eyes, but didn’t smile. "You feeling better?"
I shrugged. "Depends on what I’m supposed to feel better about."
"I see we’re still at a stalemate." He closed a file folder and set his phone on top of it.
"Stop being a dick and we won’t be."
"I’m a dick because I want you safe?" he ground out. "Okay, Rem. I’m a dick, then."
"Oh my god, rrick, stop twisting my words."
"They’re your words, baby. Can’t twist them when I’m repeating them verbatim."
"I have never once said I thought you were a dick for wanting safe," I countered.
He sighed. "I want this to be a teachable mont for you, Remington."
"Excuse ?"
"You need to listen—"
"Fuck you, rrick. You’re not my father, and I’m not a child. You don’t get to talk to like that," I snapped, and stord away.
Stump was exactly where I left him, and I closed the distance between us. "I need to run an errand."
"Let know what you need, and I’ll do it for you."
"I need to do it."
"No can do, babe. You’re locked down."
"Excuse ?"
"You’re locked down," rrick repeated as he walked into the room.
I turned on him. "aning what, exactly?"
"aning, unless I say otherwise, you don’t leave the compound."
"You can’t do that."
"I can, baby, and I did."
"What about class or the morial service?"
"Class is out for the mont, but I’ll take you to the service. I’ve cleared Sunday."
"Oh, how generous of you, benevolent one," I spat out. "Please put so ti on your calendar to kindly fuck yourself as well."
With that, I headed back upstairs where I locked myself into the room and flopped onto the bed. I was so mad, I couldn’t even cry.
But I could sche. And I did. In the form of rrick’s murder and all the ways I could hide his body.
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