“Wow, the asshole really can keep a secret…” Devon laughed loud and proud. The creases on his face told me he didn’t often smile, which was a shame.
“Hardly, we got it out of him anyway,” I remarked. A moment of silence passed between us as the wind rustled the leaves in the trees.
“Figures….”
“Why are you here then?”
Shrugging his shoulders, he pulled a knife out of his pocket. I gasped, and my first reaction was to run.
“Shhh,” he said, placing his hand on my knee in a reassuring gesture. “I just watched Mack kill someone. He killed someone for no fucking reason, simply because he could. Do you know how disgusting that is to me?” His words sneered together. His hold on the blade became intense.
“I can imagine it would be extremely unpleasant and completely disgusting.” My tone was all matter of fact, as my heart rattled in my chest. This man was going to give me a fucking heart attack.
“You know, I never wanted to hurt you. I never would’ve. They made us put you in the hole. John made us fucking do it to you. A man I personally worked with, Bree. I worked with John for a couple years, Bree. He was after answers, and all he had to do was discover my secret…”
“What secret?” I asked curiously. I wanted to know what had happened.
“I worked for Alzerro the whole time. I was one of his men before I became part of the FBI. I promised him I would let him know shit from the inside and eventually, we parted ways. I did my own thing and he did his.”
“He mentioned something about you working for him. That explains why you let me go. Didn’t want your ass kicked, huh?” I joked.
“No, I really just wanted to let you go. I hoped you would run instead of seeking answers. It kind of sucks to find out shit you wish you hadn’t.”
“You talk as if you have experience with this kind of thing.” As we talked more, I felt myself melting into the bench. It had been months since I talked to someone on the outside.
“You have no clue. I needed money so I volunteered to do a job for Mack. Little did I know it was way more than a fucking job…” His body shifted as he stared up at the sky. For an FBI agent, he seemed like he was at his wits ends.
“Welcome to my world. I’ve been in hiding for months now. Pushed and shoved around. Secrets have been thrown my way, and somehow, I’m still breathing…” The air shuffled past us, and I took in a big gulp.
“You know I should be really fucking mad at you.” I laughed nudging him in the side. His eyes came down to meet my own, and my breath caught for a mere second. Was I attracted to him, or was it the fact I was still extremely pissed at Alzerro.
“Hey, now, I had to do what I had to do. Blowing my cover would’ve meant a bullet in both of our heads.” He was right—blowing his cover would’ve been the end of all of this. I probably wouldn’t have ever found out the truth.
“Point made. But if you ever throw a bucket of water on me again, I’m stabbing you in the chest.” I wasn’t joking.
“Are you waiting for him to come and get you, or do you want to come with me?” Devon asked as he changed the subject. He slipped a smile somehow into his words. I wasn’t sure if I should leave the park with him. What if he took me to Mack before it was time? Then again, going back to Jared’s and sitting in the same room was no fun either. I didn’t want to listen to Zerro tell me all the things he couldn’t do.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I looked at him in a defensive manner. “I’m not waiting for him to come get me. I will go with you, but I want to make sure you aren’t taking me to Mack yet.”
Zerro would call me stupid, insane, illogical. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but he needed to be worried. He needed to freak out, to realize anything could happen.
Smirking at me, he laughed. His whole body shook, and my eyes wandered all over the place.
“I promise not to feed you to the devil just yet. I’ll take you out for some drinking and have you back at home before midnight. Since I know you’ll turn into a pumpkin and all.” He had to be playing, right?
“Okay, let’s go,” I urged before Zerro came and actually found me. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with him right now.
Sometimes, people had to make their own path, and after everything had happened between us, I was going to do just that.
“Here,” Devon said tugging on my jacket as we entered the club he wanted to go. It was two towns over and though I was nervous, I was excited, too. I hadn’t been able to do anything my age. The beat of the music rumbled under our feet and vibrated through our bodies making it hard to breathe.