Absolution and Fragility

XVI

Will I die as the hero or the villain?

The cold was penetrating. It shifted around in the marrow of her bones as she resisted the urge to shiver and shake for any semblance of warmth. The leather and lace did nothing for her and she would constantly ask herself why she was given such flimsy clothes on a night so cool and breezy. Her dark locks blew in front of her unblinking eyes but never stuck.

The scene before her was ghastly. Two men dead and another bleeding out as he slowly passed on. A single shooter not ready to acknowledge there was another person in the alleyway. These bodies would be here until someone cleaned them up, but she didn't know who would or if anyone would.

"I tend to take care of my own trash," Theo announced from behind her.

The armed man was not him this time but someone she didn't quite have a name for. The light from above the door glimmered off the barrel as he lowered the gun to tuck it away. She turned to look away before she could see the full profile of the murderer she'd stepped in on, but that merely brought her face-to-chest with a different murderer.

Oh, how the fates did not envy her.

"I apologize, Boss. They were starting to put up a fight," a gruff voice replied.

Lexi looked up to see the firm grimness etched into his every feature. His eyes shifted down to her, and she couldn't help but notice how they softened ever so slightly. It seemed so miniscule that she believed she had imagined it under the shadows of the light above the club's back door.

"Look at them again, Alexia. Tell me who they are, and do not withhold anything," he demanded.

A pause.

This was not something she wanted to do. Lexi didn't want to relish in the dead or the act of killing. She still wanted to be soft and sweet and demure even if her upbringing hadn't allowed her to take an innocence in that. This was a man's job that she had to step into, and no one was going to let her step out of it despite her pleading and begging. The monster that had been born in her would ravage the earth even if she wanted to stand still.

So, she turned.

The man who was still gasping as he bled out and clutched at the two taps in his gut was not someone she knew well. He was just someone she had seen in passing whenever Watts came around. The man faced down she couldn't put anything to, but she did recognize the side profile of Watts despite the blood on his face.

"I—" Lexi cut herself off and looked away from the bloody mess of bodies.

This was a moment she would remember always. A moment she would liken to seeing her own father with his chest on the cold, wet asphalt of a dark alley with a hole in his head and blood on his face. However, this time it cut deeper.

"It's Timothy Watts. He, uh...he's close with my father in the business. He and I have met a few times before, and I knew he would recognize me. He's the one who taught me to never forget a face and name," she whispered.

There was a crunch of gravel underneath a foot as he stepped into her personal space. "What else did he teach you?"

The warmth from his body sunk in his skin from behind where they were millimeters apart. This warmth was different. It was electrifying and full of tension, and she knew it could only lead to things that made her gut tighten.

"I need air," she whispered as she maneuvered carefully around him to the mouth of the alley. Gravel and glass crunched under her feet with each passing step until she could see the lights from the streets brighter than before.