“I guess I just thought that meant he would never kill you, not that he
couldn’t
.”
“I kind of thought that too,” she whispered.
We both looked at the man who should have all the answers. He looked rattled. Like he couldn’t even form a sentence. “I… I didn’t know,” he muttered to himself and I had to strain to hear.
“Are you saying you didn’t know that was going to happen?” I asked.
He looked up at me. His eyes were still a little glassy and vacant. Beside me, Piper shifted and his eyes fastened on her once again.
“No.”
It was a simple word, a single response. But the weight behind it was immense.
“I have to go,” he said, shaking himself and walking back through the apartment and toward the front door.
We rushed after him, watching to see what he would do. On his way past the coffee table, he stopped and looked down at the vase of white carnations I put there just before I went away with Charming.
Without saying a word, he reached out and fingered the snowy petals of one of the flowers. It died instantly, turning an ugly shade of brown as the petals dried out and curled in on themselves. He looked down at his hand and then back at Piper again before walking quietly out the door.
We stood there for a long time. The only sound was the ticking of the clock on the nearby wall. Finally, I snapped out of it and rushed forward to throw the lock on the front door, turning around and collapsing against it.
Piper sat down on the couch, staring at the single dead flower in a vase full of living ones.
“I touched the Grim Reaper,” she said.
“You saved my life.”
“I didn’t die.”
I pushed away from the door and joined her on the couch. “You’re badass.”
She looked at me and grinned. “Yeah, I guess I am badass.”
I nodded. “But never do it again.”
“Definitely not. I hope I never see him again.”
I hoped that, too. Still, I couldn’t help but think that he was trying to kill me. The Grim Reaper wanted me dead. He wanted to use me to get to Charming. I was lucky and got a reprieve from death because my BFF seemed to be the Reaper Whisperer.
“Freedom -
liberty of the person from slavery, detention, or oppression.”
Charming
I ran for about a mile after leaving G.R.’s upscale neighborhood. I knew I could keep on running to Frankie’s apartment, that I would likely be able to keep pulling in energy, but it still would have taken me longer than I wanted. I wanted to be there with her now. I couldn’t even call because I was afraid he might still be there and I didn’t want him to even think I might have figured out I wasn’t as trapped as he wanted me to think.
So I stole a car.
A plain four-door sedan that I wouldn’t have normally driven to save my own life. Yet it appeared I was willing to do just about anything to save Frankie. I was just about to pull out of the back of the parking lot when Storm appeared in the backseat.
“Man, you would have lost it and I never would have gotten you out of the house if I had told you that shit before you got into your body.”
“I’m still going to deck you if you ever get a body.”
“Don’t hate the playa. Hate the game.”
I glanced in the review mirror as I drove. “Did you seriously just say that?”
“Just keepin’ it real.”
I focused back on driving and trying not to speed too noticeably. Now would not be a good time to get pulled over by the cops. The drive seemed to take forever and with every passing minute, I grew more worried I would be too late.
About a block from her apartment, I pulled the hotwired car over and parked it in a parking garage. I hurried to use a napkin that was in the glove compartment to wipe down all the surfaces I touched. I knew my fingerprints weren’t in the criminal system, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I had a feeling if I managed to get out from under the G.R., this was the body I’d be keeping.
The thought drew me up short and I stood outside the car, staring down, doing nothing but thinking.
Get out from under the Reaper?
Where did that thought come from? The way I thought it just now seemed like it was something that had already been decided—like my head knew something it didn’t inform the rest of me about.
Was it even possible?
Could I somehow manage to get completely free of him?
I didn’t mean I could pull of this job, kill the Target, and use those bodies to get myself out of being Recalled. Because even if I managed to do that, G.R. would just keep assigning me impossible jobs until I failed. I would spend the rest of my existence scrambling around trying to do his bidding.
I didn’t want that.
I wanted a life. A real life. One that meant I didn’t have to kill anymore. One where I didn’t have to switch bodies and identities, one where I was the only person in charge of what I did.
It wasn’t possible. Was it?
Could I somehow trade everything I had of his for true freedom?
Frankie wouldn’t have to make peace with me killing because I wouldn’t have to kill. We could live without looking over our shoulders. I could love her the way she deserved to be loved.
I’d never had such thoughts before—such hope.
“Dude, how long you gonna stand next to the car you stole?”
I jerked up, reality crashing back in. My feet started moving; I jogged away from the car and toward Frankie’s apartment.
“Okay, yeah,” Storm called from behind. “I’ll just meet you there.”
I finally figured out what I wanted and I was going to get it. I just had to figure out how to get there. But before I did any of that, I had to see her. I had to make sure she was okay.
When her apartment building came into sight, I wanted to rush down the sidewalk and barge right in. But I couldn’t. G.R. might be watching the building. I ducked into an empty stairwell across the street and watched for signs that someone else might be out here watching or waiting.
After a few minutes of seeing nothing suspicious, I had enough and decided to just use my speed and zip inside. Just as I was preparing to run, the door to her building opened and a man stepped out.
It was G.R.
My breath hissed out between my teeth and I ducked back into the opening when what I really wanted to do was beat his ass. But then my anger dissolved and fear spiked through me. He had been upstairs, inside that apartment with her for a long time.
What if she was hurt?
What if she was dead?
His car pulled down the road and I flew across the pavement. I don’t even know if my feet touched the ground. I stopped only when I came to her door. I tried turning the handle to just barge right in, but it was locked.
I pounded on it. “Frankie!” I yelled. “Frankie, open the door.”
Storm appeared behind me.
“You need to go in there, unlock the door.”
The lock on the door slid free and the door swung wide.
“Frankie,” I said, relief making my voice weak.
“Olly?” she said, her eyes going wide as she stared at me.
I nodded. “I know I look different, but it’s me.”
“You look…” Her voice trailed away as she just stood there and stared.
I wanted to snatch her up, to crush her against me, but I wasn’t sure if she would want that. I finally knew exactly what I wanted, but I had no idea if she wanted the same.
“Can we come in?” Storm said.
Frankie stepped back, allowing us in and then closing the door. I stopped short seeing Piper was here. There were too many people here… too many eyes.
I turned my back on them and looked at Frankie. “I saw the Reaper leaving. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“Your eyes are still green,” she murmured, staring at me.
I smiled.
“He tried to kill her,” Piper announced. I spun around. “What?”
“He was going to touch her. Got a couple inches from her face.”
Bile rose up in my throat and my hands fisted at my sides.
“But he didn’t touch me. Piper stopped him.”
“How could Piper stop him?” Storm asked.
“She touched him first.”
I swung my head in the direction of her words. “Come again?”
Frankie nodded. “Piper touched the Grim Reaper and she didn’t die.”
Everyone stared at Piper. Her cheeks turned pink. “I really need to be going. I have to work.”
“You mean to tell me G.R.’s touch didn’t kill you?” Storm said.
Piper nodded. “It’s because he already promised not to kill me.”
I wasn’t sure that was entirely it, but I wasn’t about to start an hour-long discussion. I wanted to be with Frankie. Alone.
Piper grabbed up her bag off the floor and went to the door where Frankie hugged her. “Thank you. Why don’t you stay here tonight after work? You probably shouldn’t be alone.”
Instead of answering, Piper glanced at me.
I nodded. “Thank you. For saving her life.”
Her cheeks bloomed pink again and she hurried out the door.
“Is she safe?” Frankie asked when Piper was gone. “I mean, obviously the Reaper can’t kill her, but I mean… that’s kind of rare, isn’t it?”
“I’ve never seen this happen my entire career as an Escort,” I replied.
“Won’t that kind of make her… I don’t know… interesting to certain people?”
I had no idea what it meant. I could barely think about it with her standing so close yet so far away.
“How about I keep an eye on her while she’s at work?” Storm volunteered.
Frankie expelled a breath. “Would you?”
“Yeah.” Storm looked at me. “You got my number.”
I nodded.
He didn’t wait for someone to open the door. He just went right through it.