"You ... killed him. You just killed him... with your bare hands."
"He wasn't really alive anymore, Alex. Just a shell. He wasn't really human anymore." Kade frowned, knowing how that must sound to her by the stricken, confused look on her face. He slowly rose to stand and she took a step backward, out of his reach.
"Don't touch me."
"Ah, f**k," he muttered, raking his fingers over his scalp. She'd been through more than her share of violence in her life; the last thing she needed was to be a party to more because of her involvement with him. "I hate that you're here right now, seeing this. But I can explain--"
"No." She gave an abrupt shake of her head. "No, I have to get Zach. I have to get help for Big Dave and I have to--"
"Alex." Kade took hold of her arms in a light but unyielding grasp. "There's nothing that can be done for either of these men now. And bringing Zach Tucker or anyone else into this is only going to make things more dangerous--not only for them, but for you. I won't risk that."
She stared at him, her eyes searching his.
In the quiet that seemed to expand to fill the room, the clinic worker Skeeter had knocked to the floor began to rouse back to consciousness. The woman groaned, mumbled something indiscernible.
"Fran," Alex said, turning back to help the older female. Kade blocked her path. "She'll be fine."
With Alex watching him warily, he went to the woman's side and gently placed his hand over her forehead. "Sleep now, Fran. When you wake, you'll remember none of this."
"What are you doing to her?" Alex demanded, her voice rising as the clinic worker relaxed into his touch.
"It will be easier for her if she forgets that Skeeter was here," he said, ensuring Fran's mind was scrubbed of the assault on her and any recollections she might have of Kade and Alex being present, as well.
"It will be safer for her this way."
"What are you talking about?"
Kade swiveled his head to face her. "There is more to your monsters than you know, Alex. Much more."
She stared at him. "What are you saying, Kade?"
"Earlier today, out at the cabin, you said you trusted me, right?" She swallowed, nodded mutely.
"Then trust me, Alex. Ah, f**k. Trust no one but me now." He glanced back at Skeeter Arnold's body-the Minion corpse he was now going to have to lose somewhere, and fast. "I need you to go back outside. You can't say anything to anyone about Big Dave or Skeeter or what happened in here just now. Tell no one what you saw in here, Alex. I need you to walk out there, go back home, and wait for me to come to you. Promise me."
"But he--" Her voice choked off as she gestured toward the broken body on the floor.
"I'll take care of everything. All I need is for you to tell me that you trust me. That you believe me when I tell you there's no reason for you to be afraid. Not of me." He reached out to stroke her chilled cheek, relieved that she didn't flinch from him or pull away. He was asking for a hell of a lot from her--far more than he had a right to. "Go home and wait for me, Alex. I'll be there as soon as I can." She blinked a couple of times, then took a few steps backward. Her eyes were bleak on his as she inched toward the open door, and for a moment he wondered if her fear would prove too much for her now.
"It's okay," he said. "I trust you, too, Alex." He turned around and listened as she walked out and left him there to clean up his mess alone.
Chapter Seventeen
In one instant, her world had suddenly shifted on its axis.
Alex walked away from Kade, surprised that her legs were functioning when her mind was spinning with the illogic of what she'd just witnessed him do--not only to Skeeter Arnold, but also to Fran Littlejohn. Was it some type of hypnotism he'd used on her, or something more powerful than that to make the woman bend so easily to his will?
And Skeeter ...
What did he mean, saying all those strange things to Kade, talking about how he was carrying out orders from his "Master"? It was crazy talk, and yet Skeeter hadn't seemed crazy. He'd seemed very dangerous, no longer the small-time drug dealer and all-around loser she knew him to be, but something deadly. Something almost inhuman.
He wasn't really alive anymore ... just a shell.
He had killed Big Dave in cold blood, and Kade had snapped Skeeter's neck with his bare hands. Oh, God. Nothing was making sense to her.
There's more to your monsters than you know, Alex.
Kade's warning echoed in her head as she stepped out into the lightless cold of the afternoon. How could any of this be happening? It couldn't be happening. How could any of this be reality?
But she knew it was, just as surely as she had always known that what had happened all those years ago in Florida was reality, too.
Trust no one but me now.
Alex wasn't sure she had any choice. Who else did she have? What Kade had just done--everything he'd just said in the clinic--had left her with more questions than she was prepared to ask. She was terrified and uncertain, more than ever now. Kade was dangerous; she'd seen that for herself only a minute ago. Yet he was also protective, not only of Alex herself, but of Fran Littlejohn, too--a woman he didn't even know. In spite of all he'd said and done just now, Kade was a solid anchor in a reality that had suddenly cast Alex adrift. It was his strength and trust that buoyed her as she stared at the small crowd still clustered in front of the clinic. The dozen-plus faces she had known for so long now appeared to her as strangers as she unobtrusively slipped past them. Even Zach, who glanced over when she had just about made it to the outer edge of the throng, seemed less a friend than a source of doubt and unwanted complication. His eyes narrowed on her, but she kept walking, desperate to get out of there. "Alex." An arrow of sudden, cold panic stabbed her. Zach was the last person she needed to see right now. She pretended not to hear him, walked a bit faster.