“Your hair.”
I grab at my blonde tendrils. He’s not cutting them off; I won’t let him.
“Relax,” he winks. “Stay here.”
He leaves me leaning against the hallway wall for support as he walks back into the closet. A second later, he reappears with a hat.
“How did you know there was a hat in there?” I ask.
“I can see in the dark.”
Then he plops the hat on my head, tucking any loose strands of my blonde hair until the hat hides it all.
“Let’s go.” He yanks me hard into the side of his chest as we walk back down the hallway and out of the convention center, looking like a couple attending. No one pays us any attention. No one knows it’s me.
We walk to his parked car down the street. I willingly climb in, knowing that this could be the last time I step foot in New York City if Langston has his way.
I smile at that. New York wore me down more than I ever want to admit. Langston makes me feel alive, even though he’s the one man who could finally end me. But until that time comes, I’m going to enjoy the fleeting feeling.
5
Langston
“Where are we going?” Liesel asks as I start driving away.
“You really think I’m going to answer that?”
She smirks. “No, and honestly, I don’t care. As long as it isn’t this city.”
I frown. Why does she stay here and build her life here if she hates the city?
A tear builds in the corner of her eye again. I’ve never seen Liesel cry before I killed Waylon. Now it seems she doesn’t know how to stop.
I still don’t understand why she cries for him. How she could have loved him?
That and a million other questions are what I plan on finding out.
I drive toward the docks, and Liesel moans.
“Really? Back on the water? Can’t you take me anywhere else? A filthy dungeon somewhere swarming with cockroaches and rats?”
I stifle a smile. Liesel always hated the water most of all. I never learned why.
“Why do you hate the water?” I ask.
She looks out the window, and I doubt I’m going to get an answer.
I stop the car and pull into a parking spot next to the dock. We step out of the car, and to my surprise, Liesel speaks.
“The ocean took you away from me,” she answers.
My breath catches. She’s right; the ocean took me away from her. The ocean led me to Enzo. To earning enormous wealth. To killing.
But I can’t be the reason she hates anything. Me getting taken away from her was a blessing for her, not a curse.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
Phoenix.