“Seriously? I’m going to piss myself because you want to hold my hand?”
“Don’t judge me.”
“It’s kind of hard not to.” She smiled. “No one has ever held my hand before.” She rubbed at her temple. “This is weird. You know that?”
“Yep, but I can’t do anything about it. I just have to accept that I’m weird.”
She released a breath. “Fine. We’re both weird. Let’s do this.”
She held her hand out and he didn’t even hesitate. He took hold of her hand. His grip was firm, tight, comforting.
He led her out of the room. He changed the position of his hand so their fingers were locked tight together.
“What was it like to kill your parents?” she asked.
He took them up some creaking staircase. The scent of death hung heavy in the air. The house was old and in desperate need of repair. Most of the paint had peeled off the walls. She’d seen horrible places and had even slept in some of them. The worst was being on the street, but when you consider rape a better alternative, you know your life is fucked.
He stopped at a door that looked nicer, cleaner than the other rooms. The door was white with a few cracks in the wood.
“Parent, I only killed one.”
“What was it like?”
“You’re not going to kill your parents.”
“I know I’m not. I just, it’s not like they were really living to me in the first place but it can give me something to imagine, don’t you think?”
“You don’t have a problem with me killing my dad?”
“Why would it bother me? He’s not my dad and I don’t know the guy. He killed your girl. He deserved to die. I’m not the kind of girl to linger on those kinds of details.” She shrugged. “Sorry. I believe the world has people you need to kill and people who do need to die.” She stared at him as he kept his gaze on her. “Does that upset you? I’m not a nice person and I believe people deserve to die.”
“I don’t think you’re a bad person.”
She laughed. “I’m not a good one. Believe me. My life hasn’t been magical but if I can go back and pull the trigger on some of the sons of bitches in my life, I would. No hesitation. Don’t try to paint me as your perfect girlfriend, Landon. I’m not her. I will never be her.”
Chapter Six
Landon and Jade had spent hours making this place even livable. Yes, there were rats and roaches, but they kept traps near the rooms they slept in. The bathroom was one of the places they paid close attention to. Some of the rooms in the house had broken windows, holes in the walls, those kinds of things, but they had worked together to clean it up really nicely.
Stepping into the bathroom, Tulip whistled. “You did a nice job. You can leave.”
“Not happening.”
“Seriously, you want me to piss in front of you? What if I need to … have something else?”
“I know people shit, even girls. Trust me, don’t worry about it.” He closed the door behind him.
“You’re infuriating. You know that, right?”
“I’ve been told, and believe me, I don’t care. Take your piss. Get it done so we can move on.”
“I want a bath.”
“There will be plenty of hot water.” He didn’t know for sure if that was true but this woman wouldn’t stop talking.
“Fine.” He gave her his back to give her some privacy.
“Out of mild curiosity, does this mean you want to have sex with me? You say you love me and I still don’t believe it.”