The Nines (The Nines #1) (15 page)

“Promise?”

I nod. “Do you need anything?”

“My RA informed all of my professors. She wants me to drop all of my classes, but I’m going to see if I can get incompletes instead. I think I can make up the work.”

“I’m sure you can,” I reply.

Then she looks over at Alexander. “If people can’t handle your scars fuck ’em.”

That makes him grin. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

“Take care of yourself,” I say to Luci.

“I always do.” She tries to smile again. “Ouch. I’ve got to stop doing that.”

“Don’t ever stop smiling,” Alexander says.

“We’ll be back soon.” She looks like she wants to believe me, but can’t quite do it. “Promise,” I assure her.  

As Alexander and I leave the room he grabs my hand again and laces our fingers. I’m beginning to like that small gesture a lot more than I know I should. Two words keep running through my mind: we’re together. He sounded so adamant when he said it, almost possessive. I have to admit it both frightened and delighted me.

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I’d be with someone. Someone with whom I could actually talk about my past. Someone who seems to still accept me, even if he’s the last person on Earth who should.

Alexander is unusually quiet on the ride back to his house.

“Is everything okay?” I ask.

“Now do you understand why I rarely go outside?”

“I think Luci is right. If people can’t accept your scars it’s their problem, not yours.”

He laughs. “That’s not what she said.”

“That’s the sentiment she expressed. My parents taught us not to use profanity.”

I can feel the air between us chill at the mention of my parents. We haven’t actually had a discussion about my family.

Alexander is quiet for a long time, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. After we pull into his garage and he turns off the engine he turns to face me. “Do you know why he did it?”

I shake my head. “I wish I did. I think it would make accepting it easier. I haven’t spoken to him since he was arrested. I can’t bring myself to face him. My parents haven’t either. They’ve basically disowned him. They tried so hard to make us American. They wanted us to have a better life. They were so hurt by what he did, it changed them. They’re like hollow shells of their former selves. Kind of like their bodies are still alive, but their spirits have died.”

He nods. “I know how they feel. I’ve felt like that for a very long time.” He looks deeply into my eyes. “I felt that way until I met you.”

When he takes my hands in his they feel a bit colder than they normally do.

“Should we go inside?” I offer.

“I need to get this out first.”

I gulp. His expression has turned so serious it scares me a little bit.

He continues. “Before I met you I was seething with rage. All I thought about was the moment when I could exact my revenge on your brother. I wanted to make him hurt as much as he hurt me. I thought my life was over and I blamed your brother for that. But then you appeared on my doorstep. And you weren’t disgusted by my appearance. You didn’t run away. You stayed with me. And you’re still here with me. You made me believe that I could actually have a life again.”

“You can have a wonderful life, if you allow yourself to. My brother is the one who will never have a life again. He gave up that right with the choices he made. He’ll either spend the rest of his life in prison or he’ll be put to death. You’ve said you believe in karma and justice. That’s karmic justice.”

“I don’t think the legal system is going to give Luci and Claire justice.”

“I hope you’re wrong, but I believe you’re probably right.”

When Alexander starts to shiver I make another suggestion to go inside. “You’re only wearing a thin cotton shirt. And it’s colder when we’re not in the sunlight.”

“Okay,” he agrees. “But I have one thing to do first.”

He leans over and places a soft kiss on my lips. “I’m glad we’re together.”

“Me too.”

Not more than a few seconds after we step inside his phone starts to ring.

“It’s probably the delivery service,” Alexander says as he answers the phone. He gives me a quick nod as he confirms the delivery.

“They’re on their way.”

We both look at each other. I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking. They’ll be delivering the condoms.

When the doorbell rings just a few seconds later we both glance at each other.

“They don’t usually deliver that quickly do they?”

As he shakes his head the knocking continues. We look at each other for a long moment and then Alexander opens the door. 

Julio is in really bad shape. Worse than he looked the last time I saw him when I thought he looked terrible. Now he looks like the last survivor of the zombie apocalypse, the one in which you’re not sure who is still human or who has been turned to a zombie.

“The cops questioned me and Hector again.” He doesn’t wait to be invited inside this time, he just enters the house. “I’m starting to get nervous that they think we had something to do with Claire’s death.”

“Where’s Hector?” I ask.

“He had to go to class. He couldn’t get excused like I did.” He runs his hand through his messy hair. “Claire’s parents removed all of her stuff from your room. The stuff the cops didn’t take. I stopped by to talk to them and they treated me like I was some kind of criminal. How could they think I had anything to do with her death? I loved her.”

Tears are forming in the corners of his bloodshot eyes. “We need to do something.”

I glance at Alexander. There has to be some way we can get the video of Claire and her murderers to the authorities without implicating Alexander.

Before anyone has a chance to say anything else there’s another knock on the door. Is it wrong of me to hope it’s not Hector? His attitude toward my relationship with Alexander makes me uncomfortable. He keeps looking at me and Alexander like we’re doing something wrong.

This time it is our store delivery. The guy has several large boxes and even a few bags. It seems like a miracle that he’s able to hold that much stuff all at once. Both Alexander and I grab as much as we can and Julio even grabs the bag that’s left.

“There’s more in the car,” the delivery guy says none too happily.

After we place all of the boxes and bags on the living room tables we go back to the front door to retrieve the items that were left in the car.

I nearly gasp when I see the delivery man is carrying not one but two large bouquets of flowers. One is red and the other pink roses.

Once the flowers are out of the delivery guys hands he removes a small machine from his pocket and holds it out to Alexander. “Sign for confirmation of delivery.”

After he gives his electronic signature Alexander hands the guy a twenty dollar bill which seems to brighten his surly mood slightly. “Thanks.”

As soon as the front door is shut Alexander hands me both bouquets. They’re so large I can barely see over them. “Why so many flowers?”

“I couldn’t decide between the two colors so I ordered both.”

When I glance over at Julio he looks even more defeated. “I’m glad Hector isn’t here right now. The guy is still hung up on you.”

I’m not sure what to say. Before I have a chance to speak, Alexander says, “We’re together.”

Julio nods. The two words are simple, but when Alexander says them they seem to hold so much meaning. Not just that we’re a couple, but God help the person who tries to come between us, or hurt me.

“Give me a few days,” Alexander says to Julio. “I have some ideas, but I need to get ahold of some of my contacts. They’re in China, South America, Romania. A lot of different time zones. I also need to construct a frame or maybe two.”

“A frame?” Julio’s brow creases. I notice that he now has lines etched in his forehead that weren’t there when we first met, or even a week ago. He seems to have aged ten years since Claire’s death.

“Likely suspects they can investigate for the crimes I’m planning against the DOGs. People who lead far away from any of us.”

Julio nods, but he still looks concerned.

“You can always say no. Back out. We can let the authorities handle it.”

Alexander and I look at Julio as he seems to consider this. Julio has always been a good guy. A great guy actually. And now we’re asking him to commit to taking justice into our own hands. It’s one thing to want revenge; it’s another thing entirely to actually exact it. There’s a fine line between being the hero of the story and being a villain. Both Alexander and I know what it’s like to be a villain, or at least be perceived as one. We’re now asking Julio to take a step over the line and join the dark side.

If we actually do decide to go through with whatever plan Alexander devises we’ll be forever changed as a result.

Finally Julio looks up at Alexander and says, “Let’s do this.”

“Hector doesn’t have to be involved in any of this,” Alexander reminds him. “Give him an out just like we gave you.”

Julio nods. “I’ll let you get to it then.” He hesitates for a few moments and then says, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me until it’s done.”

***

I don’t remember seeing anyone type as fast as Alexander. He’s got fingers of fury on the computer keyboard. He said he’s putting out some feelers. Seeing what he can put together. He’s quite focused even though he doesn’t actually have any skin in the game.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask him when he takes a little break from the typing frenzy.

He seems to be considering it for a moment then he says, “Because Claire and Luci and all of the other girls they hurt deserve justice.”

I’m not sure why it didn’t dawn on me that there are other victims. Maybe I was just too focused on Claire and Luci. The other victims may not have been beaten, or killed, but they were still hurt by the DOGs.

“Do you know how many?” I ask. Implied in my question is the fact that he knew about their crimes, but did nothing to stop them. And if he had stopped them maybe Luci wouldn’t have been beaten and Claire would still be alive.

He swallows. And I’m surprised when he removes his mask without my coaxing so I can see his entire face. I take the opportunity to study him. The unevenness of his features. How one side of his face is nearly unblemished and the other side is ravaged from the burns. Alexander’s face is a metaphor for his place in life. Caught between the innocence of his youth and the horror of his experience. I truly think he’s a good person at heart, but he’s also willing to do very bad things.

“I’ve known about the rape rooms for a while,” he admits. “There have been a lot of girls. Too many to count. They have thousands of hours of tape that I know about. Their exploits have been going on for quite a while. It’s an open secret, but no one has done anything to stop them. I’m sure that’s why they feel invincible. And now that the violence has escalated I’m sure it will only get worse.”

“None of the girls have ever come forward? Pressed charges?”

He shakes his head. “Not that I’m aware of. And I think if they did attempt to come forward they’d probably just get paid off to be quiet. Like they paid off Sheila Sheppard. These guys are very well off and very well connected.”

When he closes the distance between us my entire body heats in response. “There’s nothing I could have done to stop them. Not without really stopping them, which is what we’re planning now. The risk to me would have been too great and I didn’t have a reason. Not like I do now. They hurt Luci, almost killed her, and she didn’t deserve that. Not that any of their victims did. That’s not what I mean. She wasn’t even at one of their parties. All she did was have the bad luck to be in a math class with Mercer and Colby. And they treated Claire like she was disposable.”

“They’re monsters,” I state.

“And they’re only going to get worse.”

I look into his eyes. They’re filled with turmoil.

“Do you think we’re doing the right thing?” I whisper.

He lets out a cynical laugh. “I used to think I knew what was right and what was wrong, but now I know it’s not that simple. I’ve developed the ability to be morally flexible.”

As we stare at each other for a long moment the energy between us intensifies.

“It will probably be a while before we hear back from my contacts.”

I give him a sly smile. “Are you propositioning me?”

“Maybe. Do you want me to proposition you?”

I nod, but I’m a bit more hesitant than I want to be. I’ve never been so drawn to anyone in my entire life. Most teens have crushes on boys, but I didn’t have that luxury. Everyone in school treated me like a pariah. They probably would have been happy if I had died in the fire, or was arrested like my brother. I think it was difficult for my classmates to believe I didn’t know anything about my brother’s plan to bomb the school, or that I wasn’t somehow involved, or that I should have stopped him.

I’ve probably replayed the days and weeks leading up to the bombing a million times in my head, but there’s nothing that I can pinpoint that would have led me to the conclusion that my brother was planning to bomb the school.