“Now, chew.”
“What’s gotten into you?”Jake asked as he climbed into the passenger seat, throwing all his belongings onto the floor.
“Good question.”
What had gotten into me? A particular woman that crawled under my skin infected my system with her essence until it transformed me into a man I didn’t recognize.
Who did I morph into? Who was I becoming? I’d fallen so far out of my norm that I wasn’t sure who’d I see if I looked into the mirror right now.
I’m a psychopath.
Made into one by the wicked ways of my mother and molded into who I am today by the violence I bathed in. I enjoyed who I am. Not who I was becoming.
“Well, you better figure it out. We can’t have you turning in your mental leash and destroying the planet, okay,Darkseid.”
I looked at him in confusion. I never understood his geek references.
“Darkseid…the God of Evil.” He rolled his hand, expecting me to understand, and when I didn’t, he tossed them into the air. “Come on, man, we had a whole marathon with this shit.”
“The purple guy?”
He grumbled. “No. That’sThanos.DarkseidmakesThanoslook like a child’s toy that got stepped on and came out with brain damage. You’re talking about two different worlds, anyway. DC vs Marvels. I’m disturbed… I don’t know what to do with you.”
“I think I slept through most of it.”
“God.”
I smirked. Then a long gap of stillness drew me back into the real world. It was only a coincidence that I came here after complimenting, then chastising Charity for her emotional instability, only to discover my own in this stupid town. I had the answers for her, but for me, I had nothing.
“Did you book the jet?”
He scoffed. “In the thirty-second-time frame you gave me before jumping all over Remy? No.”
“Let’s get on that. I want out of this town, now.”
There was a portion of my brain deep down, way in the back, attempting to persuade me that maybe it was the town that did this to me.
I didn’t listen.
I knew who was to blame for this and the reason.
Myself. Because I allowed a woman with raven hair to come into my life.
“Okay.”
“I need to get my bag out of her apartment.”
I turned the key on the truck when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye—two FBI agents walking this way. I groaned as I tipped my head back against the headrest, then donned my professional persona and rolled down the window. Was I a master of disguise? No. But I’ve lived in so many worlds from top to bottom that it was easy to emulate.
“Agent Reynolds. Agent Mons,” I said, greeting the two agents who now stood at my window.
“A little early to be hitting the bottle, don’t you think?” Agent Reynolds said even though it was already afternoon. I knew people that started drinking the moment they woke up, until the moment they passed out.
The man appeared to be having as much trouble sleeping in this place as I was. He was either a workaholic or this case was giving him a lot of stress, as seen by the swollen bags beneath his bloodshot eyes.
“We were visiting a friend.” I smiled. “What can I do for you?”
“We’d been looking for you to ask you a few more questions about your dad,” said Agent Mons.
