I’ve only driven in a Ferrari once. It was with one of my dad’s work buddies. He took me around the neighborhood at a snail’s pace. It was cool but not the way a Ferrari should be driven. My dad was more into luxury cars like Bentleys and Rolls-Royces, not fast cars. So, any chance I got to speed, I was all in.
“Give me a second. Let me change.”
Taking only a couple of minutes, I pull off my wet clothes, quickly dry off with the towel I threw on my bed this morning, put on a dry tank, and slide on leggings. Grabbing a sweatshirt, dry socks, and my boots, I race out the door.
Curiosity, more than anything, has me agreeing to go with him. He barely speaks to me, much less offers me rides in his car. I’m hoping this little side gig will clear Kade from my dad’s murder.
I close the door. The inside is sleek, the dash full of gauges. Unsurprisingly, there’s the slight scent of weed.
“So, I know Edge didn’t send you.”
He shakes his head. “No, not this time.”
There’s a very good chance that I just got into the car with a murderer, but something in my gut tells me to trust Kade. It may be because of what I know about his sister, his loss. Could he take another life after one was taken from him?
I wait for a beat, but he doesn’t elaborate as to why he followed me home. So, I guess. “Is this about your sister?”
He doesn’t look at me as he explains. “He raped her. She’s dead because no one believed her except me. And I wasn’t enough to keep her alive.” His eyes never leave the road, not even when we stop at the red light.
Holy shit, that’s a heavy admission.
“Why are you telling me this?”
He shrugs. “The madness needs to end sometime.”
Those words could mean a million different things, but I take them to mean two in particular: his sister needs justice and I’m possibly the one to deliver it. The delicate exchange between us opens up much more than I bargained for. Do I want to be involved with getting revenge for Venom’s demons? The same guys I swore to take my own revenge on? But then another thought haunts me, is there another girl out there who might have the same fate as Kade’s little sister?
“Kade.” My voice sounds small and unsure.
“Yeah?” His reply is thick with sadness and anguish.
“Why hasn’t Venom done anything?” I hope to get a different answer than Edge told me. I understand the red tape and financial excuses, but I need more than that. This is about rape and girl’s. life
He answers without looking at me. “We can’t. A few days before she was found dead, a Venom meeting was called to order. We were given strict orders, forbidden from touching the asshole.” He takes a breath. “I can still see the look on Edge’s face. He was on the verge of committing murder. We all were. But if they found out we even laid a finger on the fucker, it would be our asses they would have taken out. Josh’s daddy knows too many other assholes in high places.” He shrugs. “The day after we were warned, all the evidence disappeared. That’s when my sister lost it. After everything she was dragged through, tests, questioning, the humiliation, all of it, she lost the one thing that kept us from going to the dark side. She lost hope. Hope that she would be believed or vindicated for what happened to her.”
He shakes his head as his foot presses harder on the gas pedal. I grip the armrest as I look at the speedometer. Eighty-seven. I like speed, but we’re approaching a red light.
“That’s what killed her,” he says over the roar of the engine. His knuckles are white on the steering wheel. “The next day, she took her own life. There was nothing I could do to help her.”
The light changes green seconds before we blow through the intersection. I let out a breath of relief. It’s like Kade either knew his timing was perfect or didn’t give a shit if he killed us both.
“It doesn’t sound like there was much you could have done to help her.”
The engine whines just before he presses down on the clutch. He shifts up again. “I saw the exact moment Abigail decided to take her life. And there wasn’t anything I could do. I was just a stupid kid. There was nothing left, just a small shell of a girl.” Kade rubs his chin, lost in some faraway, hopeless memory. He shakes his head. “Her will to live died. Then, the next day, she really did. In a fucking bathroom. She was that desperate to die.”
Nothing is said for several miles until he pulls into a gas station with a Quick Mart. “Every day, I’m haunted by her. I know she would have forgiven me, but I’ll never forgive myself. Not fucking ever.”
I wonder who he was before she died, before he blamed himself for something out of his control. “What was her name?”
He puts the car into neutral. “Abigail.” He huffs a humorless laugh. “She hated it when people called her Abby.” The metal bar in his mouth clicks against his teeth. “When she was in a mood, she wouldn’t answer to anything but her middle name, Rose.”
“Rose?” The delicate word comes out like a question. “Rose is my middle name, too.”
He steals a glance at me as if to say,Of course it is.His nod is confirmation of something I can’t pin down. “Named after your grandmother?”
I nod. “Yeah, on my mom’s side.”
“Same. She was a snooty old bitch.” He shakes his head. “Not Abby Rose, though.”
