“Let it out,” Stevie comforts me, rubbing my back. “You’ve been holding on to so much, for so long.”
Panting and screaming, I grip the side of the shower in an attempt to let it all go. “Goddammit!”
“I know, Lux,” she reassures again in a soft voice.
“I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders.”
She cocks her head to the side. “I bet.”
“I can’t believe all of this happened. It’s all so overwhelming.”
My sister remains silent for an unclear amount of time, letting me cry on her shoulder, before she speaks. “Lux, you’re a strong badass woman who saved herself. You took your power back, and that’s something unworldly. “
I’ve gained my power back over the last couple months and I’m not the woman I was before. But am I finished? Why do I feel like there’s still more work to be done? There will always be a predator who slips through the system, and I’m confident River and his team will be hot on his trail making sure he doesn’t hurt anyone again.
Can I be a part of this world, too?
Because I’m not the woman hiding from her inner darkness any longer.
Even though Andrew and his men are dead, I can’t fully say I’m done. I have unleashed a monster so powerful and intense, and nothing can suppress it again.
I turn my back to Stevie, and she squirts shampoo into my hair.
“What if I’m like River and want to continue doing this?” I confess.
“Do what?”
“Like hunt people down and kill them.”
Stevie’s scrubbing on my head slows. “You want to be a part of what they do?” she asks as if confirming more for herself than me. “Like how he and Sebastian have a full on operation hiding behind Thompson Innovations. You want to do this with them?”
“I think I do.” I glance up at my sister.
Her expression is filled with disbelief. “Maybe think about,” she suggests. “I mean, you might think you know what you’re getting into, and obviously youknow,but do youreallyknow?”
I rest my head against the tiled wall, facing my sister who is standing right outside the large walk in shower. “Stevie, I know everything. Including how much I care for River.”
She sighs. “That man does have it bad for you, doesn’t he?”
“Should I be scared?”
“Um…” Stevie sighs. “I don’t think so. You seem more confident with this than I’ve seen you with anything.”
I pop a bubble floating nearby. “Butshouldn’tI be? It’s weird that I’m not, right? And if anything, I want to continue what we’re doing. I can’t imagine going back to my old life.“
“You have a gift. An ability to read people.” With a soft hand, she moves my face, forcing my eyes to fall in sight with hers. “And you can choose whatever life you want with whomever you want.”
When she finally gestures for me to leave, my fingers and toes are wrinkled from the water.
“Stevie,” I say as my sister stands to grab the white robe hanging on the wall by the bathtub.
“Hmm?” she answers, handing it to me.
“I have so deeply fallen for him.”
“I know,” she says, as if not surprised by the affection between River and me.
Stevie helps me onto the bed, because my limbs are weak and craving a minute of rest. Then she grabs some comfy clothes for me to put on. “Is it that obvious?”
