Page 31 of Psycho Saviors

“What did you think I’d be like?” She arched a brow as she handed over her glass.

“Not so fiery and strong. But I’m glad I was wrong.”

14

SCARLET

He was glad he was wrong? Why was that?

I didn’t say anything as he headed back inside to refill our glasses, and I folded my hands over my stomach, frowning at the cityscape.

Noms sank to her knees beside me, balling her eyes out as Brent drew in his last, shaky breath. He’d not even noticed me shooting him up again, not stirring from the slumber he’d succumbed to. The place we were in was a rundown shack, one bedroom, and I’d been crashing on the filthy couch, surrounded by mess. Syringes were scattered around the place, and I’d been scared I’d get jabbed, and had to check the couch over before sleeping on it. I’d made sure to wear shoes in the house, a pair I’d stolen from someone’s porch before catching the bus.

“We shouldn’t have done this,” Noms sobbed, and I snatched up her hand.

“He was hurting you, Noms. This life, you deserve better. I know this is all you’ve known for a while, but this, this is shit. We’re going to get you help, and everything is going to be okay. I promise.” I stared into those dull blue eyes, the fire having been nearly snuffed out by this stain of a human.

I may have given up on myself to some degree, but seeing her living like this, no, I wouldn’t allow it. I’d do what had to be done to save the one person who had helped me survive my shitty childhood and family. The one person who I knew wouldn’t turn her back on me despite this hell she was in. She’d picked up my call, and as soon as I’d said who I was, she was ready to take me in, to be there for me. I may have been beyond saving, but she wasn’t.

“How can you promise that?” she whispered as she sniffled, staring down at Brent’s now still body.

“Because, just like when we were at school, we’ll stick by one another. Always, right?” I said, squeezing her hand and forcing her to look back at me again.

She wiped at her eyes, looking like a shell of the person she’d been a year ago. Her cheeks were sunken, and she was far too skinny.

“Right,” she whimpered.

“Good, now, where does he hide all the cash? We’re going to get out of here, start fresh.” I glanced around the shitty room, wondering where he kept it. There wasn’t much in here apart from the stained mattress on the floor and a dresser to the side, trash all over the place.

“In a vegetable bag in the freezer. The peas, I think,” she said with a sniffle.

“Good, let’s go. We can do this. I’m here, I’ll always be here for you,” I vowed as I dragged her from the room and away from the man who would’ve had her dead before she was thirty.

I dug through the freezer, finding the bag of cash under a few other bags, and we left that foul house behind.

“Here you go.” Tyrone handed me another full glass of wine, and I downed a hefty gulp as he sat back down across from me, perched on the edge of it as he nursed his whiskey. “So, what did you do when you first got to Starwin city after that?”

“Got Noms into rehab with the money we stole from that bastard. I lived on the streets while she was there, using what little money I had left just for food until I was able to find a crappy job. I was able to find a room for rent, and I slowly built my way up to an apartment in a few months in a rundown part of the city. Then Noms got out, clean and on the mend, and she got into stripping and sex work. Amazingly, she didn’t slip backwards, which is a miracle, and we lived together for quite some time. I met someone eventually, we moved apart, and she got a nicer place. That was where I began my path of dead-end relationships with wretched men until Tommy, who ended up just being another number on that list, while she danced and slept her way to Taboo Kisses, where the real money started coming in,” I said with a scoff, and he chuckled.

“We pay our girls well.”

“Yeah, well, I always wound up back at hers between men, sharing her rent or paying board until I dove into another relationship head first that was destined for disaster,” I said with a shake of my head. “I guess because I never had a good relationship to learn from, I didn’t know how to have one. I laughed at all the rom-coms and shows with them, thinking they were ridiculous. I know how it really is a lot of the time, the toxicity, the controlling men, the abuse, the nasty words. It’s never like the movies and shows, not really.” I chewed my cheek before sipping my wine, hating how I could feel him gazing at me with a strange look.

“Good relationships exist,” he said softly as before sipping his glass.

“Really? You had one?” I smirked, and he sighed.

“No, I don’t have time for that right now.”

“Not even when you were younger?”

“No. I figured I’d sort that out when life was more stable.”

“How is that going for you?” I said, and he gave me a less-than-enthused look. “How were your parents at least?” I asked, shifting the topic back to family. “Were they loving to one another?”

“Of course. My father doted on our mother, sure, they had their issues, as do all couples, but they were strong together. Then again, she got her hands dirty as well.”

“How so?” I leaned forward, intrigued by this as he smirked.