Don't Blame Me {a Kas/Eddie Munson story}

6: Where's My Mind?***

"I lost my mind
I don't mind
Where's my mind?
Where's my mind?

Maybe it's in the gutter
Where I left my lover
What an expensive fake
My V is for Vendetta
Thought that I'd feel better
But now I got a bellyache..."

-"bellyache", Billie Eilish

*****

"I just can't believe he's gone," Valentina sniffled into Theo's chest. She pulled away and wiped her tears away with her fingers. "I mean I was probably the last person who saw him alive!" Theo held Valentina tighter but his entire body filed with tension.

"That means the police could be here any minute." Theo ground his teeth.

"That's fine, it's not like I'm going in to work today anyways," Valentina laughed humorlessly. Theo didn't say anything while his mind started racing.

"Maybe you should just go to the station and talk to them yourself."

Valentina frowned. "I don't really feel like leaving the house." Her first friend here just died suddenly, she didn't feel like doing much of anything.

"Well I don't really feel like having the police at our door." Valentina's eyebrows furrowed. Theo had always wanted to avoid interacting with the police; he didn't trust them. Growing up in Chicago, he didn't really have a lot of faith in the justice system or law enforcement.

"Fine, I'll go. Will you drive me?" Valentina asked, still visibly shaken up. The call from Gayle, the cute blonde girl who found Brent's body woke her up around 7:00 AM. Valentina had been crying since. Brent had been so sweet to her. She should have asked him to come along with her and her friends. Maybe then he'd still be alive. She knew she hadn't known Brent for long, but there was just something about the shock of everything that made things that much worse.

"I have a call I need to get on Val, just drive yourself. It's not that far." Valentina pulled away and scowled at her fiancé.

"I'm a little shaken up Theo, my friend was just killed."

Without looking up from the address book in his hand he said flatly, "He wasn't your friend V. You hardly knew him." Theo picked up the phone and started dialing.

Valentina let out a huff of resentment and marched to the kitchen to get the keys to Theo's car. It was nicer than hers and if she was being forced to make this errand, she'd at least do it as comfortably as possible.

Valentina got in the garage and inside the vehicle. She went to adjust the review mirror when a head full of curly brown hair startled her from the backseat.

"What the fuck Kas?!" Valentina screeched, clutching her chest.

"You always greet me so warmly," Kas said as he climbed over the center counsel and into the passenger seat.

"Can we not do this right now? I'm sort of going through something." Valentina wiped her eyes again and started backing out of the garage.

Eddie tilted his head like a curious dog and asked, "Want to talk about it?" He knew exactly why she was upset. But he had no intention of letting her know he was involved in Brent's death. He didn't want to scare her off quite yet.

"My friend was killed last night." Valentina sniffled. She slammed on the brake once the car was at the end of the driveway, making Kas flinch forward.

"Which was it? Buckley or Harrington?" Eddie asked, trying to mislead her.

"It was Brent." Valentina hung her head and let the tears fall again.