ultraviolence // kai anderson

Judas

    In the dark hours of the night, hours after Kai and I came to an agreement, I pull up to the public meeting place where he promised Haven would be waiting for me in a beater car with an altered license plate, and she is. I make sure to park far from her and take the long way walking over to her car so we won't be seen associating with each other by any potential witnesses. If anybody is paying attention to me, I probably look a little nuts walking in large circles but that's alright; I'm fairly certain nobody is anyway. With all the other randoms in this parking lot, there's plenty more interesting things to look at besides me.

    I drop down into the passenger seat, wondering if this is her car or just one she uses by some means. "Hey," I greet her as I slam the door shut behind me. I only realize at this moment that we've never had a full, one-on-one conversation; we just happen
to follow the same divine ruler.

    "Hey," she mimics with less enthusiasm and without turning to face me. She shifts the gear stick into reverse and I raise my brows to myself at her incivility. Maybe she's just very down-to-business, or has somewhere to be after this. I snicker to myself at the idea of having a murder planned at 10 and a tinder date at 11. She glances sideways at me, not looking very amused at all. I gather myself, and straightening my back I vow to not piss her off any further. I hang on to a small hope that her mood has nothing to do with me at all.

    We drive for nearly half an hour, putting it at 10:28 when we park down the block from Amanda Ross's house. As Haven switches off the ignition, I remember parking in nearly the same spot less than a month ago with my husband at the wheel instead of his mother's soon to be murder accomplice.

    "You said you know how to get in without breaking anything right?" Haven double checks with me.

    "Yeah," I nod, and am relieved we'll be leaving no signs of forced entry. "She's got a fake rock in the garden bed with a key in it."

    When we step out of the car, I'm thankful that I'm wearing two layers, and for the new outfit Kai has provided me with. That tiny black dress would do nothing to protect me from the chill that only nips at my nose and cheeks now. He'd given me a long sleeve dark top and stretchy bottoms that are both skin tight enough to look like a single body suit, a beanie of the same color, and of course the black face mask from our first night of misadventure together. This was under my much more normal looking outfit, again in case anybody should see us enter the house. To an outsider, we'd look like two women casually entering their own home, key and all, instead of super-spies sneaking down the walk with malicious intent. Haven's got on a looser, eggplant-colored sweater, black leggings, and a pack on her back that looks heavy enough to struggle with. As usual, her hair is unkempt at the back and her eye makeup is applied sloppily. I wonder momentarily how I look to her.

    She adjusts the strap of the army green backpack over her shoulder as we make our way to the path leading to Amanda's front door. When we're there, I make show of patting my front pockets, then my back, then throwing my hands up in annoyance before reaching for the hide-a-key rock.

    "What are you doing?" Haven asks quietly with her brows knit while I'm leaned over.

    "Making it look like I lost my keys so we had to use this one," I shrug proudly.

    "This isn't a movie, no one's watching."

    "Better safe than sorry," I reply as I turn the key in the lock, and she makes a face as we enter.

    I make sure the door shuts quietly behind us, and take a look around the dimly lit living room. Strange, it's so very strange being in here now, this late at night, and without permission. The same floor lamp I've seen a hundred times stands in the corner, illuminating the trinkets and family photos galore, some of which I'm in myself. My eyes find a wedding photo of Gregory and I, but I quickly look away. It should've been Kai, I tell myself to squash any unwelcome negative feelings before they can surface.