Send a Prayer Up Above

Chapter 11

A/N: Hi, hey, sorry!! I'm traveling in Europe at the moment and my charger decided not to work all of a sudden, so I had to go hunt for a new one for my ancient MacBook. Now that was a real scavenger hunt. Maybe this is a sign that I should get a new laptop.

Anyway, on with it! One housewarming party coming up!

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"Sorry, Thor is working a bit late. He'll be here in just a couple of hours though!" I yelled to Finn over the music as I hugged him hi.

Finn looked up and around Kylo's apartment and whistled. "How much is the rent? Like four thousand a month?"

I gritted my teeth in advance of all the lies I'd had to tell tonight. "Well, between me and you someone was violently murdered here and apparently people are still superstitious so . . . I'm actually paying less than half of market value." Starting now.

Finn's eyes flew open. "What! Rey, you can't live here!"

I laughed, and for once it was genuine and I cherished it. "It's not haunted, Finn."

Finn made a face and headed into the living room where the party was in full gear. I didn't know that many people and yet there were about thirty partiers present. Rose and her sister Page where dancing and sharing one of Kylo's expensive whiskey bottles – because screw him – and they both had brought friends. Finn had invited people over as well, and they had invited some. Poe was the only one who showed up with only three other people. But I honestly didn't mind, it was Kylo's apartment. They could trash for all I cared.

I hadn't gotten anything formal from the store visit with Kylo, so I wore the same red dress I had worn the night Kylo had decided to be an asshole. But it showed half of my tattoo from the side, so I was forced to pull one of the sweaters I had gotten over it. It kind of worked, to be honest, and it had a turtleneck so it hid the bite mark and the lilac choker Kylo had so graciously given to me around my neck and wrists. The now almost faded out hickey I had managed to cover up with makeup.

Other than that I didn't bother with makeup or doing my hair. I wanted to be Rey tonight and even if this was just a ruse to keep the police at bay, I was happy to see everyone. My friends were my family and I was glad to have them over. Even if they brought plenty of plus-ones with them, if something got broken I wasn't going to pay for it. And Kylo wasn't here, and I don't think he was going to have his eyes glued to his phone which showed the live security camera footage.

He had left an hour ago to his mysterious job, and I honestly had no interest in knowing what it was. Especially when I saw him take the gun from his nightstand and another one from his closet, and put them into his holsters by the sides of his torso. Draped in all black he looked like the mafia boss he was and I thought maybe I really should feel more scared. But I had seen too much of him, known too much, before he had walked into the darkness and I just couldn't look at him without projecting who he used to be into the current canvas. It was treacherous, especially when I watched him sleep, looking so peaceful and young, because the truth was I was fooling myself. And when he checked the magazines in his guns I forced myself to shut off the projector.

He was a murderer and that's it. And the murderer had walked out of the door, reminding me of his orders again, and shut the door after him.